5EAT owners with IPT valve body modification

For those of you who have had your valve body upgrade done... When it comes to driving in traffic, do you ever wish you hadn't had it done? I don't doubt the shifts are faster, but do the shifts snap a little to hard at times when you just want a smooth car?

I'm curious about how much of an affect it has on the daily driver characteristics of the car. My LGT is my daily driver, and driving in some stop and go traffic is an issue for me.

Also, how long was your car down during the upgrade, and how much did you pay for everything, including shipping?

My answers are NO and no affect with stop and go traffic.

John at IPT got the VB mod down now. I'm VERY HAPPY with my VB (after a brand new modded VB replacement). John he dropped my old VB and cause the harsh 1st and 2nd gear shift.

When it comes to driving in traffic, do you ever wish you hadn't had it done? I don't doubt the shifts are faster, but do the shifts snap a little to hard at times when you just want a smooth car?

 

I'm curious about how much of an affect it has on the daily driver characteristics of the car. My LGT is my daily driver, and driving in some stop and go traffic is an issue for me.

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Video on VB modded car, good luck.

 

Good questions .. I'd like to see video of a VB-modded car running regularly and WOT, myself. I'm having a hard time justifying $650 bucks for the service.

My answers are NO and no affect with stop and go traffic.

Excellent. Thanks for the info. When I eventually get some REAL power upgrades, I'll probably have it done. For now, I hope my tranny cooler is enough to help with my 5EAT's longevity. I don't launch it hard very often, maybe once every 2 or 3 weeks.

I'm interested in getting this done for my car, i've heard of the whole 20% less of hp to the wheels on our 5EAT's due to the transmissions problem on power transfer.

would the vb mod be able to overcome such a power loss?

currently i have a bone stock lgt as far as mods go, so basically this would be my first actual "power" mod you guys still think i should give it a go?

I don't think the valve body upgrade lowers your power losses. It just speeds up the gear changes, while also making them less smooth, which reduces the work on clutch packs and other transmission internals. It will speed up your gear changes and increase the life of your transmission.

The approximate drivetrain loss on manual transmissions on these cars is about 18%. On the 5EAT it is about 22%. So, you aren't losing that much more power really. My numbers may be a little bit off, but they are close.

I would install a transmission cooler ($50 for parts and about 1 hour of labor) and get an Accessport (to enable ecu flashes...stage 1 now, stage 2 later) for your first power mods.

I have the VB upgrade and I am very happy. No complaints on daily driving. I have a 5 month old baby and this was a concern, but it worked out fine. She sleeps like a baby (pardon the pun) in my car.

I would say this is a performance mod as well. The quicker the shifts the better the power gets to the ground. That said I wish I had done it at stage 2 on my car.

As for down time, figure in 4-5 working days and around $800-1000 depending on whether you pull the VB or have a mechanic do it.

I have the VB upgrade and I am very happy. No complaints on daily driving. I have a 5 month old baby and this was a concern, but it worked out fine. She sleeps like a baby (pardon the pun) in my car.

 

I would say this is a performance mod as well. The quicker the shifts the better the power gets to the ground. That said I wish I had done it at stage 2 on my car.

 

As for down time, figure in 4-5 working days and around $800-1000 depending on whether you pull the VB or have a mechanic do it.

That price is what kills me. You can find used 5eat transmission for between 1000-2000 dollars. $1000 for a VB mod seems a little steep. I wish it was more along the lines of $500 and it would already be on my car.

well, if you do it yourself, it is $695.00, no?

I dunno if it is a diy

Mike

yea the price is pretty heavy and i'm not too fond of the whole idea removing the vb's n shipping them off i'm trying to see what can be done locally. so far my local techie said that he could do some work on the solenoids to increase line pressure but he can't do anything on the actual vb's themselves.

and btw, what does the transmission cooler do? do you gain any power from that? i've been debating on whether to buy the ap or do the solenoid work first they both run around the same cost.

yea the price is pretty heavy and i'm not too fond of the whole idea removing the vb's n shipping them off i'm trying to see what can be done locally. so far my local techie said that he could do some work on the solenoids to increase line pressure but he can't do anything on the actual vb's themselves.

 

and btw, what does the transmission cooler do? do you gain any power from that? i've been debating on whether to buy the ap or do the solenoid work first they both run around the same cost.

tranny cooler just keeps the temps down.

Yeah... a transmission cooler just provides additional cooling to your transmission fluid. Supposedly, it cools it enough to double the life of the transmission. I read that on a lot of places on the net. So, it must be true.

ive been thinking about doing this mod for awhile now. the thing that stops me from doing it is the down time. if i could swap a vb in while i send mine out that would make the process alot smoother.

kinda wish IPT would do a core return program where they send you one allrdy fixed up and you ship them back yours.

legacy2005,

The power number you have in your title are almost the same as what my car is making with the 20g set-up. I was stage 2 for about 25,000 miles before that. I started to get 4-5 gear slipping after about 1000 miles with the 20g install. If you are making 300+ whp/wtq on a 5EAT one should really consider the VB upgrade. Yeah, it's pricey, but you have to pay to play.

im not to worried about the price its the down time that gets me. my car is a DD and i cant have it down for a week, let alone sitting at work on a lift for that long. if there way a way to have a spare VB or the exhange program i would do it in a heartbeat.

Yeah I can understand that. Keep in mind, if you have to rebuild the tranny you may be down even longer with more expense. Although I must admit the VB upgrade comes with no guarantee, but could add a bit of longevity. In addition, the car shifts so much better now!

im not to worried about the price its the down time that gets me. my car is a DD and i cant have it down for a week, let alone sitting at work on a lift for that long. if there way a way to have a spare VB or the exhange program i would do it in a heartbeat.

tt mikeyan. i sold him my stock one so there was no down time. He might have it up for sale as soon as his vb upgrade is done. I love my uograde, but the tranny is going back to IPT. The vb needs to be adjusted a little more and I think I blew up my tc or flex plate on the IPT race tranny. Harman is going to pull it out and inspect it.

You never had your TC modified? Whats wrong with you. Your 5EAT is alots of flight mileages...

tt mikeyan. i sold him my stock one so there was no down time. He might have it up for sale as soon as his vb upgrade is done. I love my uograde, but the tranny is going back to IPT. The vb needs to be adjusted a little more and I think I blew up my tc or flex plate on the IPT race tranny. Harman is going to pull it out and inspect it.

You never had your TC modified? Whats wrong with you. Your 5EAT is alots of flight mileages...

I love the tranny. I miss it right now. Yeah my tranny has enough flight mileage to go on vacation. I had the tc modified as well when I had the tranny fully built. Whats wrong with getting the tc modified. I just told ty to fully build it. Should I run a stock one instead Jimmy?

Nope, don't use stock TC. My TC was modified too.

I like to know what you blew in your TC. Hmmm, I'll call John..

I love the tranny. I miss it right now. Yeah my

tranny has enough flight mileage to go on vacation. I had the tc modified as well when I had the tranny fully built. Whats wrong with getting the tc modified. I just told ty to fully build it. Should I run a stock one instead Jimmy?

Nope, don't use stock TC. My TC was modified too.

 

I like to know what you blew in your TC. Hmmm, I'll call John..

It's gettng yanked out on tuesday and it should be at ipt by the 23rd. WE will see. I think it was the TC. We'll see. Right now, I'm down one subie and I got one left to drive:spin:

oops. sorry didn't see this til just now.

i ran my 5EAT all last season stg 2 with TDC maps. going to the track 4 or 5 times and autoxing 1-2 events per month for 4 months put more wear and tear on my tranny than realized. when i did the STI swap in January, the car ran like poo. first it was a bad map, and then after the map was fixed, it still ran like poo. my techs took it out for a "spirited" test drive and came back to tell me that 1-2 gears were really slipping. and here i thought, the car just sucked and i was ready to trade her in! so after some research, found out what the VB upgrade did and I called John at IPT. keep in mind, i'm in Anchorage, AK... look on the map... yep, pretty damn far away. not only is the LGT my daily driver, but my business requires me to be on the road a lot, go to customers houses or businesses, so being down at all was not an option.

After speaking with John a few times, I decided that $1000 was still cheaper than a new tranny. have you actually priced out a 5EAT?? even with paying cost (hubby works for the dealer), it would still cost $8000 for the tranny and install. so ya, spending $1000 was a lot cheaper than $8000. I had my VB overnighted to NJ, John worked on it the same day it was received and sent it back to me later that day. It took 4 days total including shipping time. I rented a car but had to wait another 2 days before I could install the VB back into the car (sitting at the dealer and we had to do it after hours).

total cost including a rental for 1 week was $1200. do i regret it? NO WAY! once the VB was installed, it was night and day difference. the car actually shifted when it was supposed to! stronger, cleaner, crisper shifts. and to say that it is not as smooth would be incorrect. the car actually shifted quickly, more like a manual than what it was.

now, i think back and wonder if i'd done it sooner, what stg 2 would have been like. and so far, no problems since the VB upgrade. i still track the car and drive it as my DD and work vehicle. road and dyno tuned, Jarrad from PDX seemed impressed with the VB upgrade, said my logs look pretty close to the MT (shifting). if he looked at them without knowing i have a 5EAT, he'd swear he was looking at a 5MT log.

*knocks on wood* so far so good, i'm happy i did it.