Hi All!!! Well, fantastic results! Second gear grind is gone!!! Weeeeeeeeeeeee Haaaaaaaaaa

Shifts f^&%#*& GREAT!!!! Never better!. I would recommend all these changes I did to anyone with an S197..

 

I'm thrilled at the outcome of these mod's!! What a deference in driving experience!

 

I would guess your clutch is not fully disengaging and any more money you throw at the problem, short of replacing the clutch, will be wasting your precious funds. If your syncros were that bad, they be bad everytime in 1-2 and not just under load. Get a Mcleod RST and quit screwing around with clutches that were not designed for high HP and racing.

Look at every other high HP car here and notice that we all run the RST/RXT. Its the magic ticket when it comes to shifting high HP S197s and to keeping the transmissions alive. Do it. You will love it.

 

I hope your success continues.

 

A large part of the problem was the clutch line which if you think about it, makes perfect sense. Look at this video link below, it goes over the problem with the stock line. As soon as I changed over to the new JHR line, all the problems disappeared. When you don't have the correct amount of flow (not just pressure), it will affect the clutch disengagement travel and speed at which it moves..

 

For anyone who is thinking about any of these mods especially the clutch line, do it! Im still pounding on her with no issues at all! 1 - 2 shifts at WOT and she shifts like a dream...

 

Very nice that the new line fixed the issue. I wish that I had known about the line replacement when I did my new slave a few months ago.

I can powershift every 1-4 at WOT, but shoose not to because I want the tranny to last.

 

I cut my OEM plastic line and took some measurements. The line ID was .170 ID, the area at the crimp for the fitting it goes down to .070. That is an awfully big restriction, the ford engineers screwed up there.

 

I still think it must have something to do with the different clutches, flywheels and install. Maybe the restriction in the line makes for a perfect storm, but with the stock clutch and flywheel, spec stage 2 clutch and spec billet steel flywheel and now spec stage 3+ with billet flywheel, I have never had a grinding issue. I've not shifted the stage 3+ at 6k from 1st to 2nd, but have from 3rd to 4th without an issue. No power shifting of course.

I'll test the 3+ at the track very soon.

 

I have done allot of power shifting and fast shifting from 1st - 2nd. All of the s197 mustangs have the POS plastic clutch line except the GT500 which they did right. When you see over a 50% a drop in tubing ID (in this case more like 60%), your fluid volume is going to drop drastically which in turn is going to cause a disengagement responsiveness problem at some point during shifting. This will be more noticeable with high pressure clutch setups. My clutch is rated for 600ft lbs and is stiff so, I noticed it shortly after I pulled the OEM out and installed the Excedy 600.

This problem is a known issues, not everyone experiences in the same degree but as you add higher performance clutch systems, you will start to see a drop in clutch responsiveness. I can tell you that my clutch now is smoother then it has ever been, OEM clutch or otherwise..