ive been reading about these "shift kits" and they sound interesting, but i was wondering if someone can tell in a little more detail precisely what the allow (and dont allow) you to do,

as far as what gears does it give you access to,
does it let you downshift (and if so it is safe if someone didnt know what they were doing with it)
and what kind of install is it?
is there a manual/automatic 'mode'? or is it always 'on'?

what kind of things can you customize?

etc etc

ps i have a v6 auto (03')


edit:
off the transgo site:
in that case what does the kit do?? just make firmer shifts?

 

im pretty sure thats all a shift kit does. i hear a higher stall converter will also help lots but you might need a transmission cooler if you decide to to go the converter route. i know that you can get programmers to raise or lower your shift points but they are quite expensive.

 

the shift kit just makes the aod's shifts firmer and happen faster. it will still shift at the stock rpm/speed level.

if you want it to shift later you can adjust the trans cable hooked to your tb.

no shift kits dont give you a auto/manual option. its always "on" and there is nothing manual about it. under low rpms the shift kit is hardly noticable but at high rpms you really feel the gears hit

 

what about when it says you can 'manually downshift to any gear' i thought normally you couldnt/shouldnt do that with a regular auto? and on the auto shifter all you have is 1, 2, and drive - how could you shift to between 3 and 4?

 

you cant...you can only control shifting from 1st-2nd

 

in a drag race you only use 1-3.....unless your racing on the street and going all the way up to the low/mid 100's

 

go to the website for the various companies you are looking at buying a kit from and see if they don't provide some more information on exactly what their kits will/will not do for you or call them on their tech line and ask all the questions you want.

 

my brother has a B&M shiftkit in his cavalier. it has 3 modes. 1 = regular shifts,2 = semi-hard shift, 3 = extremely hard shift. pretty much all a shift kit does is make the tranny shift harder but it can do other things.

 

in other words...puts your tranny through hell if you drive it hard.