I have a couple spare governors, even a set of outlets with large factory holes in them. I’ll get that fancy digital scale out, try some lighter outers. Weather may limit my progress.....I’ll reportmy changes and results.
Sounds like your on the right path. This is the nitty gritty of a tranny build/modification that often gets ppl grumpy, but its almost impossible to nail it right first time.......every combo is different. Weight, gears, converter, engine vacuum, tire size, weight of rims and brakes etc all play into this
X2. In a completely stock engine, it is easy to get virtually any shift point you want, the more you step on it, the higher it shifts, and you can extend any shift, it's very linear. With a cammed engine, and performance converter, the engine loading is less linear. I had to play with my governor to get it to where I liked it, but it still isn't like a stock set up. My light throttle shift points are 10 MPH, and 28 MPH. If I step on it, they extend a little, but not much. AT WOT, it will shift at 5800 RPM. There isn't much variation between those extremes though. Step on it too much and the tires go up in smoke.
Yes, tuning transmission, engine, carb are all time consuming, but rewarding......especially if you can do it yourself with some advice from people with experience.......one of the great things about this site.
Drove the car yesterday afternoon......I didn’t modify the governor, I think for now with the improved 1-2 shift (less harsh by changing springs in the 1-2 accumulator valve) I’m going to leave well enough alone for now. Having fun with the line lock!
Have had a chance to do some more governor mods. Finding good info in regards to upping the 1-2 shift has been very slim to nil. David Butts (site member) started a thread modifying his governor to move the part throttle 1-2 shift up, so I’m using some of his info to work from. I went from 43 gram outer weights - which shifts 1-2 at approx 8-9 mph to 36 gram outers - this changed the part throttle 1-2 to 12 mph. A friend has machined a set of outers - completely windowed them, I will weigh, try those next. A few notes, lightening the large outers doesn’t seem to have effected the part throttle 2-3.....it’s still at 30-32 mph, which is great. At WOT with the 36 gram outers, it increased the 1-2 shift point from 4900 to 5000 rpm, so little change. Seems the inners, inner springs have the most effect on the WOT shift point. I’m going to try to get my 1-2 part throttle to about 15 mph, then fine tune the inner combination to stay at 4900-5000 wot shift points for this stockish 455. I’m hoping to get a higher part throttle 1-2 shift from the governor, then decrease the preload on the modulator to try to further reduce the harshness of the 1-2 part throttle shift.
My friend windowed a set of outers that are 30 grams. Next dry day, will test them. Here are some pics of the different outer weights. The 18 grams with weight suspended shows the effective nose weight of the modified outer.
Well tested the 30 gram outer weights, shifts at a consistent 12 mph on the part throttle 1-2. And 2-3 at 30.....so no change over the 36 gram outers. There isnt much left to remove on the windowed outers......not sure what next move should be. I’ll drive it this way for a while. Ive reached out to David Butts - who started a thread on the governor mods he was working on.
