PLEASE give me honest feedback

[a20a3rdGen]

Alright my 88 Lx-I has an auto transmission. Ive always wanted to swap the transmission because ive heard of so many people on this board doing it...plus its more fun driving a stick....anyway My grandfather gave me this car with the auto trans rebuilt professionaly by a shop. Which by the way the auto doesnt even have 5000 miles on it so its pretty fresh...So my problem is that i have EVERYTHING i need for a manual swap in my garage right now. But i cant decide if i wanna "throw out" the BRAND new auto....or swapping in the 88 manual. But also the MAIN reason why i would wanna Swap the trans is because i heard the manuals have longer gear ratios which in return gives you more out of each gear than an auto......The only thing thats stopping me is the fact that I wanna go with a turbo setup in the future and from the "Turbo" Section it says that running an auto box with a turbo can have good advantages because when an auto shifts, the engine stays under load which keeps the turbo spooled up ready for the next gear to come. So being that my auto is rebuilt it seems like going turbo would be a good Idea Right??? PLEASE correct me if im wrong...I need some help.
I'm really stuck on what to do.

[gfrg88]

i think that would be a good idea, an auto with turbo would be great and it should the tranny should be pretty happy

[snoopyloopy]

well, you can always sell the rebuilt tranny on ebay if you don't want it to go to complete waste. or, you can turbo your car and then kill the tranny with the turbo then swap to manual. your choice, really. because the auto tranny may not be able to handle so much power for long after you turbo it.

[gfrg88]

exactly how do you now that the auto isnt good for turbo???? has ANYONE on here tried it before?? not that i now of, just make sure you have something to cool the trans fluid good, like two trans coolers or something....

[B16KILLA]

exactly how do you now that the auto isnt good for turbo???? has ANYONE on here tried it before?? not that i now of, just make sure you have something to cool the trans fluid good, like two trans coolers or something....

I agree, and NO NEUTRAL DROPPING..... I have an auto also i think right before i do a 5 speed swap i'll turbo to see how long it will last.

[a20a3rdGen]

See thats another thing i was likeing about the idea about a turboed auto accord. I dont see many of them and it would be nice to have something different. And then u know maybe if my turbo set-up kicks ass people wont doubt autos so much... haha

[gfrg88]

haha neutral dropping, i used to do that with my first car, 1986 sentra, i think thats probably why the tranny started leaking like a mofo

yeah no one on here has a turbo automatic, you would be the coolest guy around

[a20a3rdGen]

But can someone tell me if a manual has taller gear ratios than an automatic....i mean are there any REAL specific differences in the way your car performs with a Manual than an Automatic? If the main difference with a stick is being able to go into redline, I can go one tick into redline if i have the pedal to the floor with my auto....so can anyone else think of any other big difference Instead of shifting control???

[spnrx]

Well if you wanna sell it I'm interested. My tranny stopped working recently.

[speedpenguin]

But can someone tell me if a manual has taller gear ratios than an automatic....i mean are there any REAL specific differences in the way your car performs with a Manual than an Automatic? If the main difference with a stick is being able to go into redline, I can go one tick into redline if i have the pedal to the floor with my auto....so can anyone else think of any other big difference Instead of shifting control???

I think the Auto will have taller ratios, because it has one less gear.

[b8er]

if your worried about having to re-spool your turbo inbetween shift then all you have to go is add a BOV and instead of letting the bov just shoot the excess air into the atmosphere just throw some pluming on the bov and run it into the exhuats manifold with a one way valve so that everytime you go to shift all the extra air will just go right back into the turbo keeping it spooled between shifts, that or shift faster, aha

[ex1z7]

^ is that not what a reciprocater valve is for?

The problem with turbocharging an automatic transmission, tends to be the transmission doesn't have the strength to handle the power. It was rebuilt, that doesn't mean it was rebuilt to hold 300 horsepower. Theres a reason people do upgraded transmissions when they boost, twin plate clutches and stronger gears...

You could swap in the manual, and keep the automatic for when/if the stick tranny breaks, then you have a transmission you can throw back into the car if need be and you know it's not going to fail you - given you don't have the money to replace what may break on a 5 speed.

The turbo/automatic idea is a good idea, however, you'll have to break open that new transmission soon enough to replace the internals with something that'll keep the power, as well as do some extra work to make sure it doesn't fall to pieces. Certain transmissions are built for power, others are built for economy cars like ours. Supra TT Auto's for example.. perfect for the car.

Unless you're seriously dragracing, IMO, auto's and turbo's aren't a good match - they are if you want to get down the strip in 8 seconds and can't shift fast enough or well enough, but as far as everyday driving goes + a turbo, I'd rather have a stick.

[ghettogeddy]

haha neutral dropping, i used to do that with my first car, 1986 sentra, i think thats probably why the tranny started leaking like a mofo
yeah no one on here has a turbo automatic, you would be the coolest guy around

i completly demolished my spider gears on my volvo doing neautral drops good thing its rear wheel drive man would that thing swingum lol volvo gone wild lol

[a20a3rdGen]

Well Speed Penguin what you said about auto gear ratios being taller because autos have one less gear, I dont know about that because my trans is 5 speed auto...but i dont know maybe thier counting over drive or something...lol i really dont know Squat about autos

[ghettogeddy]

no most autos are 4 speed but then again the 5 gear on a manual has almos the same gear ratio so it can almost be considered overdrive

[speedpenguin]

3G autos are 4speeds. Overdrive is just a really tall gear for cruising, it's still just a gear. If you have a 5speed auto then you have some crazy custom tranny and you need to tell everyone where you got it right now.

[gfrg88]

It was rebuilt, that doesn't mean it was rebuilt to hold 300 horsepower. Theres a reason people do upgraded transmissions when they boost, twin plate clutches and stronger gears...

i dont think hes going to be running anywhere near 300 hp...........

[B16KILLA]

i dont think hes going to be running anywhere near 300 hp...........

I agree, I think our auto trannies can take a conservative set up- like 190 whp.

[snoopyloopy]

which leads to our next question. have you developed a goal and mapped out a plan of reaching that goal yet?

[AccordEpicenter]

i blew my auto at the track running 17.3. If you wanna get serious, go with a manual, i went to a 16.2 on the same setup with a 5 speed conversion. The auto gears are much longer, i could do around 70mph in 2nd gear in my auto holding it to the fuel cutoff. My 5 speed will do the same at 60 ish

[gfrg88]

mike, A20A1, had a hard time trying to blow his tranny, i remember him saying that somwhere. he had something like two transmition coolers i think.

[a20a3rdGen]

well i could have sworn my auto was 4 speed but the label under the hood says otherwise....It says 5 speed auto Transmission

[Accordtheory]

For acceleration, you don't want 'tall' gears. That's just another way of saying that when you shift, your rpm will drop way down, pulling your engine out of its power band and sabotaging your acceleration. What you would want ideally is a transmission with infinitely variable gearing that would keep your engine exactly at its hp peak as your car accelerates.

Now, as far as automatics and turbos go, they do have a couple of advantages over a manual. One is the ability to rev higher vs a given low vehicle speed due to the 'slip' of the torque converter, spooling the turbo a little more quickly. The other is the fact that you don't have to close the throttle to shift. (no 'powershifting' for me)

However, that stupid fluid coupling.. aka the torque converter, also wastes a lot of power, dissipating it into the fluid as heat. Locking the torque converter clutch just results in the equivalent of a manual transmission with fewer, longer gears and more parasitic drag.