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vit 3speed auto lockup convertor
Posted: Wed Oct 13, 2010 5:07 pm
by bazooked
is this really needed in a buggy? gettin the box rebuilt and was asked the question if i needed it, he said its as usefull as an ashtray on a motor bike

, was lookin at getin the valve body manulised aswell but thats more dollars, anyhow its running 2 transfers behind the auto, so was thinkin bout just doing a stock rebuild on it.
Re: vit 3speed auto lockup convertor
Posted: Thu Oct 14, 2010 8:43 pm
by joeblow
3 speed?....lock-up converter.....don't you mean 4 speed?
Re: vit 3speed auto lockup convertor
Posted: Thu Oct 14, 2010 9:07 pm
by bazooked
nope!, got a 3speed, they are a gm box, th180

, out of an escudo 1.3 efi
Re: vit 3speed auto lockup convertor
Posted: Fri Oct 15, 2010 9:08 am
by 1MadEngineer
haha, IMO if the guy building your auto asked that then MAYBE he really shouldn't be building your gearbox. Also as for 'manualised' mmmm... don't think so. Or is he casting and machining his own valve bodies?
Re: vit 3speed auto lockup convertor
Posted: Fri Oct 15, 2010 11:58 am
by bazooked
He did say to get rid of it , but I'm guessin Suzuki put it in there for a reason, so i want to no that reason lol, I can always leave it n there and just run a manual swith for it, as for the valve body he nos a guy that mods the valve bodies, he's charges bout 500 just for that.
Re: vit 3speed auto lockup convertor
Posted: Fri Oct 15, 2010 12:33 pm
by 1MadEngineer
bazooked wrote:He did say to get rid of it , but I'm guessin Suzuki put it in there for a reason, soninwant to no that reason lol, I can always leave it n there and just run a manual swith for it, as for the valve body he nos a guy that mods the valve bodies, he's charges bout 500 just for that.
wow 500bucks for 2 springs, man i am in the wrong game.....
what is the switch for? and where is the solenoid it activates?
Re: vit 3speed auto lockup convertor
Posted: Fri Oct 15, 2010 1:47 pm
by Gwagensteve
The TH180C is a trimatic with a lockup converter so 100% they are real. There were not sold int he Australian market, ut the auto is obviously from a JDM import.
Tech from the US where the TH180C was also available indicates the lockup converter solenoid normally fails and that the owners rarely, if ever notice or bother to fix it.
Whilst I can see the point of a manually controlled lockup converter, it doesn't sound like the TH180C solenoid is very durable so it would be likely to fail if used in low gears/high load in a buggy situation. Might be worth experimenting with.
PS the research I've done into trimatic manual valve bodies indicates that they normally delete compression braking- not ideal in an off road transmission. Also, there is no reverse pattern VB for the trimatic - a bit inconvenient. The compression braking thing might be ab;e to be worked around.
Steve.
Re: vit 3speed auto lockup convertor
Posted: Fri Oct 15, 2010 2:06 pm
by 1MadEngineer
my first truggy (a million years ago --- XRCC rd0) ran a vit th180 which i changed the front input to holden 6 then put my 5500rpm converter out of my drag car and a 202 up front, twin cases zook style!
Re: vit 3speed auto lockup convertor
Posted: Fri Oct 15, 2010 4:20 pm
by simcoz
Im running a built 3L30 (th180)in my zook.
it was a pain in the ass to make it full manual so we recased it with an aussie th180 case so it was a much simpler job.
Its not just a valve body swap to go full manual,you also need the seperator plate they make to go with it the govener blanking plate and a twin ring billet servo piston because the full manual kit lifts the pump pressure and will destroy the std piston in no time.
By going full manual you loose the lock up converter function as the oil path is blocked off by the new seperator plate.
there are differences between the th180 and the 3L30(suzuki),1st gear in the 3L30 is lower than the th180 so you use that in the aussie case when going full manual.The oil paths are a little different too.thats why we used the aussie case.
Going full manual gives you heaps more engine braking than a std box aswell.
if i think of anything else i will post up.
Re: vit 3speed auto lockup convertor
Posted: Fri Oct 15, 2010 4:45 pm
by bazooked
intresting info and thanks, i think i might leave it alone and run a switch for the lockup and play with it when its goin, havent really got the dollars to start modding the case alot now anyway

Re: vit 3speed auto lockup convertor
Posted: Sat Oct 16, 2010 8:28 am
by Gwagensteve
simcoz wrote:Im running a built 3L30 (th180)in my zook.
it was a pain in the ass to make it full manual so we recased it with an aussie th180 case so it was a much simpler job.
Its not just a valve body swap to go full manual,you also need the seperator plate they make to go with it the govener blanking plate and a twin ring billet servo piston because the full manual kit lifts the pump pressure and will destroy the std piston in no time.
By going full manual you loose the lock up converter function as the oil path is blocked off by the new seperator plate.
there are differences between the th180 and the 3L30(suzuki),1st gear in the 3L30 is lower than the th180 so you use that in the aussie case when going full manual.The oil paths are a little different too.thats why we used the aussie case.
Going full manual gives you heaps more engine braking than a std box aswell.
if i think of anything else i will post up.

Great tech

Re: vit 3speed auto lockup convertor
Posted: Fri Oct 22, 2010 12:54 pm
by offroader-rama
1MadEngineer wrote:my first truggy (a million years ago --- XRCC rd0) ran a vit th180 which i changed the front input to holden 6 then put my 5500rpm converter out of my drag car and a 202 up front, twin cases zook style!
i think i ended up with that for a little while had a aframe rear with huge ladder style rear trailing arms bundera diffs etc? i was told it was nick named "slinky"
Re: vit 3speed auto lockup convertor
Posted: Sat Oct 23, 2010 11:10 am
by Rhett
Thats the one