For those who have had aluminum valve body for any length of time. Your thoughts on them and which one do you have.

I bought a FTI unit. If I had got to run it some (well lot more than few shots)I could answer on their behalf. Since that is not the case I am hoping for few reply's about their piece as well as others.

Quicker reaction times, BTE

Unless you looking to save 9lbs I see no benefit. I had one and after about 2 years the TB release became very inconsistent, some say it is because of the steel valves in the aluminum bores. Maybe that has since changed

Your results may vary

2 years on a trans specialties with 0 issues.

I bought a Coan.
TB Valve would not go in VB
Hand sanded valve and used a valve guide hone to try and make bore in VB slightly larger
Valve kept sticking once solenoid was energized
At home it worked fine
Went to track, brake would not release after backing out of trailer.
Warmed trans up and it released and kept working no more problem.
RT’s were not better and if anything were worse.
Pulled valve body out and installed an iron ATD Hipster out of my spare
Trans is faster and no issues.
Last race I ran went .003 with a good amount of delay on a .370 tree at a track that’s usually tight but that was fine compared to where I had been at earlier in the year

I can not recommend a Coan and only bought theirs because their rep is good and it looked like a good piece.

Aluminum should be sleeved with steel or iron in my opinion to prevent what I experienced.

I sold 2 other iron pro tree valve bodies and regretted my choice of that Coan

Was a very time consuming, expensive waste just looking to speed up my pro tree rt’s

I've gone three full seasons on two FTI valve bodies. I got a third last fall. If someone had iron high/low brakes that were readily available and didn't have to jump through hoops to get them I wouldn't be running aluminum valve bodies.

SID NEAL valve body FTW…

quote:

Originally posted by SP 124X:
I've gone three full seasons on two FTI valve bodies. I got a third last fall. If someone had iron high/low brakes that were readily available and didn't have to jump through hoops to get them I wouldn't be running aluminum valve bodies.

What issues are you having?

Wondering why someone has not come out with VB with a steel sleeve insert , if nothing else on the TB valve.

quote:

Originally posted by wideopen231:
Wondering why someone has not come out with VB with a steel sleeve insert , if nothing else on the TB valve.

It should be obvious, it’s not needed

I bought a trans with billet valve body and the first week out lights would go from 00 to 07 in 4-5 passes. Changed solenoid with no change, changed button and no change. Thought maybe i was having an off day so tried it another week and some issue, put my other trans with iron valve body back in and lights where fine. Just shipped trans back to see if they see an issue. If they don’t ill send them a core and they can fix me an iron valve body.

FTI ^^^

quote:

Originally posted by wideopen231:

quote:

Originally posted by SP 124X:
I've gone three full seasons on two FTI valve bodies. I got a third last fall. If someone had iron high/low brakes that were readily available and didn't have to jump through hoops to get them I wouldn't be running aluminum valve bodies.

What issues are you having?

Wondering why someone has not come out with VB with a steel sleeve insert , if nothing else on the TB valve.

Exactly what C Hodge posted above. After some trial and error I've bandaided the problem and both cars that had aluminum valve bodies had very consistent RTs this season with multiple drivers.

According to FTI there is nothing wrong with the aluminum valve bodies but I've seen and heard many others with the same problem.

sounds like there IS a problem with FTI's valve body but there is no issue with BTE’s aluminum valve body…



which is in both my car's BTE power glide transmissions.

It is an FTI but they where quick to get the shipping set up to ship it back so they could try to figure out the issue.

Trust me Ed, BTE has had there fair share of valvebody issues just like EVERY company. The most annoying thing about the bte is that you have to shim the solenoids to get everything in time. And that has been every bte valvebody. Funny enough, the trans specialties looks identicle to the BTE. You litterally cannot tell them apart, the only difference TS does, is they send them with a .100 plastic shim to put in place of the typical gasket.

Says you. Meanwhile, I have no issues with either trans, either valve body and the checks in my trailer walls is proof!

quote:

Originally posted by 1320racer:
Says you. Meanwhile, I have no issues with either trans, either valve body and the checks in my trailer walls is proof!

Didnt say you didnt, and didnt they dont have good stuff. I said, they ship bad parts everyday. Just like EVERY other manufactor out there. It happens bud. Alot of people would argue trans specialties converters arent fast or consistent. But i have customers that have converters that were everybit as good as all the big names. You know as well as i do that all companies have good and bad. At end of day, its who you like on the other end of the phone or cash register.

I wish Transman Steve Oldani was still here... oh, and Shooter too!

my money is green and good everywhere. When it comes to my racing operation, at the end of the day all that matters to me is on track performance, consistency, longevity and reputation. I have friends in the aftermarket industry who's stuff I won't use as well I've had manufacturers offer to give me parts/components that I've turned down because their stuff isn't faster, isn't better or they don't have a good reputation.

That said, here's BTE manufacturing THEIR aluminum power glide valve body almost 8 years ago that you implied is made by TS...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFNR5QojTcw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fc2EVlTqpgo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57NmKYtG2rU

quote:

Originally posted by 1320racer:
my money is green and good everywhere. When it comes to my racing operation, at the end of the day all that matters to me is on track performance, consistency, longevity and reputation. I have friends in the aftermarket industry who's stuff I won't use as well I've had manufacturers offer to give me parts/components that I've turned down because their stuff isn't faster, isn't better or they don't have a good reputation.

That said, here's BTE manufacturing THEIR aluminum power glide valve body almost 8 years ago that you implied is made by TS...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFNR5QojTcw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fc2EVlTqpgo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57NmKYtG2rU

To my knowledge, no one company is truly making everything in house. My question i would like to know, is how many of these companies are buying some of the products from oversees. The companies that do buy from oversees is finishing them in house.