Take if from one who has a solid gold transmission in his SHO. (At least, it seems that I have enough money in it so it should be solid gold!) do not cut corners when you have the transmission rebuilt. When my transmission failed due stripped out splines in the pump, I really wanted to have it rebuilt correctly.
I priced a Doug Lewis trans. With the core charges and having to have it shipped to the Pacific Northwest, and returning the core, I felt it was too expensive. Should have bit the bullet. With what happened later, I would have spent less money. I insisted on a shift kit, but the Ford store was real uncomfortable installing it. I got the car back, trans worked, but not real well. Runway RPM, not downshifting properly, etc. They told me that it was just the nature of the beast, it was a mazada transmission, they all did it and I had to live with it. I bought a TedB LPM, had Ted set the shift points for maximum firmness shifting. This helped, but trans still shifted like doggy do-do. I was very unhappy.
About one year after the Ford store “fixed” the trans, it started shifting extremely harsh between low and second gear at light throttle. It was just out of their warranty, and anyway, since I had insisted on the shift kit, they weren’t going do anything about it. I am a Network Administrator in a Law Firm, legal action was considered.
We traced the problem down to a broken accumulator spring. Had another shop fix it. Realized that only a small part of the original shift kit was installed the first time. Bought another shift kit. This shop really wasn't too hot to install this shift kit either. I insisted. Got the car back, trans still shifted poorly. This time, it started intermittently slipping. Took me three months before it would slip when I could get the tech in the car to show him what it was doing. Finally got the job done. This time, I told him to replace everything that could possibly cause shifting problems. He replaced all of the solenoids and a number of piston assemblies. He went over the shift kit diagrams again and made sure everything was 100%. Now, the trans works properly. Up shifts at WOT were never a problem, but now they are very crisp even at part throttle. Down shifts are great. No rpm runway and the giant clunk when downshifting is gone. I am extremely happy, now I am even starting to like my car again.
We hear really good things about the Doug Lewis trans. The fact that he starts out with a Ford rebuild, and Ford replaces a lot of things in these transmissions that the average shop doesn’t, is most likely a good part of his success. I firmly believe that if you cut corners here, you will be sorry. Take out a loan, save your sheckles, put your wife on the street, (just kidding) but DO NOT CUT CORNERS when it comes time to fix your trans.
.Good luck with the trans.
