Extreme front airdam - a test

[GasSavers_RoadWarrior]

Originally Posted by landspeed

I got just over 35MPG(us), in very suboptimal conditions (downhill at 110km/h with braking, and uphills so steep that the torque convertor unlocks. On my car it is a very 'slippery' torque convertor, so when it unlocks, the revs jump from e.g. 1900RPM to 2500rpm :O (causing a 25%-33% increase in fuel consumption with no benefit at all).

I don't know if you can get it down there, but since you're junking that tranny anyway, you might want to try Universal Tractor Fluid in it for a bit instead of ATF. This is a tractor hydraulic fluid designed for hydraulics, transmissions, wet clutches and wet brakes, make sure you get the one for wet clutches and wet brakes. The advantages of this stuff are generally that it runs cooler, better lubricity, higher temperature tolerance, and a good package of friction modifiers for allowing firm TC lockup. It's been the secret "trick" fluid of many a drag racer. It's made from group 3 high VI oils, so it's as good as some stuff that lube companies are calling "synthetic" these days. The fact that it's designed for $50,000 commercial/industrial/agricultural trannies in harsh, severe duty environments, makes me think that it's better than ATF for $5000 trannies. However trannies specifically needing Ford Type F, Mercon V, or ATF +3/+4 should probably stick with those, but everything that needs the generic dexron/mercon stuff should handle it fine and quite likely improve.

Here in North America, a further bonus is that it is available cheaper than the cheapest ATF If you browse tranny fluid labels in the store, and compare the listed commercial applications, you'll see that only the expensive synthetic multivehicle fluids are approved for the same applications that the UTF is... so I figure you're getting something "worth" 3-4x the price in your vehicle....

Anyway, just figured on passing that on because I thought it might make your torque convertor behave a little better, firmer lockup and less slush, may also firm up shifting a tad.

[landspeed]

Just been searching and found this:

Posted by: Road Warrior Sep 5 2007, 07:56 PM
IMO anything that's not an A604 (or derived therefrom) will "live" with just about anything in it. If you wanna get funky with it, you can do what I did to my 3 speed and put TDH Universal Tractor Fluid in it

But then I just shiftkitted it and raised line pressure a tad too, so you might not attribute my perceived benefits to the fluid, which are, firm TC lockup at ~65-70kph, revs down to ~2600 at 100kph highway speed from nearer 3000. Also meant to run cooler than ATF and survive overheating better. But I suggest you do your own research online if you're interested in that.

http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache...lnk&cd=3&gl=nz

Although I guess that is you

If it works in my gearbox, and if it reduces the torque convertor slipping... I think it is worth a try. My gearbox uses Dexron Type III ATF - I guess that means it should be OK with universal tractor fluid?

The other thing is, there is no way I can drain all the old fluid out - would that be a problem? I could maybe do 2-3 fluid changes to wash out most of it however (but would need to drive it between each change). Did you somehow empty all the old fluid from your transmission before adding the tractor fluid?

OK, Just read this too : http://www.mpgresearch.com/forum/vie...hp?f=49&t=1758

(Also by yourself, I presume)

OK, what do you think of this one:

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Business-fa...-154994721.htm

Any ideas? It is the only one I can find on google.co.nz under 'Universal Tractor Fluid'. However, if it isn't good, I will have a better look. This is the farming capital of New Zealand and we have many tractors, and also a degree of US influence (lots of V8 cars and so on), so it must be available - I might check out a farming store over the weekend!

[ZugyNA]

Originally Posted by landspeed

The other thing is, there is no way I can drain all the old fluid out - would that be a problem? I could maybe do 2-3 fluid changes to wash out most of it however (but would need to drive it between each change). Did you somehow empty all the old fluid from your transmission before adding the tractor fluid?

* find a manual for your car...find the TOTAL fluid capacity for your auto

* look at the back of your radiator for the 2 cooling lines usually going into the bottom of it at back...either one will work, but you might need to add some temporary hose to direct fluid into a container.

* with the front up on ramps...put this line in a bucket...run the car at IDLE in NEUTRAL till the flow almost stops...shut it off. Best to put his fluid in a clear bottle to see it's condition and to measure it. Put this same amount back in the filler tube and repeat the process until you've replaced the fluid with the full capacity amount.

* during all this you need to be careful when removing the hoses on the rad...check their condition and replace them with rubber hose specifically made for this purpose if they are hard and brittle...use NEW clamps. Be very gentle with the hose barbs on the rad...or you might cause a leak.

* this will replace most of the fluid in the trans...might want to do this 1X per year. FIRST time you do it is is best to remove the pan...clean it out and replace the filter or screen BEFORE.

[GasSavers_RoadWarrior]

That looks like it might be the stuff. You'd want to read the back to see if it was okay for wet clutches and brakes, just to confirm it has the friction modifiers in it, there's also a couple of CAT and Allison specs that the stuff should meet, to help confirm it's suitable.

The "Name Brand" that the performance guys are using is John Deer Hy-Gard tractor fluid. Now there's a reason I didn't go for that... I have to deal with winter and Hy-Gard comes in two viscosities, normal, for "summer" and folks in the southern stats can drive that all year, and a low viscosity for winter. The Walmart TDH UTF I'm using is between those two, because I don't want to change out my tranny fluid twice a year. If I was further north, I might have gone for the low viscosity or a "winter" fluid for all year, but the specs of this one seem to match my climate better. It's good to -25C I think, whereas the regular Hy-gard starts gelling around -10, and the winter stuff is good down to -40 or -50C.

I originally had it in as just a "half" fill without draining the torque convertor or flushing, meaning I just dropped the tranny pan, changed the filter and filled back up with the UTF... At this time I had also modified the differential with a Ford Traction Lock "S" spring, to make it into a halfassed limited slip differential. However, this didn't hold up very well to street use, the temper of the spring changed due to lack of full custom friction coating work and getting hot in use, and it shattered inside the differential, punching a hole in the case... so I had to have the tranny open again to clean that mess up, patched up the hole with a "tinkers patch" and JB Weld, and refilled with UTF again, so, with the double change I've got about 90% UTF in there with just a trace of the old Dexron II/Mercon III. Actually, might have got diluted more than that, because I had a tranny cooler line spraying fluid last month and had to add another quart.

So, you don't wanna just take my word for it...
http://www.rosslertrans.com/RECOMMENDED%20FLUIDS.htm
Recommended for high HP transmissions there (Dunno why they don't say it for the lower HP builds, but by 1500HP, it's one of the only things that's gonna stand up to it)

http://www.mercedesshop.com/shopforu...d.php?t=187198
Couple of guys who like how it runs in their Mercedes

http://www.fordmuscle.com/forums/c4-...rans-good.html
Discussion on a Ford Forum

http://www.turbomustangs.com/smf/ind...?topic=58907.0
More ford people on it..

http://www.t6p.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3334
And the turbo buick crowd..

You'll see some claims in those that make your ears prick up like "better lubrication" "tightening up the torque convertor" which should all mean better transmission efficiency for the fuel economy driver.

As for where to get it, yes, farm supply places might be the best bet, ask if it's Hy-Gard equivalent/compatible and it should be the right stuff. Don't know what your prices will be like, here it seems the "name brand" stuff is on a par with the price of regular ATF.

[8307c4]

I bet you would've gotten more out of it by skipping that 600 mile drive

As for automatic transmission fluid changes, if you DIY every 10,000 miles then the drainage issue becomes insignificant. Interestingly enough 10,000 miles happens to be the recommended DIY interval.