JPiroc87

Has anyone had problems to install a boost valve with O-rings on the sleeve (sealing against the bore in the pump body)?

I struggled for several hours before I finally gave up. The valve did not go into proper position with any reasonable amount of force. If I had forced it in, the pressure regulator spring would not have been able to push it back out against the snap ring, in case I had pushed it in too far (which I probably would have).The trans was in the car and I did not want to risk that I have to drop it and disassemble the pump. Would the hydraulic pressure have pushed the valve out against the snap ring? Is it necessary to use some sort of installation tool with this type of valve, e.g. a suitable tube with thin walls?

I finally installed the valve without O-rings. I have driven less than 100 miles since then. The shifts feel OK, but this thing is bothering me because the contact surface between the sleeve and the bore is now very small due to the empty o-ring groove, so I’m dropping the pan to install a new boost valve without O-rings.

Which .500” boost valve makes come without O-rings? I know that the Sonnax valve has O-rings and the one that I have came with a TransGo kit. What about Superior and TCI? Are there others?

IROC212

iTrader: (1)

Mine came with a Fairbanks kit I got awhile ago, no O-rings on it and works fine. Drops in front pump same as the stock .472 valve.

JPiroc87

Here is a picture of the Sonnax valve, which has two O-rings:
http://www.powerglide.com/parts/parts/77917-500.htm

If you look closely, you can see a step in the pump bore. It is not the groove for the snap ring. The snap ring groove is slightly further in. When I tried to install the valve, it did not go past the step. With a suitable installation tool I could probably have got it past the step, but the O-ring might have jammed in the groove instead.

I searched the net and this is what I found:
Sonnax .500" with O-rings # 77917-500
Raptor .500" without O-rings # ??
Superior .471" without O-rings # K022
TCI .500" O-rings or not unknown # 374301
Makco Distributing .500" without O-rings # 35333A (bulkparts.com)
KDS Performance .500" without O-rings # TR10019

As far as I could find out, Fairbanks uses Superior boost valves and the largest valve available is .471" (?)
My problem is that I can't just (don't want to) order a valve from one of the suppliers, because the handling charges (to Finland) will be 5-10 times higher than the price of the valve. The dealers that I have contacted can supply a valve for about 2 times the US sales price, but so far I have only been offered the TCI valve and the dealer does not know whether it has O-rings or not. I e-mailed TCI, but they haven't answered. Hopefully someone here has used or seen the TCI valve.

V8Astro Captain

iTrader: (1)

I have the Sonnax O-ring'd valve. I didn't have any problems putting it in tho.

I convered it in trans fluid before I installed it.

JPiroc87

Mine must be a Monday item then. Either it has too thick O-rings, or too shallow grooves. I did cover it with trans fluid, at least five times during the efforts. I tried to push evenly in the center and criss-cross near the edges, with no result. Finally I tried brutal force and pushed so hard that it left a mark on the O-ring (the edge of the groove started to cut into the rubber).

I suppose I could look for smaller O-rings, but I probably wouldn’t find the optimum size. Therefore I have decided to get one without O-rings. How bad is it to drive around without O-rings on the valve I have by the way?

Pro Built Automatics

There will be a "slight" loss, but you would have to have a pressure guage and compare them both to see it. Put in the other valve and don't worry about it.

JPiroc87

I don’t have another .500” valve to put in yet. I can get a TCI valve, but I don’t know if it has O-rings or not (dealer not very service minded). I have a pressure gauge, but I have drained the fluid already and I want to replace the valve. Just don’t know whether I should order the TCI valve??

GMTech

The amount of pressure loss is minimal, but when your a warranty conscious tech, trying to get maximum perforamance out of what you build, every little detail gets handled, no matter how "small". You will be just fine with the regular boost valve. After all, thats what the factory uses and many of those transmissions have lasted over 100,000 miles.

I personally have not had trouble installing a valve with O-rings, but I guess there is a first for everything.

JPiroc87

Getting every detail right is exactly what I am aiming at. The transmission sits behind an engine with a 12 psi Procharger (+headers, runners, cam etc.) and in front of drag radials. I have put in the TransGo kit, a smaller turbine and an oil cooler. The boost valve is the thing still bothering me. I'm convinced that a valve without O-rings is fully OK, but a valve that should have O-rings installed without O-rings is probably not very good. The sealing surface at the lower collar is almost nothing, when the O-ring is missing.

I e-mailed TCI again Friday morning, but still no answer.

82camaro

TCI doens't have o-rings--it's what I installed in my car. It's been trouble free for years.

JPiroc87

Thanks.
I also want to give justice to the TCI customer support: They just replied to my e-mail and confirmed that their .500" boost valve (#374301) does not have O-rings.

RBob

iTrader: (1)

If you are dong the boost valve install while the trans is in the vehicle, the upper plunger (pressure regulator?) can hang up and stop the assembly from going all of the way in (the piece I am referring to is the one that gets the ridge ground off of). Rebuilders don't have this problem as the trans is upside down.

When I did my TransGo install I gave up on the larger boost valve thinking that it was oversize. Well, I couldn't get the stock one back in either!

I ended up with the larger (proper one) installed. I needed to keep running it up and down, almost jiggling it before all of the sudden the boost/regulator lineup went into the pump far enough to get the snap ring on.

I also had a metal rod handy to wedge under it to keep it from popping back out as I was doing the sanp ring install.

RBob.

JPiroc87

Yep, I noticed that too. But as I said, I worked for hours with this thing. When I couldn’t install the new valve with the O-rings, I tried the old one several times and no problem. I did however have to work it a little up and down as you mention (some of the times), in order to get the pressure regulator valve in correctly. Then I tried the new valve without O-rings and no problem. I had a short discussion with myself and concluded that the bigger valve without O-rings must be better than the stock valve anyhow, because the sealing between the valve (plunger) and the sleeve must be more important than the sealing between the sleeve and the bore(?) I have driven less than 100 miles since then and the Procharger has not been hooked up to the throttle body. I want to get this concern out of the way first. Remember that I also got cutting marks on the O-ring, when I tried brutal force (symmetrically all around).