Back from the dead..

[WRXdan]

Anyone still running a different drop resistor on their 4EAT? I searched old threads and it seem like an okay mod if you find the correct resistor to use. Any further info???

[tris91ricer]

What exactly is the benefit? I've never heard of this, and since you and i both have 92 4EATs, then i guess we should be in on this one, huh?

I'll remember this thread.

[WRXdan]

More line pressure = quicker/harder shifts. I think the down side was shady downshifts?

[tris91ricer]

shady as in.. no engine braking anymore?

Which brings me to another question: rb5, or someone, i can't remember which thread, said he had a shift kit put on, and his shop made valve-body adjustments that made it super quick, but he lost engine braking.. can the valve body kinda adjust itself, or something so that it shifts better, and then drops the rpms if there is no throttle?
What i mean to say, is that when I'm driving, if i'm not giving it gas, in any gear, then the revs drop to about anywhere between 1200 and 2000.. i remember at one point it held itself up around 4k in gear, but lately, its dropped.. any idea?
I'll look into modded dropping resistors.. I'm still not sure what they are exactly, or where, for that matter, but I've got my manual handy, so i might have to be reading up, first..
Dan, you rock.

[WRXdan]

I'll rock better if my tranny wasn't so limp:)

The drop resistor has 4 leads (i think). I hope one set is for upshifts and the other is for downshifts. Then you could use two different resistor to keep the stock downshifts. But I know very little about how the resistor works and could be dreaming. I need to research.

[vrg3]

The dropping resistor is just a single resistor with two leads. It's mounted on the passenger side strut tower. On turbo models it's on the back side of the bracket that holds the boost control solenoid and pressure sensor and stuff, but on non-turbo models it should be right there on the front. It's encased in white ceramic.

I think some people were happy with the approach Smallcar used -- controlling its behavior based on manifold pressure. There's at least one thread already on this board about it.

[tris91ricer]

Thanks, V! What manifold exactly would be the control? Intake, I presume? How is this done? Perhaps some kind of primer on how Dropping Resistors work, or maybe a link of some kind might help.. I'll start searching now so that Vikash can beat me to it and post a link to a nice writeup on what dropping resistors are, what they do, and how we can mod them. He does this everytime, I swear.

[vrg3]

Yes, intake manifold pressure... I think Smallcar just used a Hobbs-type pressure switch.

I don't fully understand the dropping resistor thing, actually. I think the basic idea is just that it's used to partially open some solenoid during shifts or something... That solenoid was bleeding pressure off from something or something. And if you increase the resistance (or remove the resistor) you get more pressure since less is being bled off. But that was weird when driving at low load. So if you make the mod only active at high load (high manifold pressure), things work a lot more nicely. I remember back when I had a 4EAT Legacy I was going to try to make a circuit to vary the current based on input from a MAP sensor, but the Smallcar setup is much simpler.

[ultrasonic]

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EDIT: now that I re-read this thread, I realized I'm being redundant. What the hell.... I'll leave it.

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I remember looking into the Smallcar shift resistor kit when I was researching SVXs. Since all SVX's came with 4EAT, it was a pretty popular modification to remove, or disconnect, the resistor. The resistor regulates pressure in the transmission that controls how much time it takes for a gear change. The result is faster shifts. For SVX guys, faster shifts mean less heat generated during the shift, which equals (hopefully) longer transmission life. 4EAT failures being one of the achilles heels of the SVX.

The Smallcar shift kit uses intake manifold vacuum to operate a switch. Under light or moderate acceleration (not enough vacuum to trigger the switch) the stock resistor would be used, giving smoother shifts. At more agressive acceleration (higher vacuum), a switch would remove the resistor from the circuit, giving faster shifts. There was some adjustment in the vacuum threshold required to activate the switch, so you could set it up for your driving style.

http://www.smallcar.com/svx/tsk.htm

[vrg3]

You said it much more clearly than I, Steve. Thanks.