[enrita]

Originally Posted by Beemw335

Can you tell me at what power levels you noticed slippage?

is very difficult to notice slippage. at least i did not notice it. What helped me was actuallly racing and pbox times. During last event my times picked up 1 second every run .
Car was overrevving between shifts and did not want to shift anymore from 4-5th gear.
I would say after 450 whp its a lottery. Maybe using a tranny cooler would help to preserve the tranny longer .

[enrita]

Originally Posted by vasillalov

Interesting...

I read a comment in a recently posted thread in a forum that we dare not speak of that Level10 upgrade kit is nothing more than the OEM rebuild kit + some shims....

dont care and i dont want to turn this thread in a Level 10 sucks thread . Time will tell and i will keep you guys posted. As far as i know its working pretty well for another forum member pushing 500 whp. As long as it lasts at 500 whp and shifts a tad faster i am happy with it.

[GeorgeSmooth]

Good luck enrita. I reckon you will be able to run high boost with much more confidence now.
Looking at going this route as well although I have found a solution local to me that can add more clutches.
On about 550whp (mustang type) the gearbox has lasted about 1000km with slippage starting to become very evident even when using lower boost maps. I knew I was going to toast the transmission but had to leave evidence for when the build starts in regard to the weak points. Should be upgrading in the next month or two and will fill you guys in on the findings.

[enrita]

Originally Posted by GeorgeSmooth

Good luck enrita. I reckon you will be able to run high boost with much more confidence now.
Looking at going this route as well although I have found a solution local to me that can add more clutches.
On about 550whp (mustang type) the gearbox has lasted about 1000km with slippage starting to become very evident even when using lower boost maps. I knew I was going to toast the transmission but had to leave evidence for when the build starts in regard to the weak points. Should be upgrading in the next month or two and will fill you guys in on the findings.

good luck to you too yeah when you reach a certain power the transmission goes bad extremely quickly of course depending on the use you do .
I will add a trans cooler as well next spring.

[GeorgeSmooth]

Originally Posted by enrita

good luck to you too yeah when you reach a certain power the transmission goes bad extremely quickly of course depending on the use you do .
I will add a trans cooler as well next spring.

I am avoiding the trans cooler as I do not track the car but only drag race so I want to make sure the trans oil is up to operating temp rather quickly.

[amullo]

Good luck with the upgrade! I´ll look forward to seeing how it does IRL pulls.

[Alan l.]

Good luck man. I too saw a lot of horror stories about level10 back in my Subaru and E46 days. I went with IPT and also dropped over 4k on my "built" trans just to have it fail within 6 months. The owner John tried to blame it on my tune and I had to get another reputable shop to confirm it was trans failure before IPT owned up and got me another rebuilt trans. I had the works done to mine.... Valvebody, TQ converter, clutchpacks etc.... Trans shifted like shiet after the work to be honest. Never felt the same and I ended up selling the car and got a 6mt 335. I just hope level10 does a better job for you.

Alan

[enrita]

you can clearly know your car is slipping when it starts overrev during shifts. you can also clearly see it if you log. See picture

and hear it here:

Here against R1000 really fast 335 running same boost but with stock turbos. Car goes in limp mode because the gearbox does not want to shift anymore from 4th-5th gear

[R1000K3]

It will become much more difficult for me (i.e. impossible) next time when you have a good working transmission :-)

[enrita]

Originally Posted by R1000K3

It will become much more difficult for me (i.e. impossible) next time when you have a good working transmission :-)

I seriously hope so

[Jeff@TopGearSolutions]

This is when your trans cant handle power

[Skydive]

Good luck! I have had more than my fair share of experience with Level10 and the 5HP19FLA in my Audi. Perhaps Level10, IPT, and 517 have all "figured it out" in the past couple of years. For your sake, I hope so. My comments and a summary of experiences with these three companies can be found elsewhere in these forums. $4,000 is an awful lot of money to drop on prayer that something has changed about business practices and capability.

In all candor, I hope your excitement is not dampened by disappointment of failure and discomfort.

[rismo]

Just wondering is it already clear what Level10 exactly adjusts to the gearbox? And do they have the right software available?

[Brey335i]

What I don't understand is how no one knows exactly what gets done to the transmission. If I were to spend 4K I'd want to know details

[Skydive]

Originally Posted by rismo123

Just wondering is it already clear what Level10 exactly adjusts to the gearbox? And do they have the right software available?

Level10 does not work with software at all, nor do they claim to do so. They are a simple transmission shop. As of a couple of years ago, their claimed "process" for a full kit performance build of the 5HP19FLA was really just an OE rebuild, plus a half dozen hardware store washers being used to shim two valve body springs. They also "adjust" the stock torque converter by trimming the impeller shaft with a band saw. All of this is pretty simple stuff that could be done by anyone who is comfortable rebuilding a transmission, if you really wanted it that way, for the cost of a standard rebuild, plus about $2.00 in parts, and less than one hour in labor. (Don't forget the pressure wash and rattle can paint for the torque converter.)

The truth is, the modifications don't really do anything to enhance the performance or torque capacity of the transmission beyond making the shifts less prone to standard "comfort slip", which will prolong the life of most any automatic transmission, because friction material is then subjected to load less of the time. The side effect is that the standard slip engagement won't slip as much, for as long, and your shifts will feel like collisions.

...but the materials will still wear, and they will still break down. It might take a bit longer, but the end result will be largely the same.

Good luck.

[enrita]

Originally Posted by Skydive

Level10 does not work with software at all, nor do they claim to do so. They are a simple transmission shop. As of a couple of years ago, their "process" for a full kit performance build of the 5HP19FLA was really just an OE rebuild, plus a half dozen hardware store washers being used to shim two valve body springs. They also "adjust" the stock torque converter by trimming the impeller shaft with a band saw All of this is pretty simple stuff that could be done by anyone who is comfortable rebuilding a transmission, if you really wanted it that way, for the cost of a standard rebuild, plus about $2.00 in parts, and less than one hour in labor. (Don't forget the pressure wash and rattle can paint for the torque converter.)

The truth is, the modifications don't really do anything to enhance the performance or torque capacity of the transmission beyond making the shifts less prone to standard "comfort slip", which will prolong the life of most any automatic transmission, because friction material is then subjected to load less of the time. The side effect is that the standard slip engagement won't slip as much, for as long, and your shifts will feel like collisions.

...but the materials will still wear, and they will still break down. It might take a bit longer, but the end result will be largely the same.

Good luck.

i hope they double the washers this time so the trans will hold better this time . I would prefer to keep this kind of comments outside my thread.
My trans will speak for itselft and Level 10 . I am sure my testing will help other people take the right decision when it comes the time to upgrade the trans.

[enrita]

updated picture 2nd post. Gearbox on its way back :-)

[cvc 22349a]

Originally Posted by enrita

good luck to you too yeah when you reach a certain power the transmission goes bad extremely quickly of course depending on the use you do .
I will add a trans cooler as well next spring.

Have you found an aftermarket trans cooler?

[enrita]

Originally Posted by cvc 22349a

Have you found an aftermarket trans cooler?

i am waiting for that till next spring. season is finished now.
Anyway its an easy fix with the transcooler. YOu can just put one in front of the IC or the AR oil cooler driver side. I will most likely get a setrab.

[Will335i]

From the sounds of it this is a full swap right? Do they offer rebuild kits for us DIYers? I would give a shot at doing it myself but granted it looks slightly more complicated than the 727 I am rebuilding.

[enrita]

Originally Posted by Will335i

From the sounds of it this is a full swap right? Do they offer rebuild kits for us DIYers? I would give a shot at doing it myself but granted it looks slightly more complicated than the 727 I am rebuilding.

dont know, give them a call

[techlogik]

Yes, back in the B5 S4 days, there were a few people that did a Level 10 automatic upgrade to handle more power. The auto was limited to like 300whp. Which we were doing well over that Stage 3.

One guy had his transmission lock up after a few thousand miles, and he had to send it back again for them to repair and rebuilt it once more. Cost/time/effort etc...not sure what happened after that.

But Level 10 is hit/miss.