KoukiS14

I typically make the final cut nice and shallow as well, like .002" or .003" for a nice finish. The soft jaws help avoid marring the machined surface of the piston by the chuck. I like the 4 jaw chuck better. Agreed on deburring any marks left by the chuck. I'm thinking of cutting thin slices of large diameter PVC tubing to slip around the back side of the piston where it gets chucked. No marring, easier to adjust parallelism, and faster to chuck up. Match the ID of the PVC as close as possible to the OD of the piston diameter to be chucked, then cut the slice so that it will flex in/out to conform to the backside of the piston. That would make it easer to chuck the input piston as well, which has a fillet radius on the back side right where you want to chuck it. You need some type of spacer there anyhow. I used 4 random pieces of 1/8th aluminum the first time. The PVC spacers will be the way to go though.

I'm going to be running Redline D4 ATF on the new built trans. Seems like good stuff from all of the forum reviews I've read. It's Nissan Matic J and S compliant.

Hissing/whining is not a good sign on an automatic. Mine lasted like that for about an hour of drive time before it quit altogether. It could potentially be seals on their way out. The sound is from fluid escaping where it shouldn't. Sport mode has higher line pressure, which would make it worse. You might want to avoid sport mode to extend the life of the transmission if that's the case.

The bushing are a good idea, especially if you intend to take advantage of the stock converter's 3,100 to 3,500 RPM stall on those drag launches. No need for any converter upgrades in terms of the stall speed on an LGT 5EAT. Might as well do the trans upgrades instead of bothering with the converter.

I'm using a Tactrix 2.0 for logging the transmission temps. It's definitely not the same as the engine coolant temps, especially on my setup, since I'm running a Mishimoto radiator which doesn't have the built in trans cooler. As far as a thermostat, I didn't install one. I'll probably do what I've done in the past on other cars and install a baffle during the winter to reduce cooling.

I just installed a 678 this past weekend along with a Mishimoto radiator. I mounted mine slightly higher to avoid the hoses contacting the condenser inlet and outlet. The lower fitting on mine is just above the lower condenser fitting. I ended up having to trim a corner off of the condenser mounting bracket, but other than that, it's a clean install that just barely fits. Anything bigger would definitely be a no go. Trans temps so far have never gone past 195, but typically hover around 175 to 180.

Thanks, ClimberD. For those of you wondering, the additional orange TC regulator spring that comes in the later kits installs inside of the existing spring in the bore pictured in the top right of this pic: http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=112456&stc=1&d=1329262394 The restrictor orifice is pretty small. I did notice that the passage was listed as the direct clutch small apply area. Thanks for explaing a bit more about that. I'd be slightly concerned about possible sludge and debris build up around the restrictor. I'll probably leave it out. I've been a Nissan guy for a long time, and I know the Jatco transmissions are super stout. The stock RE4R03A has been proven to hold up well on 700 whp drag cars, and the Aussies mod most Jatcos made in the past decade or two to do the same or better, even installing trans brakes on some of them. That's why I was more than willing to buy a 5EAT legacy, knowing that they could be made to perform. Still, I wouldn't have been willing to do it if I hadn't seen someone like ClimberD hadn't been on the ball in that regard already.

Very nice, thorough write up there. Nice collection of tips and techniques. The Transgo 5EAT-HD2 kit I recently received did have a new supplementary orange spring for the TC regulator. It fits inside of the existing spring in that location. The TC spring is included with the RE5R05A-HD2 kit as well. The restrictor orifice appears to install in the direct clutch path. I think it's there to increase the line pressure to the direct clutch, which would seem to add capacity to the gears 2,3,4. Does that sound right? I was thinking the restrictor could be implemented as a stainless steel allen set screw with a specific hole size drilled through it. You could lightly tap corresponding vb hole/channel to fit the set screw/restrictor. Install with thread lock and stake lightly above the top thread to make sure it doesn't go anywhere. That way the mod stays with the VB, not the trans, and is easily removable and modified with a different orifice size if desired. As far as the drilling, have you tried it with and without and decided against it? If so, why? It seems every VB kit out there for other platforms includes bits for drilling, so it would seem to be a good thing.

Awesome. Thank you sir.