Is the C4 even able to do that? Mine doesn't... I have a ~2500 stall on a C4 with a Trans-Go "reprogramming kit" behind a mild 302. Stock gears (3.0 I think) from a '75, and 27" diameter tires. (More specs in my sig.) Let's say I'm cruising in 3rd gear at highway speed. I stand on it, the trans drops into 2nd, the tach lands in a spot that's making good power, reminds me why I drive stuff like this, then shifts up to third again at a reasonable spot. The car is really moving at this point, and the acceleration feels just heavenly. Now let's say I'm doing like 20, I'm in second, then I stand on it. Again, it downshifts and the tach jumps up into the powerband, tires scream, passenger soils his or herself. The world rejoices. A proper kick in the pants. Here's the trouble though... And I may be asking too much from a 3-speed auto, I know, but say I'm doing a little less than highway speeds, or a little higher than a slow cruise through a neighborhood. Say 30-40. Third gear, low RPMs. If I hit it in that range, it drops into 2nd and it accelerates like a car should, just not like a muscle car should. It feels like it really ought to be downshifting all the way to first, and indeed if I sling it into first and shift manually it's just perfect. So is this something I can adjust? Or am I just too used to OD automatics with low gears? I love the way my transmission feels otherwise. Ideally I would like it to just downshift into first any time I nail it at speeds below 40, then upshift at around 5500 into second and third, but behave normally when at part-throttle. Also, I would like a pony. I guess the solution is simply I need to get lower gears, but I just love the way this car feels on the highway. Perhaps I need an AOD or T5 if I want to have my cake and eat it too.
faceless, There isn't any auto trans that will do a "double downshift" at the speeds you are talking about. Your C4 can be manually shifted to either 2nd or 1st at any speed with the TransGo kit in it but it will not automatically shift to low gear above 20 to 30 mph. If you installed the high RPM governor you could raise the point to closer to 30 - 35 mph but 40 is about the limit in low gear and the valve body just won't let you shift to low that close to the shift point of the transmission. The AOD is worse than the C4 in that it will not force a downshift to low even at the same speeds that the C4 will. Changing to a lower gear (3.5 or 4.11) will only make this worse becaust the govenor is spinning faster at lower speeds - the govenor thinks you are travelling faster than you actually are. My suggestion is just manually shift it from high to low when you want to force a low gear shift at speeds above 20 mph.
The 700R4 in the Camaros and Trans-Ams I used to play with would do a double downshift, but not into first. Only from 4-2, so yeah, it's not really the same thing. I figured there probably wasn't a way to get it to do what I wanted... But if anybody would know, it would be you! Thanks as always.
The C4 will do the double down-shift at speeds below 20 mph but not much above that. I have always just bumped the shifter into low when I need every last bit of toque the engine can deliver. Most of the OD transmissins will shift from OD to 2nd but it is really only a 3-2 shift because OD is load sensitive (it downshifts to 3rd under a load).
