I found lots of sources for shift kits, but nothing about what they do and why you might want one. Since I'm looking for easy, cheap, reversible performance mods, can anyone shed some light on this?
You've probably noticed that your C4 shifts a little lazily. Kind of like driving a car on a sunny day, just taking it easy and shifting nice and slow. Great for everyday driving, lousy for performance. Now imagine shifting your 5 speed at the race track. A lot of gear slamming and clutch dropping. You feel every shift like a kick in the behind, sometimes even chirping the tires on a shift if you're not carefull. That's what a shift kit does for your auto. Makes the shift much faster, and therefore somewhat harder on your backside. Great for performance, not so great for a smooth ride and can be tough on the equipment. Fortunatly, a good shift kit has various levels of performance, from a little snappy to full race trim. It makes the car a little quicker, and feel a little better. It can also raise the shift point to match your engine combo and driving conditions.
=A0> Makes the shift much faster, and therefore somewhat harder
What I've heard is a shift kit actually extends the life of an old tranny, because it minimizes slippage and overlap between the gears. I guess the added shock to the diff and the u-joints might have its own set of risks, but it seems like parts that are engineered to take the shock of a clutch dump ought to be able to absorb the added stress of a hard shift when on the roll.
The idea is to find a builder who knows how to make "fast" shifts instead of "hard" shifts. The latter is the bang-screech box that is momentarily engaging two gears at the same time. That's the one that breaks parts.
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