Magnuson Supercharger Clean Up

[gbaumann]

Welcome Bo9roadking! Excellent taste in color. Awesome truck! You're not hijacking at all. This thread us about cleaning up a Magnuson SC install and every bit of information counts. We are all in this together. Unfortunately don't hold your breath too long for a Diablosport transmission update. The Chrysler PCM trans side is said to be impossibly encrypted. I've spoken with Magnuson and Diablo. They aren't that far along. But they are working on it. I've started to look into upgrading the trans myself and I found a credible shop in OH that does performance conversions on the NAG-1 trans that we have. Costs about $5,000 but won't change the shift points which is what we are looking for. It will sharpen shifts and change torque converter to make better use of increased torque and HP from the supercharger. The upgrade significantly increases the input torque tolerance from 430 ft.lbs. to 1,100 ft.lbs. It's a major rebuild and upgrade of many parts inside the trans. I'm holding off for now but promised Magnuson that I will share my process and results should I decide to do it.

[bo9roadking]

Welcome Bo9roadking!

Hijack any thread you want buddy! We are happy to have you.

Welcome Bo9roadking! Excellent taste in color. Awesome truck! You're not hijacking at all. This thread us about cleaning up a Magnuson SC install and every bit of information counts. We are all in this together. Unfortunately don't hold your breath too long for a Diablosport transmission update. The Chrysler PCM trans side is said to be impossibly encrypted. I've spoken with Magnuson and Diablo. They aren't that far along. But they are working on it. I've started to look into upgrading the trans myself and I found a credible shop in OH that does performance conversions on the NAG-1 trans that we have. Costs about $5,000 but won't change the shift points which is what we are looking for. It will sharpen shifts and change torque converter to make better use of increased torque and HP from the supercharger. The upgrade significantly increases the input torque tolerance from 430 ft.lbs. to 1,100 ft.lbs. It's a major rebuild and upgrade of many parts inside the trans. I'm holding off for now but promised Magnuson that I will share my process and results should I decide to do it.

Thanks for the welcome. I'm definitely interested to hear about beefing up the transmission. I'm wondering if changing the torque converter would improve shifting? It would make sense, but adding $5k for the transmission rebuild on top of the SC purchase would put me half way to the cost of a V8 install.

I'll probably hold off on throwing more money at the SC and see if Magnuson and Diablo make any progress with the transmission tuning. I'm puzzled though about the transmission shifts because Superchips claims that they can firm up the transmission shifts with their TrailDash tuner. If Superchips can do it, why can't Diablo? My jeep is still drivable, just not as civil on the highway because the transmission doesn't want to stay in overdrive.

[gbaumann]

Thanks for the welcome. I'm definitely interested to hear about beefing up the transmission. I'm wondering if changing the torque converter would improve shifting? It would make sense, but adding $5k for the transmission rebuild on top of the SC purchase would put me half way to the cost of a V8 install.

I'll probably hold off on throwing more money at the SC and see if Magnuson and Diablo make any progress with the transmission tuning. I'm puzzled though about the transmission shifts because Superchips claims that they can firm up the transmission shifts with their TrailDash tuner. If Superchips can do it, why can't Diablo? My jeep is still drivable, just not as civil on the highway because the transmission doesn't want to stay in overdrive.

I think the TrailDash Tuner only works on '07 - '10 JKs which have a different trans.

[Timmy]

shop in OH that does performance conversions on the NAG-1 trans that we have. Costs about $5,000 but won't change the shift points which is what we are looking

Dang, $5k? What's the cost to convert it to a manual transmission and drive it like a real man? (snicker, snicker... Just kidding, I couldn't resist. Your 40" rig is twice the beast of mine, it makes mine whimper with jealousy.)

[gbaumann]

OK. So parts for SC update arrived from Magnuson today.



and my workday pretty much ended at that time.

[gbaumann]

Installed the new bypass actuator and flashed the truck with Mag's new tune.

Result: Too early to tell. Only put about 20 miles on her. Felt like there was an improvement in surging. That's very positive. On the other hand, transmission behavior seems to have gone haywire. While shifting wasn't ideal before it may have gotten worse. She really won't stay in gear going up hill. Just like Bo9roadking says above the truck doesn't like O.D. And it doesn't want to accelerate in 4th gear at all. Bo9 - I'm not sure it's your 40s and heavy Dana axles. I have 4.10 gears, 35s and much lighter axles. Same symptoms.

Oh well. Still cleaning things up. And BTW I have a picture of my catch can results. I'll post it.

[gbaumann]

is there a chance it wont catch anything?

I was under the impression that its a vapor, and if you drive long distance, it wont condense, but running to the grocery store it will.

Well Yoinkers, here's our answer. After only 200 miles of driving I've "caught" oil. I suspect the catch can will collect quite a bit of oil between changes. And remember, if it's not going in the can it's going int the intake!

[gbaumann]

Dang, $5k? What's the cost to convert it to a manual transmission and drive it like a real man? (snicker, snicker... Just kidding, I couldn't resist. Your 40" rig is twice the beast of mine, it makes mine whimper with jealousy.)

Timmy, I agree. For the price I would seriously considering swapping in a manual. On a certain level that would be throwing in the towel and giving in. So, now I'm on a mission. My efforts are about cleaning up the issues with a Magnuson install. I expect I'll be pleased with the new bypass and tune file. The catch can is cleaning up the air/fuel charge. Now on to the transmission. . .

[gbaumann]

And you know. . .I occurs to me that when someone changes the 3.6 for a 5.7 or 6.4 hemi and buys the kit from AEV they get an entirely new PCM but they keep their original transmission. I would think that the trans get a brain washing by the new PCM to marry it up to the hemi. So someone, somewhere, ourtside of Chrysler has the code and knows how to tune the NAG-1 trans.

[bo9roadking]

Thanks for adding the new information using the new actuator. Sorry to hear that you are having the same issues with the auto that I'm experiencing. It is frustrating that the transmission keeps downshifting to go up hills even on small inclines. It acts like I have less power than stock until the boost kicks in. When the boost kicks in, the additional power causes my transmission to think that I've pressed the throttle almost to the floor for passing someone even though I haven't. The transmission drops into 4th and sometimes into 3rd. At least I know it isn't the weight of my jeep causing the transmission to act up. Once Magnuson/Diablo gets this figured out, the fix should work for my heavy jeep too.

Good point about the Hemi upgrades using the same auto transmission. The transmission can handle the additional power and shifts normally, so there has to be something that is being overlooked when installing a supercharger. I wonder if the RIPP owners are having similar issues on their jeeps?