[radz28]

Here’s the pin I was talking about.

Again - a GOOD magnet will pull this baby out of the OEM aluminum plug in the reference picture. The plug has a flat head screw driver slot on both side that enable you to clock the cross-hole you align it to this pin. I, also, very gently wiggled the plug when using the magnet to pull the pin out, so that might be helpful.

[DeuceCam]

I'm glad you're okay!

I have the pinch weld adapters and using them freaks me out. GM screwed up with the jack points on these cars - worst setup I've seen on any car I've owned. It makes me not want to work on the car.

I think others have had the same problem you had, i.e., the jack slipped off a jack pad adapter.

[ZLRob]

Originally Posted by DeuceCam

I'm glad you're okay!

I have the pinch weld adapters and using them freaks me out. GM screwed up with the jack points on these cars - worst setup I've seen on any car I've owned. It makes me not want to work on the car.

I think others have had the same problem you had, i.e., the jack slipped off a jack pad adapter.

See it's reasons like yours and Chucks that I'm glad I don't use those adapter. I just go straight to the lunch weld using my Harbor Freight low profile race style jack. I've used it that way many times and have never had a problem with it. If I slightly deflect the ground effects in the process I'm okay with that because that assures me that I'm right where I need to be, and the pinch weld cannot slide off or anything.

[Evansa22]

Sorry to see the damage, glad you're ok! Your car is a beast and love seeing the updates.

Originally Posted by ZLRob

See it's reasons like yours and Chucks that I'm glad I don't use those adapter. I just go straight to the lunch weld using my Harbor Freight low profile race style jack. I've used it that way many times and have never had a problem with it. If I slightly deflect the ground effects in the process I'm okay with that because that assures me that I'm right where I need to be, and the pinch weld cannot slide off or anything.

I have the zl1 add-ons pinch weld blocks that stay on the car. My process is jack up one side and set the tires on 4x4's. Then jack to the other side and put it on jack stands. Then go back to the first side and jack it up and get it on jack stands, probably takes 10 minutes. It's pretty sketchy trying to jack up one side high enough to get it on stands while the other side is still on the ground. The angle is way too much for my liking and can see how something like this could happen. I've done it this way more times than I'd like to admit and never had an issue.

[ZLRob]

Originally Posted by Evansa22

Sorry to see the damage, glad you're ok! Your car is a beast and love seeing the updates.



I have the zl1 add-ons pinch weld blocks that stay on the car. My process is jack up one side and set the tires on 4x4's. Then jack to the other side and put it on jack stands. Then go back to the first side and jack it up and get it on jack stands, probably takes 10 minutes. It's pretty sketchy trying to jack up one side high enough to get it on stands while the other side is still on the ground. The angle is way too much for my liking and can see how something like this could happen. I've done it this way more times than I'd like to admit and never had an issue.

I use rhino ramps for the front facing ramp frontwards and jack stands for the back. I usually support the back right where the metal bracket is by the fuel tank and the same for the other side which is in the same area, just opposite side. They are solid metal so it works really good and the car is usually high up enough for me to be able to get under there with a creeper to do what I need to do while I'm down there. It works incredibly well and makes quick work of the problematic jack process these cars have.


I'm still attempting to improve my front jacking process prior to putting each side on the rhino ramps, so I think I may start using 2x4's so I can just drive it up on those to act as a height buffer between them and the ramps without having to worry about the splitter possibly scraping as I drive up on them. You'd have to see the way I do it to really understand the process.

[radz28]

It's for a '1000, but I'll come back to cover a couple differences:

[radz28]

04/02/26 - Update:

It would seem I owe a bit of an update here, too.

After installing the updated separator plate, I, still, haven't put 100-miles on the car. Most of that's been the weather around here until about a month ago, but my car had to go back to the body shop to finalize some stuff. But - I have almost 70-miles on it, and have some basic impressions.

I have to preface my comments (as usual...) on the fact that I started the new round of break-in miles (after this current separator plate) that, apparently, my car needed to relearn the TB again. I didn't know it was doing that on my way from the body shop the first time (at the beginning of January), but it was not happy. The transmission had been downshifting really hard and the car was not idling great. It took until last month to really figure it out, but it was running a lot of negative timing at idle and as I started putting miles on it in the following weeks, the downshifts started to smooth-out, too. Admittedly - I've messed about in the TCM, but taking a little of that pressure back out didn't help, and I wasn't experiencing this behavior BEFORE adding the valve body (VB) mods'. AGAIN - the ECM was relearning the TB, so after performing the long learn procedure, timing is coming back up to about where it was, but even better - the downshifts are calming down.

It was hard to tell if this hard downshifting was a result of the valve body upgrades from NGD. The updated plate eliminates a couple minor valves so I wasn't sure, in the beginning, if that was related, but I'm finding if it is, it's not much. It may be a placebo, but it FEELS like the shifts might be more crisp and defined, but I already set that up in the TCM long ago, so it's hard to really comment on that. What I know is, I feel better this stuff is done, and likely my tuning will be the downfall of this thing, lol... I hope I'm kidding...

Some things I noted from the install and from some driving: the video I posted is great. Honestly - if you've put headers on your car, or changed a transmission filter or something along those lines, I really think you can do this install. There is a point I want to emphasize that I didn't see Tyle (in the video) really lean into, but it is IMPAIRATIVE that you get all of these valves cycling ABSOLUTELY FREELY UNDER GRAVITY when you're installing them. I have to admit, the first time I installed these goodies, I thought I was diligent enough. I was NOT. I couldn't get the car into REVERSE -only DRIVE and through enough gears that I got scared to spin faster on jack stands. I pulled everything apart again and was better about cycling the SHIFT SOLENOID valves and had no problems relating to that. That was, still, in November, before NGD released an updated separator plate. I forget why, but I think I pulled the VB AGAIN, but I did (this was when I smashed the fender), and installed my modified-to-match-the-OEM-separator plate. I noted there was some slipping after I got into 6th or 7th, and don't recall if it was from the tranny or the converter, but it wasn't much, and I wouldn't let it stay like that for long before shifting out of that regime. So - that brings me to January.

Briefly - I installed the updated plate and have 70-miles on it. KNOCK ON WOOD - all seems fine. No weird slip or anything like before and everything seems to be cycling as expected. I'm still going to check the fluid level again, but it's hard to get it above 160*F. Even then, doing the calculations for expansion, it doesn't really seem like I need to adjust much outside of using the stand pipe. I'm going to check again soon, after some more miles, but it seems fine. Again - downshifting seems to be coming under control as it seems like the ECM is relearning the TB. I'm going to put those values back to where they were before if they continue to stay good and/or improve a little more.

In summary, at least for the mechanicals: it feels like things are how they should be. I feel a lot better about the valve issues that are present in these, and even though there was no notable wear on any of my OEM valves (I have less than 5K-miles on the car), I have complete confidence in this upgrade, and would pay to do it again. The customer service is AWESOME through those guys, and even when we learned there are differences for this application, they made up for them a lot quicker than I thought it was going to be. It was exactly on-time, which I didn't believe, and maybe it doesn't happen like that all the time, it did, and they shipped me the updated plate IMMEDIATELY. I MEAN IMMEDIATELY - LIKE THE SAME DAY. I couldn't recommend this higher for anyone concerned about this stuff. 6-out-of-5-STARS.

I've attached pictures of 2-additional OEM magnets that I applied to the pan. I have to admit I wasn't diligent and in a HUGE hurry when I installed these months ago, and didn't even check if they were in proximity to the oil filter pick-up, but determined (with magnetic viewing film) that they are well away from the pick-up point. WHEW!!!... I didn't want to spend $160 a 5th time on jugs of tranny fluid because I was stupid. Hopefully that's helpful for anyone who thinks like me.

CHEERS!!!

[radz28]

OH - I wanted to add that IF YOU'RE LOOKING TO DO ANYTHING WITH THE THERMOSTAT FOR TRANNY COOLING, MAKE SURE YOU KNOW WHERE YOURS IS. I see posts about adding a by-pass and what not, and that makes sense. HOWEVER - I'm not sure if all our (A10s) have thermostats in the valve body and truck A10s are in the inlet-outlet manifold (external of the transmission/valve body), but I see enough posts that don't bring that up.

Another benefit of this mod' is they tell you how to by-pass the thermostat that's in the valve body, and it's FREE. You don't have to add anything or do anything else. Just make sure you're getting what you're paying for. If this by-pass is external and your t-stat is inside, that external one isn't going to do anything, is it?

[randeez]

thanks for the update - wish i would have found this thread rather than the other one.

also just finished up the DIY VB mod. ran into the same separator plate difference after pulling and installing and checking everything several times. was a bit annoying but i will agree NGD was fairly easy to deal with, they overnighted the plate after realizing that was the issue.

a few of my notes - for the torx bolts on the vb, the regular torx socket is tapered at the tip, i ground a socket down past the taper. it grabbed them a whole lot better.
the aluminum torx bolts i always heard dont even try to torque them to spec, hand tight plus a little more - not really sure what the purpose of them is either.
theres a service bolt kit for mounting the vb/filter, a few of the bolts come with dry sealant, and it includes that one aluminum torx bolt in the vb by the shift shaft

[radz28]

Originally Posted by randeez

thanks for the update - wish i would have found this thread rather than the other one.

also just finished up the DIY VB mod. ran into the same separator plate difference after pulling and installing and checking everything several times. was a bit annoying but i will agree NGD was fairly easy to deal with, they overnighted the plate after realizing that was the issue.

a few of my notes - for the torx bolts on the vb, the regular torx socket is tapered at the tip, i ground a socket down past the taper. it grabbed them a whole lot better.
the aluminum torx bolts i always heard dont even try to torque them to spec, hand tight plus a little more - not really sure what the purpose of them is either.
theres a service bolt kit for mounting the vb/filter, a few of the bolts come with dry sealant, and it includes that one aluminum torx bolt in the vb by the shift shaft

THANK YOU FOR REMINDING ME OF A COUPLE OTHER POINTS I WANTED TO REITERATE!

* 24050764 is the part number for a bolt kit for the later 10L's. The later ones have filter bolts that are THE SAME length, as opposed to the earlier ones, which have bolts of differing lengths. This kit also includes the aluminum bolt I highlighted earlier that would not accept the torque values that have been stated for the remaining bolts. I think NGD's instructions say to torque most/all of the fasteners to something like 90 in-lbs (something like that), but there's no way in HECK this aluminum bolt got close to that. I used the steel bolt I referenced earlier to get it pretty close the the torque, but as I was going it, I was moving the shift valve back-and-forth until it started to bind-up a little. I didn't reach the torque in ANY of the instructions (including the manual JL' sent me), but I get it close. I didn't even bother to get the aluminum filter bolts to that value (again - I couldn't find values outside of NGD's for reference other than something like 105 in-lbs or something), and got them good and tight. When I did this the other times I had the VB apart, when I loosened these fasteners, they weren't loose at all, so I think I got them to stretch enough they held onto their torque setting well enough.

* YES - the torx socket!!! I bought a new one (Chinesium Amazon) and it bit A LOT harder onto the bolts than the one I had. AND - make sure you get good a perpendicular to the fasteners as your torque. I used a mini-torque wrench for all of these, and it was a lot easier to wield that little guy around rather than a more traditionally sized one and keep the socket on the heads squarely. I torqued these while the VB was on it's side, so that helped with leverage a little more, not that you need much at this torque setting, but it helped from slipping off the bolt heads. The torx ones were the only PITAs.

* MAKE SURE TO INSTALL THE THREAD-SEALANT-BOLTS FROM THAT KIT IN THE CORRECT LOCATIONS (which I shouldn't have to say). There ARE differing length bolts and if you put a long one where it shouldn't go, it will be almost instant death to the tranny. These bolts, though, have sealant which I read/saw in a video that help maintain clutch fluid pressure, so it IS important to replace those correctly.

* I forgot to mention that I didn't get the orientation of the t-stat by-pass correct the first time. I'm not sure how much that effected anything, but I did get that squared away, so just make sure to do that right. It's clear in the instructions, but yeah...

* I haven't checked NGD's website for a while, but I encourage anyone, when they place their order, to call and make sure you tell them it's a ZL1 or at least be specific about your model. I'm sure that will help with any confusion in parts in the future.

* I didn't expunge on the point I started, but REALLY take time to finger these valves in-and-out, lol. sorry. In all seriousness - except for the plugs (which don't move I don't think), all of them move. I believe the "FEED LIMIT" valves default to a closed (maybe open, but you'd see what I mean when you're in there) position (as their corresponding springs hold them there) but getting them to cycle isn't too possible, because you'd be forcing them against their springs, which EASILY held forced them into position in my case. What I mean though, is for the rest of the valves, they need to fall out under gravity. E.G. the SHIFT SOLENOID VALVES need to be pushed to the top of their bores and fall out of them completely under gravity. They will likely stick at first, which is fine, because I assure you the will MOST LIKELY start to fall out correctly as you cycle them in-and-out many many times. I had to really finger a couple maybe a hundred times each, but I would clean the valves as I cycled them, and add new fluid, and would repeat until they eventually moved smoothly. They did come around though, so make sure to do that.

I maintain this might take a shop only a handful of hours to complete, but even now, having done this several times on my car (again - almost all my fault in some way), there's no way I could get it all done, comfortably, in better than a whole work day, at best. If you have a lift, that could save a lot of time, but on the floor on jack stands - no way. Getting the fluid level is easier with the by-pass mod' since you don't have to worry much about getting the fluid temps' as high to get the OEM valve to open, but it's a bit tedious. I'm not suggesting anyone use the plug on the side, but that's for you to decide. It's a pain to get the car leveled on jack stands, but isn't a big deal, and gives the fluid time to heat up, lol. USE THE RIGHT FLUID, TOO!!!

Hopefully that's the rest of what I was thinking could be helpful in a summary.

[randeez]

the feed limit high and low valves are replaced with a static plug that is held in place with a roll pin now, my kit was ordered march 2026. that youtube video has been updated around the 12:30 mark.
the new lube regulator valve was the worst one for me having to work it back and forth till it would slowly move on its own in its bore.

[radz28]

THAT'S INTERESTING!!! I haven't seen that update yet, so that's pretty cool. What year is your A10 out of curiosity? And - was it out of a ZL1 or something else? Details, please

THANK YOU FOR SHARING THAT!!!

[randeez]

it was out of a 2021 ZL1, wrecked locally, 3600miles on car.
swap had been problem free for ~6months, had a few pretty random issues but i figured it was just from the swap ecm/tcm/PSS black box hiccup - then had it go into limp mode 5th gear only...couldnt really ignore it after that

[radz28]

Thanks for those details. Maybe I'll bug them if I ever get back into the VB. The less moving parts the better.