[radz28]

Next Gen Drivetrain (NGD) valve body upgrade (with shift solenoid upgrade) started. Ugh - nerve racking… I haven’t jumped into an slushbox until now. Filters - sure. A couple stall converters - yup. Corvette servo - yes. Valve body upgrade- nope. OMG…

After taking too long to get Fury off the ground (I’m getting to fat for this…), draining was a little mess. I’m adding a drain plug for future service tbough. Old school tricks of loosening bolts in a strategy to drop one end of the pan to slowly drain worked a little, until I got to part of the pan gasket that stuck, so as I was orbiting the pan, loosening bolts, it just (unexpectedly) dropped, and slushed some fluid out. Boo. Oh well - it wasn’t more than a couple ounces, but that was a few more ounces than I already spilled, lol. meh

The stupid safety clips on the solenoid connectors were a bit of a PITA. TEENINY release clips required expert articulation of my fingernails, but they were a little tedious. There are some weird connections I don’t quite understand in parts of the few looms. It almost looks like spliced wires, with clear insulation, but I think I saw it in a couple places. Probably nothing to worry about.

I DO have to wait for NGD to get back to me… I must be among some newer clients with a 10L90, because I learned there MIGHT be a different separator plate design for my application, so I have to wait to see what’s what. I hope I get my answer tomorrow so I can continue. I knew that going in, and for now, there’s not yet a way to make this determination until one can compare the plate, so that’s that.

Customer service has been AWESOME. I hate the wait for this, BUT - I understand, and rather be safe than sorry. AND - I’d rather not waste almost $300 in tranny fluid to have to do again on account of my irritable disposition. SO - this is where I’ll pause, because I want to make sure the rest of the components of the kit(s) is/are fine to use.

It’s been, kinda’, fun. Aside from my anxiety of the complexity of yhe apparent operation, it’s not been hard. Almost losing a tiny check ball challenged my patience and anxiety, but I found it in another channel of the valve body, lol. WHEW!!! As the instructions list: be organized and have the right tools and workspace. I’m getting a great workout from getting in and out from other the car so much. LOL! Pics’s to follow… And this cheeky little sh1t was playing games… He doesn’t belong there (in the circle, hiding, as oppsed to at the X)… Panic’d that I lost it.

[ZL1_1LE]

Wowzers, great pics! It does look like a very involved process! Those wires do look very weird in the transmission with the clear insulation. Also I don't know anything about "check balls" etc, what are the sifnificance of those and how did you know that one was out of place? Following along.

[radz28]

Thanks!

If it's a person's first time, it probably seems involved. For me it was, but I've put together my H2 (sold) with an LQ4 short block with a cheater cam and LS3 heads and then put together a full 408/LS3 with a BTR Stage IV LS3 cam, cut open a truck intake, ported it, and some minor electronics and wiring, but this was the first time, besides a Corvette servo and minor fluid/filter service, so it was daunting. So - I watched a few good videos out there describing and tearing down these things. I knew the check balls were there, and I knew their positions (from the videos, too), so when there was a missing one, after searching my entire work area and room floor, I came back hours later, and REALLY went through all the channels in that half of the valve body, and noticed it, hiding in tranny fluid in a deep part of a channel. Little turd... lol

[Joshinator99]

What drain plug are you adding? I’ve been meaning to do the same thing. Thanks!

[2023_ZL1-AUTO]

Whoa I would NEVER have the nerve to do anything like that! More power to you bro ! Well done and those are awesome pics, but a little un-nerving as well! I'm sure you will be like a precise surgeon !

Take care!

[radz28]

Originally Posted by Joshinator99

What drain plug are you adding? I’ve been meaning to do the same thing. Thanks!

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B085LXYZX2...d_asin_title_1

Hopefully it works okay. The fella who performed his VB upgrade in the TCM recall thread suggested it, if I recall. He gets the credit.

Originally Posted by 2023_ZL1-AUTO

Whoa I would NEVER have the nerve to do anything like that! More power to you bro ! Well done and that's are awesome pics, but a little un-nerving as well! I'm sure you will be like a precise surgeon !

Take care!

I never said I was smart, lol... This will be a test of my anxiety for sure.

I'm seeing some differences in the kit, but whether or not they are meaningful to the function remain to be determined. Their techline is evaluating the differences. I'm not yet sure they've gotten a lot of later 10L90s or not. In YT videos, Nate hardly ever refers to 10L90s, only '80s and '1000s, as far as the GM goes. Maybe that doesn't matter, and it could be GM changes this stuff up more frequently than we know, so I am NOT suggesting they're to blame in ANY way. Shoot - I got my first response this morning as soon as it seemed they opened, so I am thus far happy with the service.

[ZL1_1LE]

What was the inquiry you had with them about the install? I'm assuming the part doesn't come with install directions for our particular application.

[Joshinator99]

Originally Posted by radz28

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B085LXYZX2...d_asin_title_1

Ordered up, thanks!

So I have to ask: what were you seeing for issues that made you pull the trigger on this? Did you get the whole billet valve body or just the billet “upgrade” kit? This caught me by surprise as I’ve never heard Jason Leiva or others talk about these valve bodies before.

[Patriot Motorsports USA]

Really cool thread and I reached out to Tyler and Nate... looks like a great company with lots of amazing products!!

[radz28]

Originally Posted by ZL1_1LE

What was the inquiry you had with them about the install? I'm assuming the part doesn't come with install directions for our particular application.

It now seems definitive that I need a different separator plate. Of the designs they've encountered, this is one they've only just started seeing. I have missing holes, extra holes, differing-shaped holes when comparing my plate to the one from the kit. SO... I have to wait several weeks for a correct one to be produced... unless I reuse the existing OEM separator, which I'm dubious of, and I'm having a hard time finding a new one on-line. And - it's another $100, from the general pricing I'm finding. So - now it looks like if I don't want to pizz my better half off (I don't blame her - this wasn't supposed to take this long...), I'll have to use some vehicle dollies to push him over to his side of the garage and wait for the new ones, or - reuse the old one (not great), OR - buy a new OEM-style separator, and waste a lot of money on tranny fluid and labor to put it back together until I get the new one from NGD and redo most of this again. Not ideal. Not their fault, but not ideal. There are some variations on one of the other plates, too, so that has to be developed, also. ugh.

I don't know what applications, exactly, these changes are for. The fella in the other thread was a 10L60 I think, and that seemed to go fine, but I don't know. What I know is I found differences, and they've recently seen something similar, too, so at least they knew about it, and conveyed to me last week, so I knew this was a risk. Again - there's no reason to blame them or anything.

It's, still, frustrating.

Originally Posted by Joshinator99

Ordered up, thanks!

So I have to ask: what were you seeing for issues that made you pull the trigger on this? Did you get the whole billet valve body or just the billet “upgrade” kit? This caught me by surprise as I’ve never heard Jason Leiva or others talk about these valve bodies before.

Just because the owner of this company (Nate) has many a few appearances on this YT channel wherein he'd been discussing the problems with 10L1000s and other 10-speed truck applications for a few years now, if I recall. He identified crappy OEM aluminum valves that were prone to wear, and over time, would allow leakage. His solution, was to go back to basics from decades ago, and use quality metals, like stainless steel, like they did in Toyotas back then. By replacing many of these aluminum valves with stainless, the wear goes away and leaks are eliminated (except for the cases where the wear in the bores goes too far and a new valve body is required). I haven't seen many accounts of 10-speed issues with cars, but I guess the truck world is getting bad. This is related to the TCM "recall" where it detects a leak and defaults the transmission to stop upshifting after 5th or some crap because a 7th gear downshift can cause the rear axle to lock-up. Their fix is the keep the transmission from shifting into, and past 5th, so it never gets into 7th... Apparently, this is really bad on the 2nd Gen 10Ls I guess. There is a 3rd Gen VB that was released not long ago, but Nate reviewed it, I guess, and there are no changes to the metallurgy that corrects the actual issue. I, still, haven't seen an actual statement from GM about a real fix, beyond the band aid of keeping the tranny from upshifting after 5th or whatever.

Another benefit of the kit, though, are the thicker plates that NGD uses. They replace the thin OEM plates, and help get strength back into the VB. Because GM uses the minimum material in the castings, apparently they can flex and move around to some degree. You can see the scallops and reinforcing ribs for this process, but after seeing them cheap-out over crapping aluminum valves that wear, I have not much faith in them pinching pennies in these castings. These steel plates reenforce the valve body assembly and make it more rigid, and that sounds good to me.

Beyond that, I don't have anything definitive.

Originally Posted by Patriot Motorsports USA

Really cool thread and I reached out to Tyler and Nate... looks like a great company with lots of amazing products!!

The stuff looks good. Tyler has been great. I'm just bummed there's a newer change they just started to encounter, and my choices are to spend a lot more money to redo a lot of this, spend more money on tools so I can move my car and install this stuff when the updated parts arrive in several weeks, or whatever. I just hope whatever I do is worth it for these parts. THAT - would be disappointing...

[ZL1_1LE]

Damn radz sorry to hear about your issues (at no fault of your own or theirs) but having the car be non-op until they get it figured out would be frustrating.

[jlaudio11]

Please be careful with this. I screwed up one valve body with the ratiotek kit and 20+ 10l80 is a decent amount different than the earlier ones and 10r80. I do have the service manual for the 10r/10l if you need info, let me know.

[KingLT1]

I thought the valve body issue was more with 10l80's and not 10l90's?

[radz28]

Originally Posted by jlaudio11

Please be careful with this. I screwed up one valve body with the ratiotek kit and 20+ 10l80 is a decent amount different than the earlier ones and 10r80. I do have the service manual for the 10r/10l if you need info, let me know.

Thank you for the heads up! I’m seeing many differences in the separator plate and the other Texas-looking one, lol. I’ve sent the info to NGD, so hopefully they’ll come through. I will probably have to call the dealer for the right one, but for that price, and because I don’t want to do it twice, I’m just going to wait a bit. It’s coming into rainy season anyways, so I won’t hardly be driving home. What better time for this? I am interested to see what the valves look like. My fluid wasn’t bad - still nice red, but there’s clutch material in it. I’m not alarmed though. No smell at all, other than tranny fluid. Believe me when I say I’m exercising full diligence on this project. I’ll hit you up though. THANK YOU!!!

Originally Posted by KingLT1

I thought the valve body issue was more with 10l80's and not 10l90's?

You’d know better than me, but I haven’t heard anything, really. And, except for, what, ZL1s, CT5Vs, and Escalade Vs, are there any other ‘90 applications? I don’t know. This is my keeper, though, so for me, it’s worth it. Hopefully this isn’t a FAIL in the end…

I’m always open to input. I’m NO expert, in anything.