J-mod in sf area

[98cacvpi]

Hi all,

While I don't have a MM as I've got an 04 Vic sport, I'm wondering who's the go to guy in the SF Bay Area for those who aren't comfortable doing it on their own?

TIA

[jus4kix03MM]

Pm Bigmerc281. He knows someone in Hayward I think.

[Geewez]

There was a guy who advertised on Craig's List all the time for doing the J-mod out of his shop in Stockton. I'll PM you his number.

[98cacvpi]

Thanks for the replies guys. I found out one of the guys on the crownvic forums had Bayshore Transmission in Burlingame do his jmod and he was happy with their work. They also have a contract to repair SFPDs cars so they're familiar with the cars. I'm waiting for a reply back from the member about pricing. Shop has good yelp reviews and is a member of ATRA. I'll want to have my 98 Vic done first. Then my 04sport later.

[jus4kix03MM]

Thanks for the replies guys. I found out one of the guys on the crownvic forums had Bayshore Transmission in Burlingame do his jmod and he was happy with their work. They also have a contract to repair SFPDs cars so they're familiar with the cars. I'm waiting for a reply back from the member about pricing. Shop has good yelp reviews and is a member of ATRA. I'll want to have my 98 Vic done first. Then my 04sport later.

Cool, I would like to know his price quote too.

[1Marauder]

I am in too! I need two Jmods... and have been looking for a year. My ford store rep thought I was crazy when I asked about it. Please let us all know.

[88LTDCV351]

Brian got his done. Not sure what shop he went to. Are you guys leaving the accumulator springs in? I'm still undecided on the j-mod.

[vegasmarauder]

Just had a friend with a CV take his car to the dealer for a coupon deal trans flush and filter replacement at 165000 miles. The service advisor called to say they found a "problem" with his trans. It seems when the tech pressed on the 1-2 accumulator cover it moved to easy. They said it appeared to have some missing springs and they "recommended" a rebuilt one. He told them to just put the filter in. We had done the J-mod about 6-7 years ago on it. I'm still amazed how many Ford trans "techs" seem to know nothing about the J-Mod.

[fastblackmerc]

Just had a friend with a CV take his car to the dealer for a coupon deal trans flush and filter replacement at 165000 miles. The service advisor called to say they found a "problem" with his trans. It seems when the tech pressed on the 1-2 accumulator cover it moved to easy. They said it appeared to have some missing springs and they "recommended" a rebuilt one. He told them to just put the filter in. We had done the J-mod about 6-7 years ago on it. I'm still amazed how many Ford trans "techs" seem to know nothing about the J-Mod.

Why would factory trained Ford techs know about the J-mod unless they are active on the various message boards? IMHO some techs barely know how to do routine repairs let alone modifications. We've heard plenty plenty of horror stories here....... :eek:

[98cacvpi]

I haven't heard back from the crownvic member that had his jmod done as he doesn't appear to be a "regular". But when I get back to work tomorrow I'll look into the correct hole sizes to drill for my 2 vics and give the shop a call. Just for curiosity sake I'll ask about a group discount even though I know it's hard to get consensus/firm commitments from people sometimes. Keep u posted.

[98cacvpi]

Hi,

Here's the reply I got from the shop owner Tom.

Hi...as you know, the valve body has to come off the trans. I get $240 for the complete job, which includes new accumulators..(strongly recommended for vehicles with mileage) , filter, and fluid.

Without the accumulators the cost would be $200. With your own fluid, $180. I could do them early next week.

I'll do the 98 but as info on hole/drill sizes was hard to find for the older car; I'll go with those for the newer cars #2, #4, #5, #9 and #11 at 7/64 and #10 at 3/32. I plan on leaving all springs in and as my car only has 29k miles on a Ford remanuf tranny, I'll keep the existing accumulators.

If all goes well, I'll do my 04 sport later with everything replaced as it's got 129k miles on it.

Your thoughts?

John

[1Marauder]

what do you think about drilling the 1st to 2nd gear hole at 3/32... so it doesn't shift so hard?

[1Marauder]

and can you tighten my linkage while you re under there?

[98cacvpi]

Well, I just dropped off my 98 at the shop to have the work done. It was nice to see a SFPD cop car there also. Tom says they do the jmod to all the cop cars also and recommends leaving the 1-2 springs in and removing the 2-3 springs as the city cars see a lot of stop and go driving which wears out those pistons. Based on his experience, I'll let him do that as I do a lot of commuting back and forth the City to Oakland. He doesn't normally drill the reverse hole, but I asked him to do it anyways. If all goes well, I'll do the 04 next and will ask about fixing my slow reverse.

[98cacvpi]

All done! Shifts good although I haven't yet pulled the batt cable as some suggest for computer to "adjust". So far in everyday traffic shifts are faster and a little more pronounced. Before kinda "mushy" for lack of a better word. Aggressive driving is when it shifts quick. Others may want the 1-2 spring removed if want to feel harder shifts. I have another car with a shift kit and the jerk when shifting from 1 to 2 is annoying.

I'll be back with my 04 after I adjust the linkage to hopefully take care of my shifter issues.

John

[1Marauder]

Sounds perfect. I want to get mine done. who do I contact?

[98cacvpi]

Tom (owner) of Bayshore Transmission. 650-579-7711. It was nice to pull up to the shop and his guy asked if I was there for the jmod. Per 88grandmarq's recommendation on the crownvic forums, I'll be having hole #6 drilled to 0.160 on my 04sport in addition to (#2-5 and #9-11) that everyone does. I hadn't known about #6 before I had my 98 done.

They need an hour for your tranny fluid to cool down before starting. I was there at 1030am, walked to downtown Burlingame a few blocks away and had coffee,read my paper and surfed at Starbucks and went back to have jmod done by 1230pm.

[98cacvpi]

Oh, I just realized that 88grandmarq is a member here! Shows how Seldom I'm on this site. I'm on the other forum almost everyday.

[vegasmarauder]

1Marauder, I've had very good results with doing the 1-2 hole at 3/32 and the others at the 7/64 and taking the 1-2 spring out. It does make the 1-2 a little softer and feel the same as the other shifts. The very first J-mod I did has 245K miles on it and still chirps the tires on the 1-2 when winding it out. That one was done at 7/64 on the 1-2 hole, so I cut all the others back to 3/32 on only the 1-2 hole. Another car has 145K miles on the original trans and still works better than new.

[88LTDCV351]

This is very good information. I'm still on the fence. Don't want it to be too harsh though since the car still performs occassional daily driver functions where a comfortable ride and gas mileage are important.

[98cacvpi]

I've never ridden a car with the 1-2 springs removed so I can't say. I only had the 2-3 spring removed per shop suggestion and no worries about harsh/hard shifts in my daily driven car. 1-2 shift is just a "bump" and 2-3 is barely noticeable to me. I don't drive my car hard as I'm in stop and go traffic between SF and Oakland and drive easy to save gas. I did it mainly to prolong tranny life.

Your best bet is ride in a car that's had a "full" jmod done to it.

[fastblackmerc]

This is very good information. I'm still on the fence. Don't want it to be too harsh though since the car still performs occassional daily driver functions where a comfortable ride and gas mileage are important.

I did the full j-mod and if you drive it normally you will feel the tranny shifts quicker... not enough to make it uncomfortable. At full throttle you can really feel it....

[88LTDCV351]

I got 150,000 on my original trans. It works fine. Is a JMod advisable with so many miles on it?

[88LTDCV351]

Woohoo! :banana2:

[98cacvpi]

I've done some more research into the springs/no springs at the 1-2 accumulator and I've decided that for my 04, that instead of leaving the stock springs in like on my 98 that a slightly more aggressive setup would be to have the upper/lower springs replaced with the light blue/purple ones. Not sure if this will be a fair comparison as I'm not sure about "revisions" or improvements in the yrs between 98 and 04.

Per 88grandmarq's posts on the crownvic forums; I'm gonna "freshen" up the tranny with a new pressure regulator valve, PR boost valve and OD servo regulator valve. And since the quote I got for the jmod suggests replacing the 1-2 and 2-3 acculmulators for higher mileage trannys; I figure I may as well get the OD servo piston replaced. I'll get the parts from transmissionpartsusa.com for about $95 shipped. Tom said he couldn't get the parts any cheaper so he told me to get em on my own and he'll install as part of the jmod. He did remind me that the true jmod is with 1-2 lower spring removed...