Speed Calibrator on The Mark

mlschultz

mlschultz

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Does anyone have experience with a Speed Cal? What do you think of it?

Aric ordered a Speed Cal for The Mark, to try and dial in the transmission's WOT shifting issue it has. I only notice this at the drag strip. Not really a street problem since all the drama happens during WOT, and I am never in it long enough on the street to notice it.

I have 410 gears, and two different size tires on the car - 255/35/18 front t1r street tires and 265/40/18 rear drag radials. I have the white 410 speedo gear in the car now, but Aric is going to put back the stock 327 speedo gear in the car when he tries the Speed Cal.

Lately what happens at the track is the 1-2 shift is fine around 7150 rpm, then not sure about the rpm, but it short shifts the 2-3, then down shifts back to 2nd and takes it up to about 7k like it should and then goes to 3rd. He currently has the torque converter unlocked during WOT until he can figure out the shifting.

Whatever is going on, it messes with the traction control and the speedometer inside the car. After a run, I have a check traction control error on the message center, and the speedometer needle bounces up and down - 20mph range, at whatever speed I go. Turning the car off and back on fixes that.

lol He has never had this problem with any of the cars he has built. Just mine... So, I think it might have something to do with all the extra electronic crap Lincoln put in this car, and it does not like all the changes made and is fighting Aric to the bitter end.

Anyone else have this kind of issue? Jerry W. has looked at the trans tune, and all is good there, so this is like a last resort to see if it will go away. :)
 
I had a similar issue and it was in the tune. I do the have the speedo gear for 4.10s but that was changed independent of the 4.10 swap and tune for them. And the trans gear had no affect of shift points for me. AFAIK on Gen2s the speedo and the shift schedule take there data from the ABS sensors and the VSS in the trans feeds the air suspension and I don't know what if anything else.

Tommy or someone else who has experiance tuning these cars would be able to give you more insight
 
I've got one installed in my car with my 4.30's but don't know if I can be of any help. Mines a 1st gen (chipped) and I run the same size tire all way around, I've left the stock speedo gear in the trans, and it seems to work fine. I know the shifts were all off again when I had the chip out to get tweaked, and just the SpeedCal in there...
If you have a speedo gear in there that is right for your 4.10's then I would think it would be a tune issue of some sort (Jerry's brain would be the best to pick on that.) If you guys don't think the speedo gear is close enough, then try a SpeedCal and see if it clears up the problem, but it sounds like it won't do much for you from your post...
 
mlschultz said:
Lately what happens at the track is the 1-2 shift is fine around 7150 rpm, then not sure about the rpm, but it short shifts the 2-3, then down shifts back to 2nd and takes it up to about 7k like it should and then goes to 3rd. He currently has the torque converter unlocked during WOT until he can figure out the shifting.
Click to expand...

I made almost the exact thing occur when I enabled the "acceleration rate to use anticipated shifting".

Car would upshift, then backshift then upshift.

The TC cannot be locking "during the shift" it has to unlock.

it can be commanded locked all the time, but it's gonna unlock before the shift occurs THEN lock right back up.

I know you said J looked at it, and by no means am I saying J is wrong.

Can you get Aric to verify the "anticipated shifting" stuff is stock?
Do you have any way to look at the tune file?
 
Rich88LSC said:
Tommy or someone else who has experiance tuning these cars would be able to give you more insight
Click to expand...

Aric is one of the best in the industry, and mike said that Aric had Jerry look over the file.. so it's doubtful that my meager knowledge would be 1/2 of 1% of what those two guys know.
 
I too have been curious if speedcal would work on a second gen mark 8.
Since the speedo signal comes from a ABS wheel sensor I dont know HOW speedcal is going to play into all of this.

sorry to not been more of a help Mike.

I can solve this problem for you.

Trade cars with me, you will no longer have the problem and Aric can get some sleep at night.
 
Thanks for the info everyone. :)

Tommy, I will ask Aric to verify if the "anticipated shifting" is enabled or not, and I don't think he shares his files with anyone except for JW as far as I know. I just don't see how this Speed Cal is going to do the job. I hope it does though. Usually the opposite of what I think holds true... :)

lol Tommy :) You can have my car if I get to have Aric's latest 9 second street car creation. lol I can see me going to the Walmart now... :cool:


dsc3322a.jpg
 
The VSS on the Mark is used to run a few different functions.... like the air ride raising and lowering and supposedly some shifting stuff.

I remember a LONG time ago Mike that you said Aric turned off the raising and lowering of the car at 50mph... I'm wondering if some of his logic that made that change isn't biting you in the ass right now...

Also the Speed Cal will work fine... it just an electric signal that it modifies.... regardless of what that electric signal does...
 
XLRVIII said:
Aric is one of the best in the industry, and mike said that Aric had Jerry look over the file.. so it's doubtful that my meager knowledge would be 1/2 of 1% of what those two guys know.
Click to expand...

Shut up and take the compliment

And I am by no means knocking JW or Aric. However IMHO the speed-cal isn't the answer something in the tune is. Now I haven't a clue as to what that may be. This is based solely on my limited experience with a similar issue that was fixed dealing with Lonnie @ BOC on the phone and him emailing me a new tune.
 
kustomizingkid said:
The VSS on the Mark is used to run a few different functions.... like the air ride raising and lowering and supposedly some shifting stuff.

I remember a LONG time ago Mike that you said Aric turned off the raising and lowering of the car at 50mph... I'm wondering if some of his logic that made that change isn't biting you in the ass right now...

Also the Speed Cal will work fine... it just an electric signal that it modifies.... regardless of what that electric signal does...
Click to expand...


You could be right. After reading everyones comments, I think returning the VSS gear back to stock, and see what happens is the first step. Then start digging into the tune to make sure and check what everyone's suggestions will do, and then after all else fails try the speed cal.




Rich88LSC said:
Shut up and take the compliment

And I am by no means knocking JW or Aric. However IMHO the speed-cal isn't the answer something in the tune is. Now I haven't a clue as to what that may be. This is based solely on my limited experience with a similar issue that was fixed dealing with Lonnie @ BOC on the phone and him emailing me a new tune.
Click to expand...

I hope you are right and this ends up being a easy fix that can be adjusted in the tune.
 
Rich88LSC said:
Shut up and take the compliment

And I am by no means knocking JW or Aric. However IMHO the speed-cal isn't the answer something in the tune is. Now I haven't a clue as to what that may be. This is based solely on my limited experience with a similar issue that was fixed dealing with Lonnie @ BOC on the phone and him emailing me a new tune.
Click to expand...


Not true man.... you should still have the VSS reading correctly no matter what it going on in the tune....
 
I have this same issue mostly the 1-2 shift, will do the same somtimes 2-3. I noticed it mid summer and asked here about it. Most everybody wanted to blame the transgo shift kit I have. Anyway I thought the trans was getting tired being the original one. I found that manually shifting sortof would fix the short shift then down shift. By launching in first holding the shift until less than 1000 rpm's from where I want to shift, I would then go right to drive wait for the trans to shift by itself at the set rpm. Once into second I would move the shifter into second and hold until I was less than 1000 away from the next shift and move the shifter back to drive. Not sure what that is worth but it worked for me the second half of the season. I first thought it was a trans speed sensor issue. Data log showed the MPH are steady and accucate??

Hope you find the issue.

http://www.lincolnvscadillac.com/showthread.php?t=55242
 
I think you speedo and traction control problems are based on the 2 different size tires you have. The 98 if I'm correct takes speedo info off of the wheel speed sensors, as does the abs/traction control. The stock tires 225/60/16 achieve 757 revs per mile, while your front/rear tires achieve 806/765 respectively. So, your giving dual readings to the computers, which are also different from the stock program.
 
Just my 2 cents but I don't think thats it. With mine it doesn't do this every time. Its got no ryhme or reason as I can tell. First mine only did this 1-2 shift then I started my shifting thing onlly for the 1-2. Then some times it would happen in 2-3. When I do the partiall manual shifts for all gears it doesn't happen??? Best I can tell is by manually holding each gear past the point this early shift would occur during auto shifting, it shifts properly. I alway move the gear selector to the next gear before the set shift point. So I'm not really commanding the shift the pcm is. EX. From 1-2 shift I go from first to drive allowing the trans to shift at set point.
 
Ryan called today, and said the Ford Racing Speed Cal for automatic transmissions he ordered is on backorder until next March. So, looks like this fiasco will continue into another year of funky shifting at the track. lol the funny thing about it, even with the extra shifts, it did manage to consistently run four 7.9's out of four runs at the 1/8th mile track last month. :cool:
 
I'm using a DM one here. Maybe they switched them in the past year, but they had an extended version (the manual one I think) and a regular one, plus one for tremec swaps. I'd call them and see what they say...
 
The DM Speed Cal is what I thought we were talking about?

Must be a real kick in the nuts when you have that much money into a car that doesn't work right...
 
I'm alittle confused here. Why would you think the speed cal will fix this issue. I thought the trans shifts at WOT based off of engine rpm, not from the trans speed sensor. Only part throttle was based off the mph for shift schedules. Sounds like just throwing money at it hopin for the best.
 
Aric spent the day data logging The Mark on Wednesday. Disclaimer - I did not take notes when I spoke with him, and I am typing this from memory, so this is my interpretation of what he said.

He put the stock 327 VSS speedo gear back in the car, and verified all the stuff in the tune that all you guys suggested he look at, and then proceeded to beat the crap out of the car lol :) . The day ended with the serp belt popped off, cutting the Vortech oil line, and The Mark being trailered back to the shop.

He said he got two good runs in, where the shifts occurred when commanded. The common thread between those two runs - the car hooked all through first and second gear with no spin. The other runs were the same as usual with tire spin: 1,2,3,2,3. He can see the spikes when it happens while monitoring on the lap top. There are three speeds he is data logging on the lap top: Front wheel speed, transmission speed, and rear wheel speed.

He is still working on the car, and is looking to try some tires on the front that match the size of the rear circumference to eliminate whatever that was causing out of the equation, because the speedometer needle is still jumping. More to come... :)
 
I'm not a veteran of this stuff by a long shot, but just a thought, ..
It's as if it's doing everything it can to calculate your speed with your offset tire size then decides it's taxxed when you catch another gear, possibly spinning a bit more there than it can compensate for.

You have the correct speedo gear in for your gears right? Because it will compensate to a point, but if it's too taxed then....

Another thought, is it possible to loop around the front wheel sensor? As if to delete it from being taken into consideration?

Things that have already been thought about I'm sure. But I'm not sure what a speed cal is going to do. What are you going to calibrate, your offset tires?.. doesn't make much sense to me. But again, I'm prob the last guy for this job.
 
The is no speed cal in the car at this time. He is trying to fix it through tuning first. He had a 410 speedo gear in the car to match the 410 rear end gears, and that did not help things. So, he put the stock 327 trans speedo gear back in the car.

He also put all the trans settings back to stock to see what it would do. Now I do have a highly modified 4r70w transmission and high stall torque converter in the car, but I am not sure if that matters or not.

I agree there is a argument in the ecu between the three speed sensor readings going on that seems to be triggered by rear wheel speed that commands a shift early due to the wheel spin. I asked him if he could turn off all trans commands, and go with a separate stand alone unit, and he said that would probably complicate matters even more. I hope to hear more today.
 
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