Aftermarket auto tranny fluid any parasitic drag reductions

[ish474]

I was wondering if anyone had any experience with some of the aftermarket fluids, I.E. red line, royal purple. I'm not worried about proper operation just wondering if any reduced parasitic drag. I know some of you have to put your trucks on a dyno. Just wanted to hear some first hand opinions. I'm running a stock '89 EFI 5.0 and an AOD tranny for now I have to make it run but since I'm putting a shift kit in I wanted to use the best possible fluid. 150 Horses isn't a lot once it gets through an auto tranny. There will be a dyno test and lots of build up pics in the coming weeks.

 

[Mutant Pony]

Many of us can't afford to waste money on gimmicks. You could run the tests and let us know.

 

[ish474]

Parasitic drag isn't a gimick and neither is lower viscosity fluids they're physics. An automatic transmision is the single biggest power robber in your truck. A C6 looses almost a 30%. I'm only going to have 150Hp for a while and tranny fluid isn't that exspensive even the expensive stuff. I have to buy something one way or another. And when you spend 3000.00 to put a V8 in your truck you should be able to pay $150 to have it properly tuned. You can gain 10-15 horsepower just doing simple timing tuning.

 

[Mutant Pony]

No parasitic drag isn't a gimmick, it is as real as air. Oil adatives and "slippery oil" are gimmicks. Yes you can gain 2 or 3 horse power but, at $7 a quart for royal purple, I won't be buying any anytime soon. 15 Quarts to fill my roller c-6, Dextron is expensive enough.
The #9 roller alone nearly eliminates the parasitic drag on a c-6. At least it is a high number like 90%, It's been a while.
There is also a roller/low gear set available for the AOD. Big $ though.

 

[ish474]

Which is exactly why I posed the question to this forum thinking, maybe naively, that someone would have tried something and gotten concrete answers as opposed to manufactures claims. It never hurts to ask....? This transmission will only have 1 change while I own it. If I put 30k on the truck I'll be surprised.

 

[Mutant Pony]

You are in a position to do it. That was the point of my original post. Run a dyno test with dextron, Drain the system and fill with Royal purple and run it again. Post it here. I would love to see the actual results.

 

[Bent Bolt]

You want slippery oil ? Put engine oil in. The clutches won't like it very much but you'll reduce the drag !!!

 

[ish474]

You are in a position to do it. That was the point of my original post. Run a dyno test with dextron, Drain the system and fill with Royal purple and run it again. Post it here. I would love to see the actual results.

Point taken. If the situation works out it's something I would like to do. Just have to see how much time I have when it does get run on the dyno. Mainly I want a base line for future improvements. Its a little premature to say but I am making an individual throttle body intake that uses the stock cobra R lower intake. I have already made modular throttle bodies for other things. The trick with any of them is where you pull vacuum from and how the sensors read that you can't relocate. We have used 1 liter sport bike throttle bodies in the past but they always end up a little messy.

 

[Mutant Pony]

You want slippery oil ? Put engine oil in. The clutches won't like it very much but you'll reduce the drag !!!

You can put engine oil in a transmission without damage. Transmission fluid is just really thin motor oil with lots of detergent. This is done frequently in Racing and custom built towing transmissions. There is motor oil in my Thunderbirds AOD right now (1/4 capacity).

 

[ish474]

No disrespect ment but transmission fluid is actually hydraulic fluid. Though it is so filled with "other stuff" that you can hardly tell. As is brake and power stearing fluid.