<VV> Modulator valve vacuum specs

[Chris & Bill Strickland]

If "removing the valve body" is "getting that deep into the 
transmission", boy!  you'd just better overhaul that sucker, then when 
you are holding the sprague clutch in one hand and the planetarys in the 
other, then you will know what "deep" actually is (assuming a Vair PG 
has these parts, commonly found in many automatic transmissions -- never 
had a broken Vair PG in need of repair).

Anyway, first you want to be sure of your diagnosis before you start 
repairing stuff (didn't somebody just say the same thing about 
electrical repairs), then you go about fixing it.  Fixing it is 
replacing what's broken -- overhauling it is replacing a large number of 
worn but still functional parts with what you can find, and as soon as 
you are done, hopefully you now have a bunch of about to be worn but 
still functional parts.

Note that one guy's "kick like a mule" may be another's "clean crisp 
shift".  Generally occurring on the upshift though, and not the downshift.

So we next get to 12 - 16 " vacuum -- let's see, where does this vacuum 
come from?  Manifold vacuum.  and that gets to how is your car running?  
What is the manifold vacuum, by measurement, while driving?  And have 
you tried test driving your car with both the modulator hose 
disconnected, and then with full vacuum applied (via pump) -- should be 
able to learn something that way.  The modulator is sort of like a 
marriage counselor -- getting two disparate parties (engine and 
transmission) to talk to each other so they work like a unit -- each 
vehicle has it's own unique set of operating parameters, and those "book 
values" for how the modulator should work is more like the 'Pirates III' 
"guidelines", a place to start, if indeed the modulator and vacuum 
levels are malfunctioning.

Now, if you just want an excuse to overhaul a PowerSlyde, may I suggest 
you get a core from somewhere and overhaul that one -- sounds like yours 
still works -- then when you get it done, you can swap it into your car 
and see what you got for your efforts, and if'n ya ain't happy you still 
have your old (working) unit.

Or, maybe you have a combination of things all being balky at the same 
time -- what's the debris field in your pan look like? -- Keith's looks 
normal.

Bill Strickland