What Started Out As An Attempt To Match Ford's Svt Concept Thunder Has Turned Into A Project Lasting Nearly Two Years. Like Any Good Project, We're Still Finding Things To Improve, With This Installment Centered On Powertrain And Front-Fascia Upgrades. These Additions Would Reduce The Mom-Mobile Look And Present A More Aggressive, "I Don't Play Well With Others" Attitude, Something That, To Date, Had Only Been Hinted At With The Lowered Stance, Deleted Roof Rack And Running Boards, Stoptech Brakes, Svt Lightning Wheels, And Goodyear Eagle F1 Tires. Before We Could Finish The Project, We Had A Few Unexpected Hurdles To Overcome.
While Sprinting A Staffer And His Family About, The Thunder Began To Shift Strangely Or Sometimes Not At All. A Diagnosis By The Ford Dealer Said The Tranny Seemed To Be Working Fine; However, That Was After He Discovered And Removed The Strange-Looking Blue Chip Piggybacked On The Ford Ecu. Removing The Chip Alleviated Some Of The Tranny Problems, But Not All Of Them. The Chip Was Originally Installed By Paxton And Controlled How The Engine, Transmission, And Supercharger Interact. Paxton's Advice Was To Drive The Vehicle With Extreme Care And Caution.
So How Did The Chip Cause Such Strange Shifting Patterns? It Didn't. In Fact, After Only A Few Miles Of Driving Gingerly (A Tough Feat In The Thunder), We Soon Discovered The Tranny, Not The Paxton Piggyback, Was Cooked. We Appealed To Huntington Beach Transmissions.
Hbt Not Only Advised Us How To Best Solve The Problem, But Also How To Prevent It From Recurring. Hbt Removed The Ford Components From The Original Casing And Installed Its Own Brew Of Heavy-Duty Jet Performance Clutches And Gears. Knowing The Racing Backgrounds Of Both Companies, We Were Confident The Transmission Could Handle Aggressive Driving, But We Required Durability For Towing And Hauling As Well. We Needed This Transmission To Run Cool When Faced With The Rigors Of A Hot-Weather, Hard-Work Life.
Rebuilding The Tranny Presented Another Issue: The Chip Now Tells The Ford Module When To Tell The Transmission To Shift And How Hard. Because Jet Had No Way Of Ascertaining Exactly How Hard The Computers Make The Transmission Shift, It Installed A Mild Shift Kit As Opposed To One For A True Racing Application. This Would Ensure Longer Life For The U-Joints And The Differential, Especially When Towing.