How many springs should I put back?

[cpthowdy1369]

Hi all, I took my 727 apart and i found that it had the 9 spring configuration in the front clutch.  In the book I have, it says that for a 383 (which is what I have) I should have 8 springs or 6 springs for the 383 hp.

Should I put all 9 springs back because thats the way it came or should I only put back the 8 or 6?

what would happen if I only put back 6 springs(for the 383 hp) and ran a regular 383 on it?

thanks for your help guys.

[c00nhunterjoe]

if its the drum i am thinking of them the less springs the harder it shifts. when i put the one for my buddy together i installed it every other spring, i cant recall how many total, but i left alot of them out.

[cpthowdy1369]

So if I put 6 springs in the drum instead of the 9 that were there, it will just shift harder and wont destroy my tranny when I put it back behind my 383?

[c00nhunterjoe]

should also have a setting for spring count on a 440 hp. go by that number for the firmest "stock" shift.  as i said, i went with every other spring on my buddy's tranny and it spins his drag radials on the shifts

[cpthowdy1369]

alright, cool.  I'll go with the 8 spring configuration, thats every other one.   how long has your buddy been driving with that tranny?  I take it he hasn't had any problems with it?

[c00nhunterjoe]

he is going on 5 years of hard abuse with it, no issues, double check with a few other guys to make sure we are talking about the same parts here, i will try to dig out my book with all of the "tricks of the trade" on 727 mods. there were several parts that got left out during reassembly to give it firmer shifts as well as the torque you put on the bands are different then what is specified in the manual as well.

[turbobitt]

I'm not sure its firmer shifts your feeling. Decreasing the spring count will increase the shift overlap. More springs won't hurt it. If you are planning on installing a shift kit then I would suggest installing all the springs and fine tune with the orfice plug in the direct passage if nessasary.
AG.

[John_Kunkel]

 
Spring count is often restricted by the number of pegs on the piston, 10-peg pistons obviously limit the springs to 10 while the 15-peg piston allows any count up to 15.

In some cases 15 springs will delay the clutch engagement enough to allow some rpm flareup during the 2-3 upshift; in such cases there is little that can be done but remove some springs. Running fewer springs might cause excessive overlap but this can be eliminated with a restrictor orifice like turbobitt mentioned to delay the clutch engagement.

I like to run 9 springs on the 15-peg piston and 10 springs on the 10-peg piston, if there is excessive overlap the orifice is a lot easier to install/change than changing the spring count.

FYI, there were two different springs used in the front clutch, the one used from '62-'66 has a free length of about  1.60" and the '67 and later has a free length of about 1.40". The shorter spring is stiffer than the long spring.

[cpthowdy1369]

mine is the 15 count short spring. 

[c00nhunterjoe]

the one i put together for my buddy's belvedere matches the one on the left.