thanks for the replies. As theo3000 and some other older posts indicate, I swapped out the K1 & K2 springs and let alone the control valve springs (wherever they actually go which I never really figured out).

So here's what I find:
1.) the 2-3 shift is substantially crisper. At anything more than light throttle it used to slip badly as is shifted. I haven't tried a full throttle shift yet but heavy throttle tests so far give me a shift a crisp as the 1-2 shift (I have an '85 300D so that 1-2 shift isn't harsh as I hear some of the earlier years are)
2) the 3-4 shift is even crisper and it used to slip a lot as well (though the 2-3 shift was the worst)
3.) when refilling your trans after a pan and converter drain take your time after the initial fill and let it idle in D for a few minutes then check the fluid again before taking a test drive. I topped up initially, started up and let it idle in D for about 30sec., rechecked the level and then took a test drive. I found the shifting very erratic and after about 2 miles found it wouldn't shift out of gear 1 (just kept revving higher and higher) and had to limp home cursing myself for having done something to completely wreck the trans. Turned out the level was way down when I got back home, I topped it up to the proper level, tested again and all was back to normal (big sigh of relief after this).

For both K1 and K2 I went with the Superior instructions for the "even firmer" option, rather than just the "normal firm" option. I really had some bad slipping and installing this $60 shift correction kit seems to have fixed all that slipping and hopefully will keep this trans running for years.

Great news, congratulations. I have some minor issues with "stacked shifts", i.e. 3-4 comes just seconds after 2-3 in many situations. I understand that the superior kit claims to have some solutions for this. Can you check your instructions for me and let me know if the stacked shift stuff requires dropping the valve body?

Thanks,

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Bob
'82 300D Petrol B-G Metallic

Guys don't be so afraid of dropping that valve body. Its not a big deal. If you have a good work bench to do the work on its so much easier. The only tricky part is seperating the halves(18 balls to fall out if you have it setting wrong) Take the thing out, unscrew the 2 screws that hold the halves together and then carefully hold it together and flip it upside down(all the balls stay in their place then) Take some digital pictures of all the balls just in case you dump them.

Once you do that, the superior kits instructions are pretty good(follow the diagram)

No it doesn't require dropping the body.

Thanks for the info. In that case, which superior kit improvements DO require dropping the valve body?

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Bob
'82 300D Petrol B-G Metallic

The superior instruction are least clear about the "k1 & k2 accumulator control valve springs". From the included instructions it is not clear which of the included springs requiring dropping the valve body, and which can be done with valve body in place. They recommend dropping the valve body for everything. Even so, their instructions are not very clear as to where exactly the "control valve" springs are located. From the sketches it's pretty well marked where the K1 & K2 accumulator springs go (which is all that I replaced).

Can anyone explain what exactly the control valves do, and how the superior kit springs change things? I didn't bother dropping the valve body to try to change those after reading many posts about others who also didn't bother and found that just changing the accumulator K1 & K2 springs did the trick. It seems to have worked for me as well, but it's still nagging at me that maybe I should have dropped the valve body and switched those control valve springs too.

I am getting ready order the Superior Kit K722A-D from www.bulkpart.com . Any updates to the previous reply ?