The BIG change for us this year is the installation of a transbrake! For the
first time a manufacturer - Rossler Trans - offered one for the 4L80E.
I bought one directly. And my SS-friend Kent Edin as well.
A transbrake is controlled by a switch (on the steering wheel) and it
engages both 1:st gear and the reverse gear so the car will have a dead stop,
while you can let off the wheel brakes (which are slowly disengaged).
When releasing the button the car should just fly instantly without anything
holding it back!
More; you can floor the accelerator pedal so you can have a 6000 RPM
launch instead of the pedal braking 3000 RPM and therefore WIN 0.10's on
your 60-feet and ET!
If it works. It didn't for us. Yet.

First we took Blackout out for a fun run around the block just to see that all gears was clicked in and
everybody we met was scared. Axel just loves to go with daddy in our SS.


I begged Mr Al Holt to supervise the test of the transbrake since he's done it hundreds of times and
when he was racing his twin turbo Mustang it was also his way of "checking the power status".
I had to beg because Mr Al Holt is drifting away a bit from drag racing because of his new lifestyle with
his own wonderful raggar-Impala 1964. He's still interested - if the planets are lined with each other,
and they seldom are...but now they were.


First two brakes were without blower (approx 400 hp) and when flooring the accelerator it stopped at
3800 RPM both times. But the rear wheels suddenly spun 3/4 of a full turn! Then with the blower
connected there seemed to be NO brake power at all, Jeezus just revved through the whole register
and shifted to second gear at 6200 RPM with fully spinning slicks - I never lifted off the button!
Then we were interrupted by spewing ATF-oil! First I thought we had a crack over the whole case but
it was "only" the front seal that had jumped out. Anyway, the play had ended.

Real Love! I was totally broken by the broken transmission in the pouring rain. I wanted to go to Denmark
to have a smörrebröd and a "lille en" (small one) and I guessed that my wife wanted that as well.
But she said "No no, now we'll change to the back-up trans so we can go to the race!"
She brought me back on track within an hour. I LOVE HER!


Before I expected it, the new front engine mounts came in good use! They let us tilt engine back to
remove the trans from underneath. It worked just fine and Agneta was working like two men! LOVE!


Out with the "fine" TCI-built 4L80E and in with the "dirty" back-up. They should be about the same except
the transbrake in the fine one. It can take hours trying to line up and put on the converter to the
transmission. Then we put the trans standing up and we had the converter finally mounted with a
welcomed "clonk".
We worked to 5 in the morning, slept for a couple of hours in our Solifer caravan and then continued.


Because of the 1 day delay with the transmissions we missed the appointment for the yearly inspection
of the Impala SS so I couldn't drive it to Mantorp legally. Sören "Fixarn" Fjällstedt was engaged and
tried for 24 hrs to fix us a transport but it finally was solved thanks to my friends at Volvo Photo Depot!
I could borrow their car transport truck again (Test 1 - 2004) and Axel was the Truck Manager of total
control again, knowing how to do it!


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