Another Day at the Orifice
Modifying orifice size in valve body separator plates has been practiced as long as automatic transmissions have been in existence. From performance upgrades to attempting to fix problems caused by valve-body wear, opening up orifices can provide positive effects – but can just as easily cause unforeseen problems. To avoid unwanted results, it is necessary to know when to drill, what size to drill to and when not to drill.
Transmission Orifices
It may seem obvious initially, but when you’re talking about transmission orifices, size does matter. What may be surprising, though, is how significant a difference in vehicle performance small changes in orifice diameters can make. This becomes important when you’re considering modifications to separator-plate holes (see Figure 1) or cup-plug orifices (see Figure 2) during a rebuild.
