does any one have the ats co-pilot? i was thinkin about gettin one when i upgrade my trans. but ive heard a few bad things about them and was wanderin if anyone has ever had any problems out of theirs or anything? any info about it would be great. thanks!

does any one have the ats co-pilot? i was thinkin about gettin one when i upgrade my trans. but ive heard a few bad things about them and was wanderin if anyone has ever had any problems out of theirs or anything? any info about it would be great. thanks!

Contact Wade at ATS and he will set you straight.

Mine has worked perfect, no problems at all.

i had issues before i got efi live. the co-pilot would bang hard the 3-4 shift. i had 3 options given to me by ats- put the original shift valves back in instead of the s/c ones, buy the upgraded box to replace the problematic boxes that they new about according to wade for 300 more dollars, or buy efi live and play with the shift timing. so i bought efi live and have done nothing to the shift timing, and now when i use the copilot it works as designed. which leads me to believe it could have been the tuner i was using at the time. not sure but one could assume.

i had issues before i got efi live. the co-pilot would bang hard the 3-4 shift. i had 3 options given to me by ats- put the original shift valves back in instead of the s/c ones, buy the upgraded box to replace the problematic boxes that they new about according to wade for 300 more dollars, or buy efi live and play with the shift timing. so i bought efi live and have done nothing to the shift timing, and now when i use the copilot it works as designed. which leads me to believe it could have been the tuner i was using at the time. not sure but one could assume.

It's interesting how someone can interpret us upgrading our copilot program to work with a Suncoast transmission package as our copilots being defective prior to the upgrade.

Simply put, up untill the latest revision of the copilot, the upgrades that Suncoast did to the transmission didn't work well with the copilot, this was due to a 3-4 shift tieup. Our transmissions never had major problems with this issue because of the way we built them. We accomadated the customers with a Suncoast transmission by changing the programming to work with them. SO THEY WERE NOT DEFECTIVE, WE JUST UPGRADED THE PROGRAM TO HELP OUT CUSTOMERS THAT WANTED TO RUN IT WITH ANOTHER COMPETITORS PRODUCT (How nice of us :)).

Cheers,
Wade

It's interesting how someone can interpret us upgrading our copilot program to work with a Suncoast transmission package as our copilots being defective prior to the upgrade.

Simply put, up untill the latest revision of the copilot, the upgrades that Suncoast did to the transmission didn't work well with the copilot, this was due to a 3-4 shift tieup. Our transmissions never had major problems with this issue because of the way we built them. We accomadated the customers with a Suncoast transmission by changing the programming to work with them. SO THEY WERE NOT DEFECTIVE, WE JUST UPGRADED THE PROGRAM TO HELP OUT CUSTOMERS THAT WANTED TO RUN IT WITH ANOTHER COMPETITORS PRODUCT (How nice of us :)).

Cheers,
Wade

Wade indeed this is very nice of you guys at ATS:D:D:D:). I believe what I've read is that all the latest copilots will work directly with a Suncoast unit--or must you order a Suncoast specific copilot? Thank you.

SO THEY WERE NOT DEFECTIVE, WE JUST UPGRADED THE PROGRAM TO HELP OUT CUSTOMERS THAT WANTED TO RUN IT WITH ANOTHER COMPETITORS PRODUCT (How nice of us :)).

I bet your boss was happy when he sold all those extra co-pilots (How nice of US) ;)

It's interesting how someone can interpret us upgrading our copilot program to work with a Suncoast transmission package as our copilots being defective prior to the upgrade.

Simply put, up untill the latest revision of the copilot, the upgrades that Suncoast did to the transmission didn't work well with the copilot, this was due to a 3-4 shift tieup. Our transmissions never had major problems with this issue because of the way we built them. We accomadated the customers with a Suncoast transmission by changing the programming to work with them. SO THEY WERE NOT DEFECTIVE, WE JUST UPGRADED THE PROGRAM TO HELP OUT CUSTOMERS THAT WANTED TO RUN IT WITH ANOTHER COMPETITORS PRODUCT (How nice of us :)).

Cheers,
Wade
never said they were defective, i said i had 3 options, one of which was to change the s/c valves. or buy an upgraded box. $300 bucks on top of the $1100 bucks was a bit steep for me. i think it sucks you wouldn't help me or every other s/c owner out that owned your product, but wanted more money. as if $1100 bucks wasn't high enough. it was nice of you. but not for the customer. plus it ended up being the tuner i was using at the time. nothing to do with ats or s/c.

Wade indeed this is very nice of you guys at ATS:D:D:D:). I believe what I've read is that all the latest copilots will work directly with a Suncoast unit--or must you order a Suncoast specific copilot? Thank you.

All the newer Copilot versions have been toned down during the 3-4 shift to help with any type of shift tie-up. It's not a solve "all" but it most certainly helps the situation in most cases.

I bet your boss was happy when he sold all those extra co-pilots (How nice of US) ;)

Sales believe it or not didn't really change, and the upgrades we are doing are at cost, so in reality there's very little benefit to us financially. But on a customer service side of things it was very productive, and that's really what's more important.


Stacks04,

I understand your complaint, but when you go out a buy a new computer, and the very next day something comes out that works better, faster, more efficient, would you ask Dell or HP to send you out a new processor and some extra memory cards for free?

The thing is, we were in the middle of a circut board change and while we were there we decided to make some changes to help out with the 3-4 shift tie-up. This is not the same board as the older generation, so it's not like we could just take your old one and reflash it, it required a whole new box, these things don't just grow on trees, they cost money. So we decided that if someone would like to upgrade their current box, we would only charge them for the parts we could not reuse in a test or prototype version later on.

I hope this clears some things up.

Cheers,
Wade

wade, i don't want to make this a fight thread. i am now happy with the product. but to address your statment my copilot was literally 5days old when i called you. i ordered it and the s/c at the same time from mike l. the s/c stuff came in 3 days later the co pilot was over a week later. no blame here, just stating facts. and yes if there was an issue i would request a new computer if it was that new, and there was a fix that they had released for a problem. again i am now satisfied with the product, just not the way it was handled. i detract nothing from your company, nor would it affect a purchase in the future.

I had one until today. I did the update and after many calls and talking to different people no one would send me the wire required with the update kit or instructions on what wire needed to be plugged into the truck. So now i've got all suncoast parts and converter because there customer service seems to be better and things actually happen when they say they will. (note my trans did not need a rebuild but I will not support companies that don't stand behind you)

In my opinion it was more than fair of ATS to handle it that way. Back to the computer analogy Dell probably wouldn't upgrade you to a product that would work better than HP's product for free. If Wade wanted to be an ass he could have said if you want a co-pilot buy our trans kit and it will work well. Just a businessman's poiny of view. I am a Snap-on dealer and it would be a cold day before we would spend the money to R+D a product to work better with a Craftsman tool. Kudos to Wade and ATS for being nice guys.

what he is saying is there was an exisitng problem with them and i tend to agree that if they had really good customer service they would have replaced it. and you are correct in saying that wade could very well have said buy one of our trans. the reason that he bought the copilot from them is because as far as i know it is one of if not the only product out that does what it does. there for ats should engineer it to work with other companys products.just because they have the market cornered in this regard doesnt mean they should sell products that work with others. and just as another analogy when gm produces a product adn there is a defect do they not replace it for free. usually

In my opinion it was more than fair of ATS to handle it that way. Back to the computer analogy Dell probably wouldn't upgrade you to a product that would work better than HP's product for free. If Wade wanted to be an ass he could have said if you want a co-pilot buy our trans kit and it will work well. Just a businessman's poiny of view. I am a Snap-on dealer and it would be a cold day before we would spend the money to R+D a product to work better with a Craftsman tool. Kudos to Wade and ATS for being nice guys.
understand your point in this but no where in there product advertising does it ever say it will only work with ats transmissions. i also conceed that it was designed to work in there trans because unlike s/c i don't think ats uses valves to increase pressures or shift enhanments. they use the co pilot. and it works. and thirdly i bought it and my first call was a week later. and they had the other product available and were selling the upgraded co pilot to accomodate other trans assemblies. but again i have no beef with ats or wade.

what he is saying is there was an exisitng problem with them and i tend to agree that if they had really good customer service they would have replaced it. and you are correct in saying that wade could very well have said buy one of our trans. the reason that he bought the copilot from them is because as far as i know it is one of if not the only product out that does what it does. there for ats should engineer it to work with other companys products.just because they have the market cornered in this regard doesnt mean they should sell products that work with others. and just as another analogy when gm produces a product adn there is a defect do they not replace it for free. usually
i bought the product simply because i made a 3000 dollar investment in my trans and i new the copilot would help to hold whatever power i could produce. and it will. i like you said wish they would have worked with me better, considering my ass was still hurting from the 1100 bucks i just shelled out for the unit. and as long as your under warranty gm will do any software upgrades they have for free.

what he is saying is there was an exisitng problem with them and i tend to agree that if they had really good customer service they would have replaced it. and you are correct in saying that wade could very well have said buy one of our trans. the reason that he bought the copilot from them is because as far as i know it is one of if not the only product out that does what it does. there for ats should engineer it to work with other companys products.just because they have the market cornered in this regard doesnt mean they should sell products that work with others. and just as another analogy when gm produces a product adn there is a defect do they not replace it for free. usually

Unbelievable! Where do you guys come up with this? Now ATS should spend money and time making the Co-Pilot compatible with a competitors product????

Some of you guys should step outside your bodies and try listening to yourselves because
YOU SOUND LIKE COMPLETE MORONS! :cussing:

Unbelievable! Where do you guys come up with this? Now ATS should spend money and time making the Co-Pilot compatible with a competitors product????

Some of you guys should step outside your bodies and try listening to yourselves because
YOU SOUND LIKE COMPLETE MORONS! :cussing:
whoa whoa whoa. calm down there sunshine. ats had already made the product work with others products. the testing was done and they were selling the product. maybe you outa read the whole story before speaking. and i think it was in there interest as did they to do this. there is a lot of s/c users that benefit from this product and will in the future.

For the record, I was having problems with my older co-pilot with the 3-4 shift. I too have a suncoast trans. I dealt with Wade and a couple others at ATS and felt I was treated with the upmost respect, I felt no racial tension because my trans was orange.:D I have nothing but good things to say about my expierience with them. My new ver co-pilot works great and my suncoast is happy with it. Thank you Wade and evryone at ATS;).

Maybe I should call Sony and explain to them the 46" Bravia LCD TV I just bought 2 weeks ago needs to be upgraded to the new ver I just saw in the Best Buy flyer. I'm sure they would send one right out:rolleyes:!

Joey

Hate to break the tension here, but how about we talk about why someone would buy the co-pilot regardless of tranny builder. How does it improve holding power, clutch life, line pressure or whatever it does. I don't want to know the physics (hydraulics) behind it, I am just wondering why I should spend $1100 on it on top of the 3000-5000 they just spent on a trans build.

Lookin for a sales pitch or testimony here!

Don't know all the facts for sure but it will help your trans apply like 210 PSI of oil pressure to your clutch packs at WOT and on kill verses like about 80 PSI. 2.5 times the holding force on the clutch packs. when at cruising speed it will return to stock pressure to save the pistons.

Also command your converter to stay locked once in second gear for better ET's at the track.

Wade can go into it further but thats just a start.

does it control line pressure for the entire trans or just certain clutches

does it control line pressure for the entire trans or just certain clutches

C1 and C2 already run off mainline pressure ( 250 psi + ).

Unbelievable! Where do you guys come up with this? Now ATS should spend money and time making the Co-Pilot compatible with a competitors product????

Nah, maybe just a disclaimer or an "*" stating that they are not sure how well it works with competitors' products ;)

Some of you guys should step outside your bodies and try listening to yourselves

Hmmm, excellent advice...

For the record, I don't own one...Never had the need for one...

Does it also affect TC pressures

Can it actually redcue pressure for the clutches from a trans like a SC kit with transgo and Boost Modifier