No good deed goes unpunished (and a tech question, sorta)
 

Sunday,the night before my dad's funeral, and his favorite nephew (age 77) is over for dinner. He spies the 911 in the garage and gets a giant grin, so sure, lets go for a spin.
He's still more 55 than 75, so off we go. Soon as the oil warms, varrooom, and he misses the first 2-3 shift, ends up in neutral, tries to stick it home with the clutch out, and now, of course, it pops out of third as I suspect there are no sychro teeth left. Damn. Bad week now even worse.

I'm not upset with him, per se. It was a high mileage trans and needed refreshing at some point anyway (165k). I have a competent local shop. Question is, am I better off from a cost/reliability/downtime perspective going with a Vertex rebuild at around 3800 after core/plus install, or having the shop do the actual trans work as well?

Is 85 a 915 or G50?

915 is not very hard to do on your own. G50 is a little tougher...

But a decent local shop should be able to do either.

Any good resources on doing it yourself?

There was a detailed thread in the tech forum about 10 years ago of a DIY first time 915 rebuild. I can't remember the poster's name, but I'll see if I can find it.

I think its important to think about your goals. A 915 is typical Porsche, while you're in there can get $$$. A synchro or 2 isnt that bad but if you want to you can dump $$$ into it.

I have read some negative reviews of Vertex. Do some searching. Matt Monson?

Yes, Matt, or crate it and send to Rothsport (will likely be done by Gordon Ledbetter).

Would you have numbers matching if you keep the original? I'd vote for a rebuild by a good tech with preventative replacements and upgrades. Good time for a new clutch, obviously.

Before going nuts, would you play with your steering coupler and give the forward gears a little more travel ? Maybe he brutalized the shifter and the old coupler moved a bit, and now you're not getting 100% engagement ? Mind I realize that would also impact 1st and 5th but hey, if you're gonna drop the tranny...

It might be worth talking to Jay at J&J Motors

Not going to diy it, no lift and have a spinal cord injury that leaves me with little upper body strength. Figuring this is 6k budget. Numbers do match but the car is modified so no concern there. Will do clutch (and starter, and pedal cluster) while in there.

I am biased towards a Porsche pro.

There are replacement parts that are not quite correct. Not that they are bad, just PITA stuff happens.

Reverse lights won't turn on because some part is thinner than factory and does not quite hit the pin.

Balky shifting because synchros are not exactly cut right. I remember Gary Fairbanks telling me some of the stuff he does (did) to transmission parts to make them work like just out of the box.

I would say a few phone calls are in order.

The actual cost of a tear down and rebuild for a 915, not counting part replacement, is nominal. Maybe a grand. Less than removing and replacing the engine. Mayo did mine nine years ago for $750...........plus parts. All parts were the same prices that Pelican charges. Yes, there's some margin, but they did not retire on the parts take.

Matt's a slam dunk. However, I can't comment on other folks like J&J Motors because I don't know them.

Call a few and sense their enthusiasm and subject knowledge.

+1 What S Carlton says about durability upgrades. I don't know what they are, but ask. Good luck.

Tech Forum. Peter Zimmerman.

Or a real Porsche repair manual.

If you are prepared to ship it, why not have the tranny pulled and send it to John Walker?

Get the best tranny guy you can.

Good advice. Gordon is a supurb mechanic who knows the 915. You get what you pay for. Do you have limited slip? If not, consider doing so as a "while you're in there" thing.

If you decide to go with Gordon, you'll experience shifting that is better than factory new.

That was me, back in 2004! With the help of John Walker and a few others on this forum, the refresh went off without the slightest hitch.

Thread is here.

Good luck!!!

Randy

Yep that's it! Great thread. Thanks Randy.

That was some thread. Wish I had the time and strength to do the job myself, but that much time on my back isn't going to happen due to my physical situation. It irks me, for sure, as I'd love to give it a go.

I'm waiting to contact my local shop as they're away at Jay Peak to get their feelings/imput. Its a conservatively driven street car, despite the extra hp, so I don't see doing a race trans at this point.