Merry Xmas you need a new Tranny

[banjomike]

So I just got off the phone with my mechanic. I dropped my car by this morning because I have had some trouble shifting. He checked the various adjustments and found everything to be in order. It has Swepco in it already. He took it for a drive and of course failed to have any trouble at all so he called me to ask what was wrong.

I told him that it has been pretty balky going into 1st lately. Yesterday it was engaging 1st but the lever wouldn't 'pop' into gear like it usually does. This morning it actually popped out of 1st as I was starting up from a stop sign. So Bill said that these were classic symptoms of a 915 that needs a rebuild. He said that the 1st gear synchro and maybe gear are likely to need replacing. He said it would be about $600 for him to remove and re-install the motor/tranny and send it to the tranny guy. The tranny guy will charge at least $1200 and maybe more depending on what he finds in there. He also said that the work would probably take about 10 days!! He said that the tranny isn't likely to fail catastrophically too soon, so I asked him to talk to the tranny guy about scheduling something in the near future when he could get to it without too much wasted time.

Does anyone have any suggestions or comments. Bill has always been very fair and reasonable with the prices so I trust him. Are there any "while you are in there" fixes/upgrades for the tranny? Since the car will be sitting in Bill's shop with the engine out for days I asked him if I could come by and do some work on it. He said that would be fine. I was thinking that I might clean out the engine compartment and the engine itself while they are easy to get to. Any other ideas about what I might do in there? I was even thinking about taking some vacation time to fiddle. You know, Santa brought me a sack of lemons so I might as well make some lemonaid, right?

[Thomas Owen]

Send John Walker a PM. If you are talking sending the trans out, you may want him to do the work.
Just a thought.
Good luck,

[Superman]

When my tranny needs attention, John will get the job.

[vash]

banjo, at least drop the motor yourself to save the $600. lots of us in the bay area to help. and the "while the motor is out" projects are alot easier with the car in your garage.

[addictionMS]

on the trani, syncro and dogteeth can be priced on PP, as can the gasket set.

Time to do a trani is about 5-6 hours (guessing based on my efforts)

guessing 7 hours to pull and push the motor is about right, maybe a little long, but close.

So the prices seem reasonable.

there are lots of places to get a trani done here in the Bay Area, no need to ship off to a distant shop, unless you really want to.


if you decide to pull it, Stover or I can rebuild it while you watch if you want.


Cheers

Jim

[banjomike]

Originally posted by vash
banjo, at least drop the motor yourself to save the $600. lots of us in the bay area to help. and the "while the motor is out" projects are alot easier with the car in your garage.

Garage? I asked for a garage for christmas... didn't get one. The idea of pulling it myself (with help) did occur to me but the lack of a garage is the problem.

Before anyone gets upset at the idea of a 911 living in the weather, you should know that the paint was already terrible when I bought it.

[dandrews64]

I had mine done at Tillmans in Santa Rosa, and did synchros and sliders on 1, 2, 3, 4 even though only 1 & 2 were having issues. Figured while it was open......

Also took care of the clutch, reverse light switch, a main seal (crank?) on the motor that had soaked the clutch, the engine sound pad (it was not there - a PO had ripped it out), valve adjustment, and the throttle linkage bushings.

There was some resistance from 5th to 4th after the job, but 3,000 miles later it is better. A break-in period? Also thinking I should change the shift linkage bushings. Need to search this BBS on that topic.

[banjomike]

Originally posted by addictionMS
there are lots of places to get a trani done here in the Bay Area, no need to ship off to a distant shop, unless you really want to.


if you decide to pull it, Stover or I can rebuild it while you watch if you want.


Cheers

Jim

My mechanic, Bill Eason, uses someone local for transmission work, I don't think he'd be shipping it far. The offer to let me watch you rebuild it is pretty cool. I'll have to think about that. Maybe I can find a rental space for a month or so, then I could do more of the work and be more flexible. Probably just a pipe dream considering I that my free time lately starts when the rest of the family has gone to sleep.

Jim, I went looking for used 915s as soon as I heard, and I saw the one you are selling. Luckily the drool didn't short my keyboard out. Of course with the current market $6k is probably about 75% of the value of my car! I need to contrive a way to come out of this with a wevo gateshift, a limited slip, or something else cool.

[randywebb]

"while you are in there" fixes/upgrades for the tranny?

Grady has posted a couple - one was to grind a notch from the center straight down on the clutch tube to keep any leaks from contaminating the flywheel.

Another may have related only to 911 boxes - it was a bracket for the clutch cable "hose" that bolted to the side cover, instead of the milled out cast on bracket. There is a photo of that in an Up Fixin'.

Search for his name and mine and tran* to find the originals.

Depending on what year it is there may be strenthening upgrades - such as the newer side cover on the 915 box. That thread I think has Bill V's name on it, which doesn't help reduce the # threads much, I know.

And if it is a Mg cased trans. then think about coating it with something. Thread on that too.

Fianlly, this is a good time to think about how much you like all the rear ratios - if you want to change any of them or not.

If you race, then does the trans. get too hot? Might be pump and cooler time.

[RickM]

Originally posted by addictionMS

if you decide to pull it, Stover or I can rebuild it while you watch if you want.

Cheers

Jim

No garage? I'd drop the transaxle on the street for an opportunity like this. Gotta hand it to you guys!.

[masraum]

Instead of a garage maybe you could rent a self storage type of place for a month or two. I once rented a 10x30 at $140 a month, and that was enough to fit a '69 Buick Riviera with a couple of spare motors and all of their associated stuff with one on a stand, and a few racks of stuff. May be worth it to you to get your hands dirty and better be able to afford the "while you're in there" stuff with the $600 that you save.

Shoot, maybe there's even someone local that would give you a spot in their garage for a week or two.

[john walker's workshop]

maybe you can find a shop that will do the whole job (r+r and repair) in a couple of days rather than shipping out the trans to someone else.

[banjomike]

JWws,

not a bad idea. since I'm not in a panic hurry here, I'm gonna call a few other local wrenchs for estimates. I live in San Rafael which is home to SCarGo and HiTech. There is someone on the PP parts board selling a 915 out of a '74 that had 80,000 on it, and they want ~$750. That would be less than the rebuild but I could obviously be buying a POS. If I could do that and sell mine (though I don't know what a 915 with unexplored troubles would go for) it might save a bunch...

I'm pretty happy with my ratios. I've always thought that I have the 7:31 r/p but I read recently that 75 or 74 was the last year for that. I have sometimes wished that 1st gear was a bit taller. You really can't stand on it in 1st, redline just comes up too fast. How can you tell for sure which r/p you have? Well gotta go and pick up the car now. Wish me luck.

[Wayne 962]

Too bad my tranny rebuild book isn't done (or really started, for that matter)...

-Wayne

[scottb]

Originally posted by banjomike
I live in San Rafael which is home to SCarGo and HiTech.

I had HiTech do a PPI for me on a car I ultimately did not buy. I was impressed with their thoroughness. Also, they were very courteous and considerate of a customer from 500 miles away who likely would never come thru their doors again. YMMV.

[john walker's workshop]

in the mid 70's, i lived in fairfax for about a year and hung around in san raphael. cool area. i worked at a shop in corte madera called corte madera british and european. most of the porsche guys went to "the stable" in the city.

[dandrews64]

My buddy and I have had work done at HiTec, and I hate to be Mr. Negative, and Deven's a nice guy, but they've made careless mistakes on every job. Simple stuff. Heck, I BOUGHT my car there. But no way I was trusting them with my tranny. I think maybe if you're not building a race car or restoring a 356 they are not really focused on quality. Just my $0.02.

And yes, if someone cares, I can provide examples.

Dude, go to The Stable, Scargo, or Tillmans.

[banjomike]

I've used Hitech many times in the past and I can only think of one mistake, which involved a power steering line in a 944 that got cut by the fan. They replaced it gratis with the factory update part. I'd still be going there if I hadn't been refered to Bill Eason in Oakland. $15/hour less and an all around great guy (plus he's a 10 min walk from my office!) he works only on referals and specializes in aircooled pcars, and he clearly loves what he does.

[moazam]

Originally posted by john walker's workshop
maybe you can find a shop that will do the whole job (r+r and repair) in a couple of days rather than shipping out the trans to someone else.

I had RMG in Sunnyvale rebuild my transmission. I had alot more done than just 1st gear though. Bob at RMG aint cheap, but his shop stands by its work. I dropped the car off at RMG for about a week I think it was..maybe even less.

I've also heard good things about Modderman in Mtn. View.

[dickster]

Too bad my tranny rebuild book isn't done (or really started, for that matter)...

yeah, get a move on