Rebuilt 915 Opinion

[DRACO A5OG]

Who's done it and any feedback, good, bad or ugly?

Not the DIY (James, you a mad man), just swap.

Guys please help if you can, whom have you purchased from and post your results, findings opinion poll:

I think Wayne will allow this since he does not offer a Rebuilt 915.

[Scooter]

John Walker. (that is a period behind his name )

[Porsche_monkey]

A 915 is a DIY job.

[dentist90]

So easy, even a dentist can do it!

Be careful if you're gonna swap... you don't need someone else's headache in your car. I would recommend you ship it to JW for repairs if you're not comfortable doing it yourself. You know you will get a top-notch tranny back from him.

[gtihop]

It's not DIY if you have bearing race problems-

[dentist90]

Ya' mean bearing race problems like this? Gets way more complicated when you have to tinker with the differential, but even loose races can be bonded back in (I replaced the case because of the crack you see below)

[DRACO A5OG]

Originally Posted by dentist90

I would recommend you ship it to JW for repairs if you're not comfortable doing it yourself. You know you will get a top-notch tranny back from him.

Hey that's a good idea

[Trog]

Mine goes into the shop on Monday for the full 915-treatment.

Time for a 2nd mortgage?

[DRACO A5OG]

Originally Posted by Trog

Mine goes into the shop on Monday for the full 915-treatment.

Time for a 2nd mortgage?

With Negative Equity here in SoCali, there is no way in hell you can get a 2nd these days, unless you bought 10 years ago.

Hey, that might be a niche market, RTF (Rebuilt Transmission Finance).

Crap someone needs to manufacture less expensive replacement parts. I mean Thousands for a freakin 5th Gear, that is outrageous! Sorry my vent

[rusnak]

my Porsche wrench up here in central cal rebuilds them, along with lots of other stuff. I dunno what his rate is something like 40 per hour I think.

[hahnmgh63]

John Walker is the best.

[gtihop]

Originally Posted by hahnmgh63

John Walker is the best.

Yes, but shipping a transmission from eastern canada would probably cost as much as the transmission itself.

[Matt Monson]

Originally Posted by DRACO A5OG

. I mean Thousands for a freakin 5th Gear, that is outrageous! Sorry my vent

Who quoted you thousands for a 5th gear? That's ridiculous. If you need a 5th gear drop me a PM with what ratio you need. I have plenty of good used ones at very reasonable prices and new special ratio ones if you want to do something hot rod with it.

[Trog]

I'm looking at $6k-$7k for the full treatment.

For that, I expect a "Happy-Ending"

[Peter Zimmermann]

Originally Posted by Matt Monson

Who quoted you thousands for a 5th gear? That's ridiculous. If you need a 5th gear drop me a PM with what ratio you need. I have plenty of good used ones at very reasonable prices and new special ratio ones if you want to do something hot rod with it.

Matt: I wish that I would have known about you a few months ago ! I needed a 28:23 a few months ago, and searched everywhere. I got a price of $1600 (new) from the dealer and $1200 (new) from a shop that had old stock on the shelf. In each case I would have had to buy a new needle bearing and bearing bushing (another $100). As you well know, chatter lines are very common on the inner bearing surface, and a gear with those marks is a throw-away (at least I won't use one). I bought a number of 5th gears from different sources, and had to return all but two of them because of those lines, even after asking that the gear be checked carefully and to not send me the gear if they are visible.

[Scooter]

Talk to Gunter. He had his transmission rebuilt by JW last year. He figured out how to get it in and out of the States without costing too much.

[Mike Andrew]

+1 on JW.

[Matt Monson]

Originally Posted by Peter Zimmermann

Matt: I wish that I would have known about you a few months ago ! I needed a 28:23 a few months ago, and searched everywhere. I got a price of $1600 (new) from the dealer and $1200 (new) from a shop that had old stock on the shelf. In each case I would have had to buy a new needle bearing and bearing bushing (another $100). As you well know, chatter lines are very common on the inner bearing surface, and a gear with those marks is a throw-away (at least I won't use one). I bought a number of 5th gears from different sources, and had to return all but two of them because of those lines, even after asking that the gear be checked carefully and to not send me the gear if they are visible.

Wow! Maybe I'm not charging enough for some of my gears. I've got a dozen or so NOS 4th and 5th gears for 915. I've never sold one for even $1000. I sell NOS G50 gears for that kind of money, but they've always been that kind of money.

It's really ironic because those 915 gears used to be throw aways. I was at lunch with Grady one day and he was telling me about back in his dealership days (when I was in diapers ). He bought a huge stack of 915 gears from Porsche for something like $15 each. He didn't do it for the gears but for the dog teeth since Porsche wouldn't sell them seperately back then and the racers needed them for their special ratio gears they were beating up. He said he literally threw away a 50 gallon garbage can full of dogless NOS gears at one point!!!

Sorry for the hijack but I am just floored. Special ratio gears is my business and I didn't know anyone outside of the dealerships/PAG was charging that kind of money for 915 stuff. And now my aftermarket Aussie gears seem like a really good deal.

[Peter Zimmermann]

Originally Posted by Matt Monson

Wow! Maybe I'm not charging enough for some of my gears. I've got a dozen or so NOS 4th and 5th gears for 915. I've never sold one for even $1000.

It's really ironic because those 915 gears used to be throw aways. I was at lunch with Grady one day and he was telling me about back in his dealership days (when I was in diapers ). He bought a huge stack of 915 gears from Porsche for something like $15 each. He didn't do it for the gears but for the dog teeth since Porsche wouldn't sell them seperately back then and the racers needed them for their special ratio gears they were beating up. He said he literally threw away a 50 gallon garbage can full of dogless NOS gears at one point!!!

It's unbelievable to the point that if people continue to use, and wear out, 915s, it wouldn't surprise me to see a good one in the $7500 range five years from now. It's funny that you mention buying gears to get the dog teeth - I did the same a few times, but we did so many gearboxes (901,911,914 & 915) that it seems like we always had a gear set lying around to steal the dog teeth from. We built SCCA, IMSA and club transmissions, it got to the point where I gave gear charts to my customers, and had them plot the ratios and find the gears that they wanted! That said, I'm a pack rat, and have pretty much everything that I need - except for those darned 915 fifth gears!

[barney911rs]

Gary Fairbanks is another name well respected in the Porsche transmission universe.