Any word from jeff m about the tranny rebuild kit? I am starting to get aggrivated with my trans real bad, and I might be selling the car if I can not get a beefed up trans. :( I can't afford to keep repairing these cars anymore. I would hate to leave you guys, but it might have to happen. Also, how much do u think it would be to convert into a 5 speed. Cuz then Id keep the car and have it burried with me when I die. :twisted:
If I understood his last e-mail correctly, they are available :shock: ...for near $1,000 for the entire kit including a "very thick book" with detailed instructions for the morons at the shop to get it right.
Are you for real?! I wonder how much it would cost to get it done....
w00t...time to save me a grand and order a tranny kit. First step in my plan!!! :twisted:
I'm not trusting anything to the morons at the shop though. That's what the bench in my garage is for. 8)
I got a PM from Jeff in response to the kit. Right now according to him he is still in the process of testing it, but it should be available soon. I'll second the motion on the saving a grand for the kit. I'm tired of changing transmissions. I think I know what keeps happening to mine.
Still a few little tweaks but more so setting up to handle the kits and other parts that the owner would be better off getting local to them such as a dripping wet heavy torque converter that I don't want to ship/save the owner the cost of shipping this heavy piece. Then there are the inevitable many emails of support to the owner and his shop which happens when ever you do something other than stock (WHAT, you run stock!!). Then when we have been hearing of owners having problems over and over with shops just doing ?their? stock rebuild it freaks me out from taking on those lengthy challenges, I have been there too many times with just engine repairs and know they can kill a lot of time that I don?t have, that does not get compensated for either (really need a 1-900 number!). Extra time spent on coordinating, kit make up and email support cuts down on getting other projects worked out, tested and done, an example with just this week's activities is all the many lengthy talks with Garrett, Turbonetics and other suppliers to work out the details on the best bolt-back-on turbo upgrade for this engine (then not bolt-right-on versions, along with chip tuning all later). Taking these turbos all apart, boxing and sending in these spare turbos I have, tracking their arrival to be ready to call these suppliers to talk and get things going soon as the turbos are in their hands. Then while all this is going on, many emails regarding the need for pipes/potential pipe orders, that too many times come with please help me understand and fix all my other car?s problems, then several pipe orders and the support each ends up having, some since they want me to believe the pipe will fix everything else with their engine?s running problems (last 2 had stock and not stock/smaller injectors mixed in, only after a manifold gasket leak was found, and other hidden vacuum line leaks, then another who swapped the ECM but forgot to swap the TGP chip with it, not to fault these people as it was previous owners/repair shops that caused these problems, but it goes on and on and sucks up a lot of time and brain power, as they say, no one knows the trouble I see!!).
So, that was just a taste of this week, a small sample but back to the tranny before someone blows up at the $1,000 price! First off aside from 6 years of testing and research, seminars, classes, favors paid to performance tranny shops, flying to those out of state shops to work with them on the first kits, then many dollars spent by me testing and punishing tranny/mods on my TGP, pull the tranny back out and check the wear, tweak here and there, better part, modified part and put it all back in, test again, it seemed endless but the final outcome is (bty all of these original kits are still in operation running strong) a tranny kit that now holds very well on a TGP running around 300+ hp and lots of hard runs. The killer on the price of this kit is what they call the hard parts, those items such as the 4th clutch hub or what is affectionately called the cookie cutter, GM wants around $300 for theirs, same for another special hard part, around the $300 mark, and there are a number of these hard parts that need to be included in this kit since one; the wear has destroyed the old part beyond re-use and two, the new parts are modified as need and also cryo-freezed or heat hardened depending on the part to further address durably issues. Now add with these expensive modified hard parts, the upgraded and some custom; Torrington bearing kits, washer kits, seal kits, gasket kits, steels and clutches, custom valve body kit, chain and on and on, so that now this gets owners an idea of why a good rebuild kit along with performance and custom work can rack up to $1,000, BUT its easy to get that close on a standard rebuild kit if you do not have a wholesale account?..yes retail on all these parts would be over $1,000 without the extras I worked to develop. And the book that has to go with the parts and vis-versa, that shows all the work to take out the pipe for this tranny R/R, details on what to know about the 440T4 verses the 4T60 (there ARE good differences) and the TGP 4T60, a little history, many pages of updates and items to check and special procedures to perform these, then modification pages and more, a real pile of work that took more than any other kits I have done or am working on, just pray the tranny rebuilders do indeed follow the all important details in this booklet instead of doing it that way they always have, or wonder who this guy is telling them how to do things (BUT I have learned to talk their lingo as my own now along with drilling them about a warranty come-back if they do not follow the booklet, though I had one shop here in town do it 3 times (for a 280 hp TGP owner) from not listening to me, then I made the owner take the tranny to one of my authorized shops to be done right and after 2 years now no more problems, duh!!).
So, the kits work very well, all the hurdles have been jumped with success enough to please my tough standards of anything I would commit someone else?s money to. Firm shifts into 2nd are fairly easy to do, going into 3rd was a trick now accomplished, and this is a first; a firm 4th gear shift???, that was a reward all unto itself!!! Timing of upshifts and down shifts along with getting the damn WOT shifts points down have all been achieved and are very rewarding to me and all those involved along the way. Kevin Hieder?s TGP here and Larry Morran?s Pace Car TGP that 180K on his stock tranny, all are running this latest kit and it runs sweet, it?s nicely firm not harsh on part throttle shifts, firming up progressively as the pedal goes down, same with the downshift from throttle stab/WOT and from a coast down, a difficult blend to achieve with any rebuild kit out there stock or otherwise.
So, soon as I can get free from other commitments I will be setting up these kits for owners to buy, winter is the best time to take things down and do rebuilds and to that I will also have equally involved performance engine rebuild kits that are done too, just need to detail the work, secure best suppliers for part pricing, and another fat booklet to complete 8) .
Jeff M
Jeff, u need an assistant? LoL Ill move, I sware to god. Find me a job and Ill rent an appt or somehting, lol.
Actually I have had to hire a local friend/past TGP owner to get my home work done (planting, leaves raked, xmas lights up before it gets in the 20s or less, xover pipe prep, chip programming mod tests, diacom monitoring when testing chips, etc), hard to find a talented guy like this but I can only do so much in a 18 to 20 hour day :lol: . Since I don't sell a lot or make much money I can't afford a real employee but thanks for the offer, its more fun here than I can enjoy being too busy to notice (that sounded odd but about right :silly: ).
Jeff M
Man Jeff, I thought I was busy!! I have 2 businesses and work full time, so I can see why you are hard to catch! I say we ban together and liberate the world!! Anyone for adding more hours to the day, say I!
Honestly, it sounds like you have all six of your hands full, but it's nice to see someone as dedicated as yourself putting all the attention to detail into a car with limited production, and nearly 0 aftermarket. To bad you're not near Wisconsin. I'd let you use some of my guys to help out. Our shop is in it's slow time of the year, while everyone gets the last of the rides out of the summer rigs.
Take care man, and keep up the good work! Provided I still have the TGP when the kits becomes available, I'll snag one without a doubt! Otherwise I'll just have to buy another TGP...