This just in! (TRE Upgrades round 2)
Apr 13, 2006, 12:14 PM
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This just in! (TRE Upgrades round 2)
Last December I upgraded my Transmission and TC with stuff from TRE.
More info here...
Well 140+ drag race runs and 23k miles later it was time to do it all over again. I dropped my tranny out 2 weekends ago and send it out to be "refreshed" by Jon. I was experiencing an odd rattle at idle (not the TOB) and after some searching I thought it might have been the reverse idler assembly. I had also trashed the 4th gear syncro and needed it replaced. With these things in mind.. the tranny went on it's way.
I spoke to Jon Monday of this week, he had finished my tranny and it was ready to ship out. He gave me a brief synopsis of what was wrong with it. By brief, I mean the word "everything"
The odd rattle I was experiencing? My 5th gear had come lose on the input shaft, damaging the gear and the shaft. That forced the input shaft to be replaced...
Jon replaced it with an Evo IX input shaft and 1st gear assembly. He mentioned that the new 1st gear ratio in the 9 allows for a different tooth profile that is much stronger than the VIII design. He retained the Evo VIII 5th gear though, since it keeps RPMs down on the freeway.
My Final Drive Gear had 3 chiped teeth, he replaced that with a stock VIII final drive gear. (same for VIII and IX) And he replaced all of my hub/sleeve assemblies and syncros. He also REM finished the sliding parts in my tranny (shift rails, etc.) and the splined part of the input shaft so the clutch disks (Cusco twin) can release easier.
I will be installing this tranny on Saturday and giving a full review on the feel and performance. My original rebuild was amazing, I can't imagine this being even better, but Jon says it will be!
I am not replacing or rebuilding my Cusco clutch, it's still working fine after all the hard work I've asked it to do.
Pictures and more Saturday night!
- Steve
More info here...
Well 140+ drag race runs and 23k miles later it was time to do it all over again. I dropped my tranny out 2 weekends ago and send it out to be "refreshed" by Jon. I was experiencing an odd rattle at idle (not the TOB) and after some searching I thought it might have been the reverse idler assembly. I had also trashed the 4th gear syncro and needed it replaced. With these things in mind.. the tranny went on it's way.
I spoke to Jon Monday of this week, he had finished my tranny and it was ready to ship out. He gave me a brief synopsis of what was wrong with it. By brief, I mean the word "everything"
The odd rattle I was experiencing? My 5th gear had come lose on the input shaft, damaging the gear and the shaft. That forced the input shaft to be replaced...
Jon replaced it with an Evo IX input shaft and 1st gear assembly. He mentioned that the new 1st gear ratio in the 9 allows for a different tooth profile that is much stronger than the VIII design. He retained the Evo VIII 5th gear though, since it keeps RPMs down on the freeway.
My Final Drive Gear had 3 chiped teeth, he replaced that with a stock VIII final drive gear. (same for VIII and IX) And he replaced all of my hub/sleeve assemblies and syncros. He also REM finished the sliding parts in my tranny (shift rails, etc.) and the splined part of the input shaft so the clutch disks (Cusco twin) can release easier.
I will be installing this tranny on Saturday and giving a full review on the feel and performance. My original rebuild was amazing, I can't imagine this being even better, but Jon says it will be!
I am not replacing or rebuilding my Cusco clutch, it's still working fine after all the hard work I've asked it to do.
Pictures and more Saturday night!
- Steve
Apr 13, 2006, 01:07 PM
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stop breaking stuff =P....oh well breaking goes hand in hand with having a fast car that was driven the way it should be....id like to help put it back in this weekend but you know the situation 
...if i dont talk to you before then let me know how it goes
...if i dont talk to you before then let me know how it goes
Apr 13, 2006, 01:17 PM
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Cool. 
I just paid for a TRE tranny rebuild as well, and I hope to have it by this weekend. I also went with the IX input shaft, first gear, and REM isotropic finishing. I also had them cryo-treat the lot. Anyhow, I also got the "full" story from Jon, and I think I maybe understood half of it. 
I just paid for a TRE tranny rebuild as well, and I hope to have it by this weekend. I also went with the IX input shaft, first gear, and REM isotropic finishing. I also had them cryo-treat the lot. Anyhow, I also got the "full" story from Jon, and I think I maybe understood half of it.
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Apr 18, 2006, 01:55 PM
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This reply and "report" will be a bit long winded, so bear with me.
Saturday night after the install, I was BEAT, it took me much longer to get the tranny back into the car this time than the last. It was a combination of many things, simultaneously tackling this job and my friends 2G wheel bearing in the driveway, the stiffer motor mounts making "shifting" of the motor more difficult, and general fatigue from a very very long week at work.
At around 9:30 PM I finished up the car and lowered it off the jackstands. I followed Jon's startup proceedure (immediately start car and rev motor to 3k RPMs in neutral to circulate fluid into parts of the tranny that do not get oiled at idle).
I then do the typical "row through the gears", 1, 2, 3, 4, ......
The shifter would move to the right, but I could not push it forwards or backwards to engage 5th or reverse. My heart sank....
I rowed 1-4 a couple more times and afterwards I was able to get the car into reverse. It was very stiff but went into gear and I backed the car out of the garage and checked under the car for leaks. Finding none I then backed into the street for a quick "around the block".
As soon as I pulled away I heard a "ching" "ching" "ching" "ching" "ching" that gradually sped up the faster I went (15MPH tops). I turned around at the first corner and headed back to the garage. My heart hurt even more.... My friend with the 2G who had helped me through this ordeal all day had a few ideas, and he was spot on. We put the car on 4 jackstands and spun the back wheels to get the driveshaft to spin. The "ching" noise was coming from the Transfer Case output dust shield. Apparently I had dented it ever so slightly so that it rubbed on the Driveshaft with every rotation. He squoze it ever so slightly and the noise was gone.
.... Thank God.
I was still concerned about the difficulty in shifting into 5th or Reverse. 1-4 were absolutely BEAUTIFUL, so this 5/R issue puzzled me.
I drove the car back to my apartment ~40 miles (I do all my work at my parents house, they're kind enough to let me use their garage). By the time I got home the 5/R issue was already clearing itself up. I felt better, still anxious about it hoping nothing was wrong, but was most definately feeling better.
I took the car out again that night for a little cruise to put some more miles on it (~20) and came back home. I got out of the car and as it was idling (turbo timer) my idle rattle returned.
I was "upset" to say the least.
The number one reason I sent the tranny to Jon was for that very rattle. The IX first gear, new syncros, fixing 5th, the chiped final drive gear, that was all peanuts compared to how much that rattle annoyed me. I was livid...
The next day I put another 120 miles on the car between going to Easter Church service in the morning and my Sister's house for Easter Dinner. Rattle was still there, I was considering driving to a local dealership and trading the car in on something and just walking away from Evos for a while....
Monday morning I took the car to work, at this point with the ~200 miles I had put on the tranny the 5/R issue was nearly gone. %th and Reverse were slightly stiffer than 1-4 and in those gears the transmission was shifting flawlessly, better than I expected. The transmission was easier to shift than I remember my first rebuild being (REM Finishing?) and the slight gear change of the IX 1st versus the VIII first was becoming more noticeable, in a good way!
I called Jon around 10:30AM (Yes I know his website says he doesn't answer calls before 3:00PM, apparently when "US Government" shows up on your caller ID, you answer anyway ) And started a pleasent conversation with Jon about my tranny.
Take notes here people... I CALLED THE VENDOR BEFORE COMING ON HERE AND COMPLAINING ABOUT A PRODUCT
The difficulty in shifting into 5/R? Jon found it hard to believe I had this issue since he glass beads all the syncros prior to assembly to accelerate break-in. He simply said "Drive the snot out of it, if you can break it, we'll honor our warranty no questions asked". I don't really plan on taking him up on this, I want the tranny to last a very long time, but it's nice to know he stands behind his product. At that point I decided I would keep driving it and count on the problem clearing itself up. As of today, it has....
The rattling... Guess what? I learned something new
Yes, I can humble myself, I don't know everything about my car or clutches.
Take one Cusco Twin Disk, Throw in 23k miles of use, Add in my naievity, and what do you get? An engineer that thinks the idle rattle is his tranny when it's actually his clutch. Apparently when Twin disks are new they're silent at idle, but when they get some age and use to them the tolerances open up and they'll talk to you at idle. I didn't see how this was possible and I was still a skeptic. So I called 5 other shops and confirmed this. I felt like a fool for getting so angry, and like a fool for sending my tranny out for repair of a problem that wasn't in the tranny.
Yes, there were underlying issues with my transmission that needed to be addressed and they were, but I was about to blow a gasket for no reason. Do I feel humbled? Yes...
Bottom Line -
Does this transmission perform better than my original rebuild? Amazingly, YES!
Am I happy with the services I recieved? YES!
Should you trust TRE with your next transmission rebuild? Without a doubt in my mind, YES!
Thanks for reading...
- Steve
Saturday night after the install, I was BEAT, it took me much longer to get the tranny back into the car this time than the last. It was a combination of many things, simultaneously tackling this job and my friends 2G wheel bearing in the driveway, the stiffer motor mounts making "shifting" of the motor more difficult, and general fatigue from a very very long week at work.
At around 9:30 PM I finished up the car and lowered it off the jackstands. I followed Jon's startup proceedure (immediately start car and rev motor to 3k RPMs in neutral to circulate fluid into parts of the tranny that do not get oiled at idle).
I then do the typical "row through the gears", 1, 2, 3, 4, ......
The shifter would move to the right, but I could not push it forwards or backwards to engage 5th or reverse. My heart sank....
I rowed 1-4 a couple more times and afterwards I was able to get the car into reverse. It was very stiff but went into gear and I backed the car out of the garage and checked under the car for leaks. Finding none I then backed into the street for a quick "around the block".
As soon as I pulled away I heard a "ching" "ching" "ching" "ching" "ching" that gradually sped up the faster I went (15MPH tops). I turned around at the first corner and headed back to the garage. My heart hurt even more.... My friend with the 2G who had helped me through this ordeal all day had a few ideas, and he was spot on. We put the car on 4 jackstands and spun the back wheels to get the driveshaft to spin. The "ching" noise was coming from the Transfer Case output dust shield. Apparently I had dented it ever so slightly so that it rubbed on the Driveshaft with every rotation. He squoze it ever so slightly and the noise was gone.
.... Thank God.
I was still concerned about the difficulty in shifting into 5th or Reverse. 1-4 were absolutely BEAUTIFUL, so this 5/R issue puzzled me.
I drove the car back to my apartment ~40 miles (I do all my work at my parents house, they're kind enough to let me use their garage). By the time I got home the 5/R issue was already clearing itself up. I felt better, still anxious about it hoping nothing was wrong, but was most definately feeling better.
I took the car out again that night for a little cruise to put some more miles on it (~20) and came back home. I got out of the car and as it was idling (turbo timer) my idle rattle returned.
I was "upset" to say the least.
The number one reason I sent the tranny to Jon was for that very rattle. The IX first gear, new syncros, fixing 5th, the chiped final drive gear, that was all peanuts compared to how much that rattle annoyed me. I was livid...
The next day I put another 120 miles on the car between going to Easter Church service in the morning and my Sister's house for Easter Dinner. Rattle was still there, I was considering driving to a local dealership and trading the car in on something and just walking away from Evos for a while....
Monday morning I took the car to work, at this point with the ~200 miles I had put on the tranny the 5/R issue was nearly gone. %th and Reverse were slightly stiffer than 1-4 and in those gears the transmission was shifting flawlessly, better than I expected. The transmission was easier to shift than I remember my first rebuild being (REM Finishing?) and the slight gear change of the IX 1st versus the VIII first was becoming more noticeable, in a good way!
I called Jon around 10:30AM (Yes I know his website says he doesn't answer calls before 3:00PM, apparently when "US Government" shows up on your caller ID, you answer anyway
) And started a pleasent conversation with Jon about my tranny.Take notes here people... I CALLED THE VENDOR BEFORE COMING ON HERE AND COMPLAINING ABOUT A PRODUCT
The difficulty in shifting into 5/R? Jon found it hard to believe I had this issue since he glass beads all the syncros prior to assembly to accelerate break-in. He simply said "Drive the snot out of it, if you can break it, we'll honor our warranty no questions asked". I don't really plan on taking him up on this, I want the tranny to last a very long time, but it's nice to know he stands behind his product. At that point I decided I would keep driving it and count on the problem clearing itself up. As of today, it has....
The rattling... Guess what? I learned something new
Yes, I can humble myself, I don't know everything about my car or clutches.
Take one Cusco Twin Disk, Throw in 23k miles of use, Add in my naievity, and what do you get? An engineer that thinks the idle rattle is his tranny when it's actually his clutch. Apparently when Twin disks are new they're silent at idle, but when they get some age and use to them the tolerances open up and they'll talk to you at idle. I didn't see how this was possible and I was still a skeptic. So I called 5 other shops and confirmed this. I felt like a fool for getting so angry, and like a fool for sending my tranny out for repair of a problem that wasn't in the tranny.
Yes, there were underlying issues with my transmission that needed to be addressed and they were, but I was about to blow a gasket for no reason. Do I feel humbled? Yes...
Bottom Line -
Does this transmission perform better than my original rebuild? Amazingly, YES!
Am I happy with the services I recieved? YES!
Should you trust TRE with your next transmission rebuild? Without a doubt in my mind, YES!
Thanks for reading...
- Steve
Apr 18, 2006, 02:21 PM
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Price depends on damage level and time needed to complete repairs, it can range from 750 to 1500 I believe.
Your best bet it to shoot Jon an email describing your problems and what upgrades you want done and he'll do his best to give you an accurate estimate.
I would always keep an extra $500 around "just in case" there were problems that you were unaware of that need to be addressed.
- Steve
Your best bet it to shoot Jon an email describing your problems and what upgrades you want done and he'll do his best to give you an accurate estimate.
I would always keep an extra $500 around "just in case" there were problems that you were unaware of that need to be addressed.
- Steve