01ws666

HEY GUYS JUST WANTING TO VENT AND GO OVER MY OPTIONS, KIND OF A LONG READ I'VE BEEN THROUGH ALOT WITH THIS SHOP AND TRANS SO TO ALL THE PROFESSIONAL BUILDERS ON THIS FORUM JUST READ THROUGH AND LET ME KNOW IF YOU CAN HELP ME OUT OR OFFER ANY ADVICE ON MY SITUATION... THANKS IN ADVANCE ~ Wes....

my trans problems started a couple yrs. ago at 80k miles my 3-4 clutches began slipping so I went to a local builder Interstate transmissions on mitchell rd. in modesto This guy told me his performance re-build would hold 700hp now I know he's full of ****.
He charged me $2800 for this full performance build and that lasted one year till my flexplate cracked and took out the pump,
This cost me $1200. Two weeks later I snapped the output shaft on the 1-2 shift cost me another $900 upgraded to a hardened shaft.
One month later i blew my rear-end on the 1-2 shift this cost me $1200 for a new ring/pinion and limited slip unit. 5 months later I flaired my reverse input drum and gouged the beast sunshell he charged me $750 for this.
a few months later I blew the input sprag just merging on the freeway, cost me another $500. And 3weeks ago I blew my low roller which took out the rear 5 pinion planetary gear he charged me another $750 for this...

Now when I blew the low roller he told me "there was alot of metal in the pan but he cleaned everything out real good and flushed out the converter for about an hour". I know now that you can never flush all the metal out of a converter and it needs to be cut open and cleaned to get everything out because now my situation is that he didn't get all the metal out of the converter and the metal in there caused the clutch on my $800 Yank pt3800 to come apart and the clutch material clogged my trans filter completely and in turn smoked every single clutch in my transmission due to lack of fluid pressure to hold the clutches... This happened within a week of getting my car back from the low-roller failure and only happened because he never recomended that the converter needed to be cut and cleaned in the first place. Now he's trying to put a $1200 bill on me to replace all the clutches and seals in the trans when I dont feel this is my fault at all...

His excuse is because I supplied the yank converter myself that he installed for $200 a year ago that he's not responsible for it because I supplied it... We'll supplied it or not he's the one who should have known it needed to be cut and cleaned to make it right in the first place after seeing how much metal was in the pan... am I correct on this? And also he wont give me any warranty on these re-builds/fixes because I run mickey thompsons and he knows I reguarly drag race my car when he's supposedly a fellow dragracer himself... What kind of bullshit is that!?

So after spending a total of over $7000 dollars on this piece of **** trans over the last 2 years he's asking for another $1200 plus dollars to replace all the clutches and seals When not only do I not think I should have to, but even if it was somehow my fault I dont trust his ability to do the job right and I'm just gonna be back in there in a couple months with another broken part and another $1000 dollar bill....

So now I had a few words with this guy and dont want him touching the car at all I'm looking to have the car towed either back home or to a new shop and thinking of just going with a whole new trans from a sponsor maybe but after so much with this trans and upgrading pretty much every part in it I'm pretty tapped out anyone have any deals or someway they can get me back on the road with a solid transmission as my 01 trans am is my daily driver and the only car i own I'm pretty screwed without it and need some help or advice from someone????

dlandsvZ28

Bite the bullet and don't ever go back to this shop. Don't be an 'enabler'.

An enabler is someone who allows someone else with bad habits to continue their bad habits.

IMO I would get a Performabuilt because of their $950 rebuild warranty - however you might verify with Frank whether the warranty is valid or what conditions apply as to what is required from you the customer with respect to the contaminated convertor and its condition when installing the warrantied rebuild (if that would ever occur with a Performabuilt).

How much BIG rwhp are you making that is causing all of the carnage?

My Performabuilt LVL III ($2450) is holding up well behind 565 FI rwhp.

Note: I would never install a new transmission with a used TQ for fear of contamination. What the heck was your master mechanic tranny builder thinking?

heymoej

iTrader: (67)

wow......sorry for all that shyt that guy put you threw....we went with FLT after going threw something similar .......do it once & call vince @ FLT they are sponsors on here.

again i am sorry to hear that,

good luck!!!!!

01ws666

Cars never been dyno'd but its just bolt-ons, lid, full exhaust, 3800 stall and 3.73's so i'm guessing she's making all of 330ish rwhp to be breaking all this stuff lol...
The shop owner actually told me i'm breaking stuff cuz i'm not making more hp lol, and that if i was making more power it wouldn't break cuz i'd spin instead of hooking up...

Btw the converter i just got back from Yank its been cut and cleaned and had a new clutch installed, Yank was nice enough to replace the clutch for free to help me out after going through all this

dlandsvZ28

It makes me sick to hear this since your rwhp is so low. Take a friend with you and get your car out of that shop asap even if it is not driveable.

DO NOT LET THIS SHOP TURN ANOTHER WRENCH ON YOUR CAR.

This shop owner has you 'Marked' and any further transactions with him will only do you more harm. Even if you have to rent a car for a week or two it will cost you less in the long run than to continue to throw more money away at this shop.

I lost nearly ten grand on a similar situation so know exactly how it feels to get reamed thousands of dollars for shoddy work.

Three sponsors on this forum (FLT, RPM, and Performabuilt) can build you a transmission that will be trouble free for years at your rwhp and for a fraction of the cost of what you have spent and will continue to spend if you let this shop work on your car.

Good luck.

Big Red Z28

iTrader: (4)

GET YOUR CAR OUT OF THERE AS SAID. This sucks but you have been screwed in my opinion. From how they sound when you pull it out of there shop assuming it has been there for a period of time they will charge you a storage fee. If they are a part of the BBS or anyother organization file a complaint. This will not get your money back but help others in the future or help preventing them from becoming a member. If they are complete a holes threten to have a third party mechanic take apart the said transmission and verify said upgraded parts were installed and workmanship was done correctly. This is complete BS in my opinion.

Gatsby

iTrader: (7)

I've had a similar issue (though not nearly as bad as you) with parts breaking because the shop "didn't know" the converter was bad. The last time he fixed my car, he hammered a cone into the hub of the TC to get it "into round" then I blew two trans pump rotors because it's not wobbling. I've had this trans dropped like 4 times because the shop did something wrong, but so simple that it seems like it was a coincidence.

After I get it back this time (they're fixing it under warranty) i'm saving for a sponsor trans that I know will be awesome for years.

Kevin01Z28

iTrader: (8)

Thats good that Yank did that for you. Now that you have the converter rebuilt I would give FLT a call.

FLT

iTrader: (1)

01ws666 I have been following your threads for quite some time now as I do with many on the forums. In my opinion any time you have a failure it is a good idea to have a converter cut and cleaned. I'm sure the converter manufactures will attest to this because of what they see in converters with various transmission failures. The issue in most cases comes down to money. This hobby is not a cheap one! Please do not take my advise or comments the wrong way.

Now lets get into some of the issues you have had with your transmission and the rear end. Not knowing how you drive this car I can only assume that you might be driving it like it owes you money. We all know how it is and I have been guilty of this when I was younger! Yes I was an animal on my cars. Also if your transmission shifts overly hard this will add to failures.

If you are manually downshifting this car coming to a stop, doing constant burnouts, have wheel hop or traction issues you are putting a lot of unneeded strain on your driveline. Hp is not the only thing that effects the driveline and in most cases the driving habit's are what causes issues. I have seen where a guy with a 4l60e when properly driven can make 700rwhp and make it last. On the same token I have seen where a guy with a 350rwhp car will destroy the same transmission built for his vehicle. Does this make sense? This is the main reason why I would never rate a transmission with a HP rating. Not everyone drives the same and at the end of the day everyone's situation is different.

As for your last few failures starting with the rear end. When you brake a differential the shock of this failure is very hard on the low roller and also the input sprag. I have seen first hand experience when testing our transmissions in a 800+ rwhp C5 vet. This car broke a bunch of differentials one season. Every time this happened we would get the trans back for inspection. Would you know that the input sprag and the low roller had signs of damage with less that 10 passes on the unit? It did and every time they were replaced. Also the converter would be sent out to avoid a bad day at the track having a transmission failure do to previous damage. IMO every bearing in the transmission and the converter need to be address or replaced. The shock from this type of failure loads, unloads and then loads again as we hear the pop of the differential break. I hate that sound!

This last failure you had I would have to look at more than just the transmission. I'm wondering how the cooler flow is in your vehicle. With the failures you have had, not knowing how the shop has been flushing your cooler, I would have to bet that the converter and the cooler had debris in them no doubt. As you have had your series of failures how thoughly has the builder been inspecting this unit? Not trying to point fingers but here at FLT when we see a unit back we go over everything as best as we can to make sure that a repeat failure does not happen. Like I said in this post there are some things to take a step back and think about. I hope you get the issues taken care of and I wish you the best of luck. Vince Bielanski

01ws666

Thanks for all the words guys, So yea my plan is to pay the guy the money i owe him then get the car towed out of there... So anyone have any deals right now or a good used trans they wanna get rid of? Can trade for a fully built trans that probably just needs to be set up right and needs all new seals and clutches...Off the top of my head it has;
beast sunshell
gm 5 pinion planets
hardened output shaft
billit servo's
circle D billit overrun clutch
trans go shift kit
borg warner 29 element sprag

NVR_SPDS

iTrader: (39)

That sucks to hear man. Get your car out of there, ASAP!! If I wasnt so damn busy, id be more than happy to help you with labor, so you wouldnt have to pay to swap that piece of crap out.. I wont be free for a couple weeks though. See if someones got something for sale in our area, dont see why you could get by on a stock trans for a little while, your not making much power.

My experience in our area(from turlock), started when we lost the T56 in our last 02 WS.6 a couple years back. I called around our area and nobody knew what an upgraded trans was. Ended up with a loaded Level V from RPM. Been in 2 cars, and is still perfect.

Beginning of this year, i lost 3rd & 4th in the supposedly beefed up '60e in the 01 WS.6(my daily), i wasnt going to take the chance, so I started calling sponsors. ended up with a Performabuilt Level 2, and their 9.5" stall.

I know that doesnt help, but i got screwed by a trans company when i was living in Va.