borgward

Is there such a thing as a "rebuild kit"? I have talked to several rebuilders who quote a price if all they do is use a "kit" to rebuild a 99 Mercury Tracer 5 speed manual trans. "Kit" all seals, bushings, bearings, seals, and synchro rings. The price does not include gears, etc. The parts houses here can not find the so call "kit". Is there such a thing? If so where to get it from. If not is there a good source for all those parts?

Has anyone rebuilt one of these transmissions?

What special tools do I absolutely need?

I do not want a junk yard transmission (somebody else's problem)

99 Mercury tracer 2.0 SPI 5 speed manual. I have the Official Ford 99 Escort/Tracer shop manuals I, and II

thesource

iTrader: (60)

FWD units have very little value. I would look for a good low milage used one from a salvage yard. If you must rebuild it, be ready to spend some money. A lot of the parts will probably either be dealer only or used if coming from a transmission supply store.

jmd

iTrader: (4)

http://www.drivetrain.com/parts_cata...haul_kits.html

thesource

iTrader: (60)

Yeah those are generic kits, I was mostly talking about things like gears and syncro assemblies. FWD car rarely need just the generic parts like bearings and syncro rings. When they crap out, usually they are jumping out of gear or have broken internals.

jmd

iTrader: (4)

I wasn't intending to undermine your statements at all. But I agree, manual stuff outside the basics is certainly lot harder to find than auto. Re: crapped out, I'd say a rebuilder has reached a good place in business if they're getting upgrade jobs rather than just "X gear is broke please fix it" work.

thesource

iTrader: (60)

I agree but just like with high performance engine building, sometimes you have to build stock stuff to keep the lights on. I'd prefer performance builds all day long to stock replacement stuff. In this economy though, we are seeing less and less of the higher end stuff and more of the repair stuff. A lot of the repair stuff is basically patch jobs at that. Of those patch jobs, we try to turn most of those away unless we are really slow or we know the person simply cannot afford any other option and they are willing to have it done with no warranty given on it. 9 times out of 10, patch jobs are more trouble than they are worth. Sometimes I even lose money on jobs just to get them over and done with.

Lately, its been a real chore to even be able to keep the supply chain flowing enough to build T56 and T5 units. Tremec has really been dropping the ball and I hope they get things smoothed out next year.