I'm thinking about getting the Gear Vendors Gear Splitter for my TA. Is anybody here know someone that installed one of those? I saw one person on Fbody.com, but couldn't get them to reply to my e-mail. I was wondering about fitment and any necessary modifications. Any info is appreciated.

Thanks,
Paul

 

TTT I'd like to know too. To be able to pull like a TC at the track and blow away 6 spds on the highway this should be a great modification if it shifts as quick as the stock computer.

 

I see 2.73 gears....and looking for a splitter? Are you looking to change gears or go top speed racing? I doubt that you will improve your ET by splitting any of the lower gears, and 2.73's with overdrive is not bad as it is. Of you do start running high speeds in overdrive, remember that with the overdrive and a splitter you may exceed the critical speed of your driveshaft (depending on what driveshaft you have) and I'd suggest a lingenfelter aluminum or a carbon fiber shaft. Just some thoughts....I've never seen one in an F-body....(but it sounds fun)....

 

Hmm. For Some reason I was thinking that they could be ordered in .78 to 1 OD and 1:1 strait ratio. AND 1.25 to 1 and 1:1 ratio. In other words, I could get an one if I wanted to stick with a high rear gear, or get one for a low rear gear. I was hoping to keep some strong 2.73's (exactly for the driveshaft RPM's) and use it for underdrive at the dragstrip. I'll have to do some more checking I guess. I'll e-mail gear vendors today and find out a little more.

 

It's not a bad option for "extra gear" for the strip. I'd see what gear vendors has to say, but it sounds like a workable solution. Let us know what you find out.

 

The Gear Vendor unit only comes in .78, I just installed one in my '98 Camaro this last weekend.

The install onto the TH400 was pretty standard. There is a write-up on it that I did from yesterday evening floating around here somewhere.

Scott

 

stupid question but... what exactly is a gear splitter?

 

The gear splitter adds sort of a second transmission to the car that runs at two different ratios. Therefore it first runs the 1:1 and before your main transmission shifts to second the gear vendors unit shifts to .78:1, thus giving the car another gear between 1 and 2. This works on all of the gears so it would give the 4L60E 6 acceleration gears and 2 overdrives instead of 3 and 1. I would say the best setup would be with 3.73s since the last overdrive gear would give almost the same gas mileage as a stock 2.73 car and yet it will accelerate as fast out of the hole as a 3.73 car and be faster with the added close ratio gears. A more thorough explanation can be seen on their website gearvendors.com

<small>[ March 28, 2003, 04:43 AM: Message edited by: Trojan T/A ]</small>

 

Scott - I was curious as to how well the gear vendors unit shifted. Is it as fast as the stock transmission? Also, do you have to shift it or is it just a flick one button to turn it on and drive it like you would a bone stock car? Thanks

 

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif"> Scott - I was curious as to how well the gear vendors unit shifted. Is it as fast as the stock transmission? </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">That is a tough question to answer for a couple of reasons:

1) The stock transmission in the car was a t-56 <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="gr_images/icons/wink.gif" /> The new trans is a TH400.
2) The car is not running yet, the transmission and GV unit are installed, but I am still waiting on a driveshaft and am in the process of upgrading my turbos as well...so it will be about 3 weeks minimum until I am up and running with this setup...

The guy I spoke with at GV did tell me that the engagement of the overdrive is instantaneous becuase it is always turning.

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif"> Also, do you have to shift it or is it just a flick one button to turn it on and drive it like you would a bone stock car? </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">The GV unit comes with a little box that can be set on 'auto' or 'manual'. In manual mode you engage the gear vendor unit with a foot switch (think old high-beam switch). In automatic mode the overdrive will engage at a selectable speed.

Hope that helps,

Scott

 

so how is it installed? do you buy a new trans from them with the gear splitting incorporated into it or do you add it on to the tranny you already have?

<small>[ March 29, 2003, 07:48 AM: Message edited by: BigPlanTransAm ]</small>

 

holy sh*t! you can use 4.11's and be turning the same rpm as with stock 3.23's + you get all the extra gears. thats awesome!

 

awesome. ill be looking forward to that post

 

OK, heres a question noone has asked...how strong is the GV unit? How much power can you put through it before it starts breaking? I mean if you have tranny that can handle 800 HP and the GV overdrive is only good for 600 HP...then whats the point?

<small>[ March 29, 2003, 05:46 PM: Message edited by: mexSSican ]</small>

 

The people at Gear Vendors told me that there are some 2500hp cars running these things.

We will see how strong they turn out to be. I am going to be using the GV unit behind a 404ci turbo motor and hope to make ~750hp.

I guess that only time and a little experience will tell. I do know that guys have been using these things in 4x4s and RVs forever and they hold up.

Scott

 

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif"> so how is it installed? do you buy a new trans from them with the gear splitting incorporated into it or do you add it on to the tranny you already have?</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">No, basically you take off the tailshaft of the transmisson and install an adapter that comes with the GV unit. Then you install the unit itself.

All of the associated hardware weights about 40 lbs. and costs about $2400 with tax and shipping (although you will only get hit with the tax if you are in CA).

I will make a new post when the car is up and running...although it might be about a month or so until I have all of the parts that I need.

Scott

 

they advertise the basic unit to be ready for 1200 hp and if you plan on going over that you should talk with them first so they can beef it up for you

 

It sounds like a really good option for auto guys. You could put a higher rear ratio but still get good gas milage (kind of like the M6's .5 ratio).

M6 guys...just think of the ratios we could run with this <img border="0" title="" alt="[Eek!]" src="gr_eek2.gif" /> ....4.56 and still drive 80mph at 2000 kind of thing <img border="0" title="" alt="[Big Grin]" src="gr_grin.gif" />


Chris