Not all "billet" keys are created equally. As some may know, we use our own type of unique billet keys for 3-4. They are made of a high-carbon chromium alloy, which is superior to others on the market. They are also made to be used with OEM springs. Unlike others on the market, these work perfectly with the triple cone rings found in the Vette/GTO/CTS-V T56 trannys. Every T56 that comes thru the shop gets a set of these, as that is the only way you'll find them. There are a good 500+ trannys out there with these keys. There has never once been a comeback on any tranny or broken synchro rings due to these keys. Success rate is 100%. For the first time, I'm offering them for sale (outside of a T56 rebuild). They are not cheap, but keep in mind that you get what you pay for and you won't see another like it. $90 for a set of 3

 

Great info Jason, Glad to see you use the good stuff and not the powdered metal trash

 

yeah i got a set of powdered metal from another supplier... ended up running my own set out of some steel billet we had laying around the shop... enough to do my trans and prob every other one in the USA lol. those things take some time and i didnt offer them up for sale because if i had to put a price on them people wouldnt like it too much , i ran keys for every slider assembly including 1-2 (same damn thing anyway) any plans for a 1-2 design? i only ran 3 of them just for me and want to do my other T56 soon but dont have access to the CNC i used the first time so im looking to purchase soon,.i dont know about others but seeing how flimsy all of those stamped keys are i think billet keys in all gears is the best bet for durability. maybe i just overkilled since i had the abundance and time lol.

 

Replacing my 3-4 keys with billet keys was one of the best decisions I've made. Mine we're actually from a different manufacturer, but still a good decision. With these prices and the quality, people should definitely take advantage of these!

 

I've seen failure from all sorts of solid keys. People might think solid keys are a new invention but actually they aren't at all. The old Muncie and Borg Warner 4 speeds had them back in the 60's.

 

When I was getting various "billet" keys tested via electro-spark analysis, we had something interesting happen. One of the keys simply melted, much to my surprise..lol. Found out that it was that compressed powdered crap. It looks really good, but it wasn't even real metal..

 

BTW, I'm getting a new batch of keys made. I'm having to do 500+ just to make it cost effective

 

not to steer this in another direction but what are your honest thoughts with the shift fork pads? Ive seen many metal pads with tons of wear on them where the plastic/nylon ones would still look great with 60k on them. in all honesty I don't know the true miles on these metal pads but the people will say it was a fresh rebuild or a weekend car that they have had for a few years

 

Exactly! Every time I've taken a T56 apart with bronze pads, they've had excessive wear. It's simple, you have a soft metal riding in a hardened steel sleeve. This is inevitably going to result in excessive wear. I've seen the bronze pads with 1000 miles with about 40% of the sidewalls worn thru already. Even though bronze is much stronger than the synthetic nylon stock pads, it doesn't possess the wear resistance that the stock pads do. A structurally stronger pad is NOT what we need here. We need something that resists wear and has the ability to "glide" in the groove in the synchro sleeve. The stock pads do a much better job than the bronze ones. Once the sidewalls are worn, this would cause some slop n the shifter. Then you always hear the argument that the stock pads get brittle and come apart. I've seen this happen, but this process takes 10yrs plus, so its really a non-issue. Eventually I'm planning to design a superior synthetic material for the fork pads. IMO the bronze pads are more of an "upsale" if anything, and I'm a bad salesman.... I always just use stock pads with all my builds and have never had a problem due to this. I have pics of worn out bronze pads and will post them soon as I get a chance.
Anyway sorry for the long post. Bronze pads = junk

 

WOW...I have never heard anyone break it down like that thank you for clearing that up and making sense because i had no clue what the difference was only that everyone said do it but nobody ever said why or gave any pros vs cons until now so thank you...Charles

 

These "billet" keys seem like a scam. Surely they're better than the stamped keys but Every set that I've seen are clearly castings and not really billet.

Does anyone actually make real billet keys and are they better than the cast keys??

On a side note, you need a different spring when going from stamped to solid keys right?

 

I've seen those "fake" billet keys as well. I usually find them broken in previously "built" trannys. The billet keys (real ones) that I use are actually 4140 chromoly alloy. They use the stock springs.