Trans work near Chi...

U

unix_punk

Member
Joined
Jul 22, 2005
Can anyone recommend a good trans shop in the chicagoland area? My current trans won't grab the next gear if I'm running more than 10PSI boost...and its basically stock... So I have a spare im looking to have rebuilt well enough so that I wont have to rebuild it again after upgrading turbo and accessories... will be street driven also looking for advice on a stall and trans cooler that might fit in stock IC location...thanks in advance.

steve
 
nice, i just talked to him, nice guy, sounds like he knows what he's talking about. has anyone got his 'medium' build done before? ill probably be going with that + a 3200 stall which he says pretty much everyone is running for street/strip. the car is stock now, but turbo and injectors are in it's future...
 
I know some guys who have his medim build. They say it is fine. I bought 2 of his billet drum versions and I am very happy with them. The billet drum version has a stronger 2-3 shift for one since it is dual feed with fluid. If you have the money I would go with that one. The extra $400-$500 is worth it in the long run IMO.
 
Yea I was kinda thinking that too, I mean the medium+converter is gonna run me about $2000...at that point, whats an extra 500 anyway.

Has anyone seen a transcooler mounted in the stock IC location? I was thinking i could fit a short but wide one in there without hitting the FMIC piping, and with the front air dam I have, it has a huge tunnel to ram the air right into the scoop on the bottom of the stock IC, so I was thinking that would work just as well for feeding air to a transcooler there. Do you typically run the transcooler with the radiator transcooler or just disconnect the trans lines all together from the radiator?
 
yes I had the medium build.

unix_punk said:
nice, i just talked to him, nice guy, sounds like he knows what he's talking about. has anyone got his 'medium' build done before? ill probably be going with that + a 3200 stall which he says pretty much everyone is running for street/strip. the car is stock now, but turbo and injectors are in it's future...
Click to expand...

It held up for a while but the car made a lot more power than initially expected and I developed a slip between gears at full throttle. I took the car to Jimmy, and he upgraded the trans to handle what the car is capable of and since there has been no problems. do the full kill trans now and forget it.
 
unix_punk said:
Yea I was kinda thinking that too, I mean the medium+converter is gonna run me about $2000...at that point, whats an extra 500 anyway.

Has anyone seen a transcooler mounted in the stock IC location? I was thinking i could fit a short but wide one in there without hitting the FMIC piping, and with the front air dam I have, it has a huge tunnel to ram the air right into the scoop on the bottom of the stock IC, so I was thinking that would work just as well for feeding air to a transcooler there. Do you typically run the transcooler with the radiator transcooler or just disconnect the trans lines all together from the radiator?
Click to expand...

Yes, my GN has a front mount. Jimmy mounts it horzontially in between the air tunnel. Beffy cooler too. He runs just the tranny cooler by itself. No radiator.
 
Ok cool, I had to chop the air tunnel to get the thing to fit with the front mount piping so i had planned on fabbing a sheetmetal tunnel so I could get it to fit around/in between the FM piping to feed the cooler back near the crank fan.
 
Well Jimmy is the man, there is no one out there can take care of you like Jimmy. Once you pay for a full rebuild from Jimmy, if anything goes wrong with the tranny even few years down the line, Jimmy will take care of it for $200 plus the parts.

As far as the cooler, just run the biggest and best cooler on the market. Do not try to use the cooler in the radiator plus an external cooler. I don't have any concrete evidence yet but we think by doing that, it increases the fluid pressure in the tranny therefore the excess pressure may push the torque converter forward. This may cause excess pressure on the crank and the thrust bearing.

Jimmy has a good cooler and he does a great job mounting it in an angel up front between the IC pipes. He does a great job. He is not a hack!!

My buddy is chasing a wiped thrust problem in his car and we are looking into this area. I can see the theory happening so why take the chance.

HTH

Prasad
 
Sounds good thanks for the info. Do you guys recommend a transbrake while im having him do everything else? wont really need it just yet, but at least ill have it when i do.
 
unix_punk said:
Sounds good thanks for the info. Do you guys recommend a transbrake while im having him do everything else? wont really need it just yet, but at least ill have it when i do.
Click to expand...

Well, if you are going for the all out tranny which has the billet forward drum then yes. The billet forward drum is a must with the trans brake.

HTH

Prasad
 
yea im going with the highest build w/drum and everything. i cant wait to get this car back together so I can bring it over to him. i havent driven it in almost a year and a half. thanks for all the help guys, much appreciated!

steve
 
I was on the T-brake fence too. I decided not to do it. It is hard on the crank as well. I do not need that headache. :biggrin: But trans brakes are cool. I just did not want to risk breaking other parts.
 
you think its harder on the crank than a brake torque off the line? either way, with or without it, im looking for good 60ft numbers which means coming out on boost.
 
That is what i was told by some serious racers. In general, they say a trans brake will find the weak link in your drivetrain. I figured it was not worth the risk. I drive my car to and from the track. It was tempting though.
 
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