Joe Burkhart at PTS in Sacramento built my trans on February 19 2001. It was built with all the best parts available at the time (except billet input shaft and trans brake) out of an unrebuilt 1986 GN BRF core that I bought from Bruce.
After installing the transmission myself and driving the car, it developed a hanging 1-2 upshift problem not to long after. I kept touch with Bruce, tried TV adjustments, shifter cable and bracket adjustments, all to no avail.
I got in touch with Jim Testa, who wasn't far away from where I was attending college and setup a get together with him with support from Bruce. Jim spent several hours, after work hours trying to diagnose, test drive and trouble shoot my transmission. We tried swapping in a new GM governor, taking a shim out of the tv boost valve passage, took pressure readings, had Bruce on the phone walking him through things. Jim's help was much appreciated.
The problem still remained and no one could understand what it was or why it was happening. I had to drive the car, it was my only transportation.
During the summer, Bruce referred me to Eric Shertz who was at the time still working out on Long Island. Bruce told me that he'd trust his first born with Eric, so his trust of him was there instilled in me.
Through the help of my friend Steve and Morgan I got the car out to Eric's house in Long Island, had him test drive it and take it for a week. I got a call from Eric and he went over what he found. He took the valve body out, took it apart, checked everything and put it back together and stuck it back in the car. Problem was still there. He took the vb out again went through it, didn't find anything remarkable, but replaced the band which was burnt with a new Borg Warner band, put it all back together, problem still there. He then took a valve body he had there that he knew was good and put that in, problem fixed.
I had bought a new converter from Bruce with my trans, a 12" D5 restalled to 2400-2600, though with my stock turbo it just seemed to spool kinda slower, and then later I swapped on a te44 and it still had about a 2 second lag before it would really come up. Jim Testa, while testing and diagnosing my car earlier had also made mention that the spool-up seemed abnormally slow given the kind of converter stall it was specified to be.
At this time I was working for Manley Performance Products in Lakewood, NJ and on the way home from a crappy day where I screwed up nearly 200 bronze rod bushings for the 2003 Mustang Cobra, I broke the converter. I was accelerating into traffic and lost all forward gears. As soon as I pulled over, I called Bruce first and told him what happened. At a dead standstill the car would slowly creep along but just barely.
I wound up sending him the converter back and his assessment at the time; with photos showing the damage was that the turbine ripped out at the welds from fatigue from likely the heat of the welding process and not from sheer power. My car at the time still had a te44 (set at 17psi) on it and blue top injectors, on the whole, I wasn't making a ton of power to kill a converter, nor was I trying to win a race merging onto the Parkway... it was a fluke happenstance failure.
It took a month to get another converter that was manufactured by the same company who did the 9-11, so the build quality was expected to be better. As result of me not having a car for a month, I couldn't get to work and I lost my job at Manley. I installed the new converter, spool up was still disappointing, but I lived with it so I could just drive. I then got a job with Keith Mease working freelance.
Several people noticed the deplorable and seemingly strange poor spool-up qualities of my car. Keith Mease and Lee Josephs felt it was the converter, Steve Kaminsky thought I had a dead cam lobe. So, all in all, I wasn't sure what it was, but Bruce wasn't gonna budge on restalling it for me, or sending out a replacement.
This past August of 2002, while on the way to work at Keith's, I decided to chase down a Mustang on Route 72. In the process I lost all forward gears and reverse. I called Bruce immediately and told him what happened. He optimistically hoped that it was the converter that went and nothing internal to the trans. I then called Eric, who by then was the new owner of Dynotech Performance in Manville, NJ and he had relocated his trans building capabilities to the new shop. Eric told me to bring him the trans and converter and he'd check it out.
This failure happened on a Friday morning around 11am, Keith came out, picked me up, had my car towed back to my house on his AAA membership, helped me pull the trans out, loaded it into the back of his Trans Am and we drove up to Dynotech and dropped it off after hours behind the gated fence.
Around 10am on Saturday I get a phone call from Eric, "Dan, the trans is ready." Again, Keith drove out to my house, a 45-minute drive, we went up to Dynotech, a 70-mile drive, met up with Eric and went over what happened.
The stock input shaft that was supplied with the transmission broke. Eric put in a billet input shaft, replaced a worn planet set and recommended a new converter. Who was flipping the bill was not addressed, but the parts were put in and a Pat's 2800 stall 12" D5 lock-up was stuck on.
Later that night I got a email from Bruce regarding the authorization of putting those parts in the transmission and who was going to compensate Eric for his labor. At this point, Bruce had been paid in full for a transmission and converter, and had replaced a faulty converter for free.
After Eric replaced these parts, him and I worked out a repayment plan for the bill. I paid some cash and then worked out the rest by me taking care of a project he had at his shop that he needed help with. That work covered my remaining bill for the labor and parts he installed in August of 2002.
Now, just recently I had noticed that my 1-2 upshift was slipping. I called Eric on a Friday afternoon and told him about the problem and he advised for me to try some TV cable adjustments. I followed his instructions, but the end result was still the same, 1-2 upshift slippage. On Monday we made appointment for me to bring the car up the following Monday for him to test drive.
This past Monday, 2.25.03 (just over 2 years after the trans was originally built), I brought the car to Eric. Eric and I went out in my car with him driving, picked up lunch, talked, and he noted that either the band anchor was cocked or possibly the band was burnt up. Eric took it easy on the car driving back to the shop.
Jim works for Eric, but used to work with Fred Vetter when he owned Dynotech. Nonetheless, Jim is a great guy, excellent mechanic and very personable. Jim got my car going on the lift, dropped the pan and then Eric came over to inspect things. From what he could see, the trans needed to be dropped.
Jim and I got to work on pulling the trans out. Jim noticed my converter bolts were a bit loose, and I noticed I lost an intercooler fan blade, an upper radiator hose coolant leak, and I was missing a crank pulley to hub bolt. Jim pulled out the parts stash, hot tanked an IC fan for me, gave me the needed bolts, and I later tightened a loose radiator hose clamp.
Back to the transmission, we had it out in about 10 minutes and on the stand at Eric's workbench. Eric then tore into it while I watched for the first time the guts of my tranny coming out onto the adjacent table.
Eric was very meticulous, inspecting every wear part and going over with me what he was doing and why. He doesn't hide anything and it’s not a big secret. While I could have written down every little thing he explained, I still could not and only a limited few actually have the skill to understand, troubleshoot and build these transmissions. Nonetheless, Eric's explanation and patience with me was worth more than money could buy.
The stock anchor was fine, but the Borg Warner band was shot. That band had been in there since August of 2001 and had endured nearly 30,000 miles worth of driving, 5 strip passes and all the problems after the initial time Eric pulled my original valve body out. The drum surface was acceptable.
Eric offered the option of putting in a billet anchor and the Altos band (which at the time of my trans being built were not available). I elected to put them in since the trans was apart.
Eric also replaced some other wear parts, new filter, and nice thick cork pan gasket, cleaned everything and reassembled the unit. Then Jim and I got it reinstalled in the car. All this was done within roughly 2.5 hours.
Another problem that has plagued me is a bad flare on the upper stainless trans cooler line at the trans. Jim and Eric tried re-flaring it a few times, but no luck, so instead Eric came up with a compression fitting splice into the stainless line that would use a steel flare. It worked perfect.
We got the car off the lift, then Eric and Jim took over with adding new fluid to the correct level. After that was done, Eric asked me if I wanted to go for a ride, I told him to take it out but just don't blow it up
A few minutes later, he comes back into the shop, gives me the thumbs up and tells me it is perfect. I was smiling ear to ear.
Eric and I talked a bit more about what exactly was the cause of the band wear and the initial valve body problem. It turned out, that a while after Eric pulled my original valve body, he went through it again and found that a small piece of old rubber seal, one that should get cleaned out with a regular rebuild had embedded itself in the back of a passage behind a spring and was causing a pressure problem, hence my hanging 1-2 upshift when I first got the transmission.
We closed up shop at 8pm; I thanked Eric and Jim for their incredible help.
Eric has kept close touch with Bruce about every detail to do with this transmission. When Eric told Bruce about this piece of seal stuck in the valve body, Bruce reportedly said, "impossible", Eric told me that its rare, but it happens and something very minor and simple like that can make all the difference and cause a lot of headache. I know Bruce is very anal about cleanliness at his shop and that any mention of contamination found in a brand new, rebuilt unit is near impossible under his building standards, but then, fact of the matter is, that the debris was there and shouldn't have been.
Eric simply said, "**** happens".
I have no hard feelings against Bruce, and I would buy from him again. Bruce spent countless hours talking with me about everything from cars to family. He is a great guy and despite what happened with my transmission, it was a fluke problem that eluded even the best of technicians out there.
Jim Testa was incredibly generous with helping me after hours at his job, both with swapping in his known good parts for trial and error, and just being a great friend in his advice and interest in seeing me not waste my money on things I don't need. I've put 40k on the car in two years, so I've driven the hell out of it Jim
Eric Shertz has been exemplary in how he's handled this whole situation. He has always been up front, honest and forthcoming. He is master of what he does, but doesn't seek make you feel intimidated. He shows you everything, explains how and why things work and makes sure that when you leave, you're happy. Also, he's a great friend and someone I totally trust.
Jim, who works with Eric at Dynotech helped me out so much with all my questions, and going through things, and letting me work along side him and learning how things are done. He's another great person and someone I'd consider a great friend.
So on the way home from Dynotech last night, the transmission was shifting textbook perfect. I felt great and was just really happy that this whole chapter was now in the past and I have pretty much one of the best-built transmissions out there with help from the best people and friends I've had the good fortune to know.
So, this is the whole story, as its been experienced, explained and driven by me. It has been a tumultuous 2 years, but despite the pitfalls and difficulties, I believe I've gained a lot of positive experience and garnered incredible, lasting friendships as result.
After installing the transmission myself and driving the car, it developed a hanging 1-2 upshift problem not to long after. I kept touch with Bruce, tried TV adjustments, shifter cable and bracket adjustments, all to no avail.
I got in touch with Jim Testa, who wasn't far away from where I was attending college and setup a get together with him with support from Bruce. Jim spent several hours, after work hours trying to diagnose, test drive and trouble shoot my transmission. We tried swapping in a new GM governor, taking a shim out of the tv boost valve passage, took pressure readings, had Bruce on the phone walking him through things. Jim's help was much appreciated.
The problem still remained and no one could understand what it was or why it was happening. I had to drive the car, it was my only transportation.
During the summer, Bruce referred me to Eric Shertz who was at the time still working out on Long Island. Bruce told me that he'd trust his first born with Eric, so his trust of him was there instilled in me.
Through the help of my friend Steve and Morgan I got the car out to Eric's house in Long Island, had him test drive it and take it for a week. I got a call from Eric and he went over what he found. He took the valve body out, took it apart, checked everything and put it back together and stuck it back in the car. Problem was still there. He took the vb out again went through it, didn't find anything remarkable, but replaced the band which was burnt with a new Borg Warner band, put it all back together, problem still there. He then took a valve body he had there that he knew was good and put that in, problem fixed.
I had bought a new converter from Bruce with my trans, a 12" D5 restalled to 2400-2600, though with my stock turbo it just seemed to spool kinda slower, and then later I swapped on a te44 and it still had about a 2 second lag before it would really come up. Jim Testa, while testing and diagnosing my car earlier had also made mention that the spool-up seemed abnormally slow given the kind of converter stall it was specified to be.
At this time I was working for Manley Performance Products in Lakewood, NJ and on the way home from a crappy day where I screwed up nearly 200 bronze rod bushings for the 2003 Mustang Cobra, I broke the converter. I was accelerating into traffic and lost all forward gears. As soon as I pulled over, I called Bruce first and told him what happened. At a dead standstill the car would slowly creep along but just barely.
I wound up sending him the converter back and his assessment at the time; with photos showing the damage was that the turbine ripped out at the welds from fatigue from likely the heat of the welding process and not from sheer power. My car at the time still had a te44 (set at 17psi) on it and blue top injectors, on the whole, I wasn't making a ton of power to kill a converter, nor was I trying to win a race merging onto the Parkway... it was a fluke happenstance failure.
It took a month to get another converter that was manufactured by the same company who did the 9-11, so the build quality was expected to be better. As result of me not having a car for a month, I couldn't get to work and I lost my job at Manley. I installed the new converter, spool up was still disappointing, but I lived with it so I could just drive. I then got a job with Keith Mease working freelance.
Several people noticed the deplorable and seemingly strange poor spool-up qualities of my car. Keith Mease and Lee Josephs felt it was the converter, Steve Kaminsky thought I had a dead cam lobe. So, all in all, I wasn't sure what it was, but Bruce wasn't gonna budge on restalling it for me, or sending out a replacement.
This past August of 2002, while on the way to work at Keith's, I decided to chase down a Mustang on Route 72. In the process I lost all forward gears and reverse. I called Bruce immediately and told him what happened. He optimistically hoped that it was the converter that went and nothing internal to the trans. I then called Eric, who by then was the new owner of Dynotech Performance in Manville, NJ and he had relocated his trans building capabilities to the new shop. Eric told me to bring him the trans and converter and he'd check it out.
This failure happened on a Friday morning around 11am, Keith came out, picked me up, had my car towed back to my house on his AAA membership, helped me pull the trans out, loaded it into the back of his Trans Am and we drove up to Dynotech and dropped it off after hours behind the gated fence.
Around 10am on Saturday I get a phone call from Eric, "Dan, the trans is ready." Again, Keith drove out to my house, a 45-minute drive, we went up to Dynotech, a 70-mile drive, met up with Eric and went over what happened.
The stock input shaft that was supplied with the transmission broke. Eric put in a billet input shaft, replaced a worn planet set and recommended a new converter. Who was flipping the bill was not addressed, but the parts were put in and a Pat's 2800 stall 12" D5 lock-up was stuck on.
Later that night I got a email from Bruce regarding the authorization of putting those parts in the transmission and who was going to compensate Eric for his labor. At this point, Bruce had been paid in full for a transmission and converter, and had replaced a faulty converter for free.
After Eric replaced these parts, him and I worked out a repayment plan for the bill. I paid some cash and then worked out the rest by me taking care of a project he had at his shop that he needed help with. That work covered my remaining bill for the labor and parts he installed in August of 2002.
Now, just recently I had noticed that my 1-2 upshift was slipping. I called Eric on a Friday afternoon and told him about the problem and he advised for me to try some TV cable adjustments. I followed his instructions, but the end result was still the same, 1-2 upshift slippage. On Monday we made appointment for me to bring the car up the following Monday for him to test drive.
This past Monday, 2.25.03 (just over 2 years after the trans was originally built), I brought the car to Eric. Eric and I went out in my car with him driving, picked up lunch, talked, and he noted that either the band anchor was cocked or possibly the band was burnt up. Eric took it easy on the car driving back to the shop.
Jim works for Eric, but used to work with Fred Vetter when he owned Dynotech. Nonetheless, Jim is a great guy, excellent mechanic and very personable. Jim got my car going on the lift, dropped the pan and then Eric came over to inspect things. From what he could see, the trans needed to be dropped.
Jim and I got to work on pulling the trans out. Jim noticed my converter bolts were a bit loose, and I noticed I lost an intercooler fan blade, an upper radiator hose coolant leak, and I was missing a crank pulley to hub bolt. Jim pulled out the parts stash, hot tanked an IC fan for me, gave me the needed bolts, and I later tightened a loose radiator hose clamp.
Back to the transmission, we had it out in about 10 minutes and on the stand at Eric's workbench. Eric then tore into it while I watched for the first time the guts of my tranny coming out onto the adjacent table.
Eric was very meticulous, inspecting every wear part and going over with me what he was doing and why. He doesn't hide anything and it’s not a big secret. While I could have written down every little thing he explained, I still could not and only a limited few actually have the skill to understand, troubleshoot and build these transmissions. Nonetheless, Eric's explanation and patience with me was worth more than money could buy.
The stock anchor was fine, but the Borg Warner band was shot. That band had been in there since August of 2001 and had endured nearly 30,000 miles worth of driving, 5 strip passes and all the problems after the initial time Eric pulled my original valve body out. The drum surface was acceptable.
Eric offered the option of putting in a billet anchor and the Altos band (which at the time of my trans being built were not available). I elected to put them in since the trans was apart.
Eric also replaced some other wear parts, new filter, and nice thick cork pan gasket, cleaned everything and reassembled the unit. Then Jim and I got it reinstalled in the car. All this was done within roughly 2.5 hours.
Another problem that has plagued me is a bad flare on the upper stainless trans cooler line at the trans. Jim and Eric tried re-flaring it a few times, but no luck, so instead Eric came up with a compression fitting splice into the stainless line that would use a steel flare. It worked perfect.
We got the car off the lift, then Eric and Jim took over with adding new fluid to the correct level. After that was done, Eric asked me if I wanted to go for a ride, I told him to take it out but just don't blow it up
A few minutes later, he comes back into the shop, gives me the thumbs up and tells me it is perfect. I was smiling ear to ear.
Eric and I talked a bit more about what exactly was the cause of the band wear and the initial valve body problem. It turned out, that a while after Eric pulled my original valve body, he went through it again and found that a small piece of old rubber seal, one that should get cleaned out with a regular rebuild had embedded itself in the back of a passage behind a spring and was causing a pressure problem, hence my hanging 1-2 upshift when I first got the transmission.
We closed up shop at 8pm; I thanked Eric and Jim for their incredible help.
Eric has kept close touch with Bruce about every detail to do with this transmission. When Eric told Bruce about this piece of seal stuck in the valve body, Bruce reportedly said, "impossible", Eric told me that its rare, but it happens and something very minor and simple like that can make all the difference and cause a lot of headache. I know Bruce is very anal about cleanliness at his shop and that any mention of contamination found in a brand new, rebuilt unit is near impossible under his building standards, but then, fact of the matter is, that the debris was there and shouldn't have been.
Eric simply said, "**** happens".
I have no hard feelings against Bruce, and I would buy from him again. Bruce spent countless hours talking with me about everything from cars to family. He is a great guy and despite what happened with my transmission, it was a fluke problem that eluded even the best of technicians out there.
Jim Testa was incredibly generous with helping me after hours at his job, both with swapping in his known good parts for trial and error, and just being a great friend in his advice and interest in seeing me not waste my money on things I don't need. I've put 40k on the car in two years, so I've driven the hell out of it Jim
Eric Shertz has been exemplary in how he's handled this whole situation. He has always been up front, honest and forthcoming. He is master of what he does, but doesn't seek make you feel intimidated. He shows you everything, explains how and why things work and makes sure that when you leave, you're happy. Also, he's a great friend and someone I totally trust.
Jim, who works with Eric at Dynotech helped me out so much with all my questions, and going through things, and letting me work along side him and learning how things are done. He's another great person and someone I'd consider a great friend.
So on the way home from Dynotech last night, the transmission was shifting textbook perfect. I felt great and was just really happy that this whole chapter was now in the past and I have pretty much one of the best-built transmissions out there with help from the best people and friends I've had the good fortune to know.
So, this is the whole story, as its been experienced, explained and driven by me. It has been a tumultuous 2 years, but despite the pitfalls and difficulties, I believe I've gained a lot of positive experience and garnered incredible, lasting friendships as result.
