mjr46

Well, so I had the 85 out at the local cruise in last night, got tired, so went to home depot to pick up some paint brushes for my saturday project, and on the way out I pull up to the stop light leaving tony stewart land and pulled up right beside a supercharged convertible cobra, well anyone who knows my 85 it makes its presence known via lope..lol, I knew it'd be on once we rounded the corner from the light on to the highway, unfortunately, the rounding turn is quite a big one so by the time we were straight I had to go to second and he was polite enough to wait until I had second in a reasonable rpm and as soon as his bumper got even with my door, he cracks it open so I did the same, I tac'd second hard, nearly close to 7k and just as I was to hammer it to third......kaboom and she nosed over....phaaak and it was a good race cause he wasn't pulling on me and 3rd would of been the tell all....guess I'll never know.....anyway, she rolled to a stop after that and I was able to limp it over 100 yards to a hotel parking lot where I later came back with my rollback and carried her to work today. NOT my idea of a fun day on my day off, anyway, i PULLED the tranny this afternoon, and carnage was had...lol, I was suprised to see 3rd gear destroyed as well as the countergear for third and the tip where the needle bearings ride WAS GALLED....as well as a few needle bearings with flat spots, I was a split second from shifting to third, my guess is due to excessive load and rpm it flexed enough to either move the contact pattern on the teeth or the load caused slight enough shift of the gear to get the mesh out of sinc.....either way, i HAVE to much torque/ power to take anymore chances on a t-5 so in goes my tremec 3550 I have sitting............and to think it blew under load, meaning not at launch or between a shift.....that's when you know it's time to upgrade.............Anyway sorry for the long winded post, thought you guys might enjoy reading carnage.......I'll have pics monday!!!!

nba1341

Even though you know more then I do and could school me up and down the street about cars you deserve one of these





How long until you put the new tranny in?

Bubba 95SN

My T-5 never made a noise took it apart a couple of years ago to change speedometer drive gear. Fluid was black and shiny. End of the mainshaft where the 4th gear is was missing! Not even a nub. Reckon all that metal circulating kept it intact. No noise no shifting problems.

mjr46

I'm glad it happened on the street, where I rarely beat on it, that was a very rare occasion, but reason being, I'm glad it did it there, is in oct we have our last private drag day at the track, and I'm prepping the car to hopefully get a new personal best, I'd like to see a 10.60-10.80.......the new tranny goes in when I get a free momemnt next week, most likely wednesday

mjr46

sad part about this is that tranny had less than 1k on it, I had a new cluster and all new bearings and blocker rings as well as all the gears were new 1-4...........oh well, I knew this moment was coming...I'm not upset in the least I'll fix it, I have a used cluster, just need to find a outputshaft and new third gear, needless to say it won't be going back in the 85

TrimDrip

so how many miles until the tremec goes boom?

mjr46

don't know...only gaurantees in life are death...and taxes..lol

AdderMk2

I told you that T5 wasnt going to last long...

I'm using the actual GM fluid that tremec recommends in the TR3550. Quite expensive. cost about $45. My 3550 is holding together nicely. I think you will be happy with the 3550. Try to get some miles on it nefore you go to the track. Mine sat for a few months before it went in, and it was stiff as hell for a good amount of time. Now its smooth as a babies ***, going into gears... after its warm.

67mustang302

Yeah, I run the Synchromesh in my TKO 600 as well, it's REALLY good stuff. IIRC the last time I bought some it was like $17.50 a qt!! Mine was a bit tight the first few hundred miles, and 5th was noisy as hell at first, but by 1k miles it was smooth shifting and 5th got quiet. The 3550's are sturdy, and it'd be next to impossible to break one on the street. And Promotion in Fl now has a carbon fiber blocker ring upgrade for them too, if you want smoother shifting at higher rpm.

5.0kid

ran gm synchro mesh in my tko600 as well was around 42 a qt at the local gm dealer, but yeah they break, mine did while i was under full boost in 4th gear racing a turbo vette, 4th gear when i took it apart had about 3 teeth left on it that were intact but man i was moving around 135 when she blew right before i threw it in 5th