Dude, this really sucks. I'm sorry you have to go through this after just getting all hose mods and being so pumped. I would definitely go aftermarket also like the others have mentioned. Probably could even find a cheaper place to do the install besides the dealer after you have the new tranny.

Good Luck

 

I know this is kind of too little too late advice, but I avoid dealerships like the plague. The typical dealership charges much more despite having a less capable staff (and here come the dealership mechanics to tear me a new a**hole).

 

Yeah it's kinda too late.

That being said... it all happened so fast it was unbelievable.
The dealership offered to rebuild the one I had but only offered warranty on the parts they replaced.

What's funny is out of all the parts that are in a tranny, I only had like 3 parts or so that were bad. (So that I saw). One was the blocking ring... forgot the others.
Had teeth missing on a couple of things.
But there was some wears here and there on other parts.

That being said... with our transmissions they come as kits.
There are two kits. One for the front part and one for the back part. I had things wrong with both so I had to have both.

There was a dollar difference between just having it rebuilt or having a new one.

I went with the new one even though it was more so that the whole thing was warrantied.
Yes... it's only a year warranty but better a year on the whole thing I figured than a year on only the parts they rebuilt...
especially when my parts have had trouble already.

Yeah I probably could have found a cheaper place to install the tranny, but let's not forget my tranny was already torn apart, so I would already have to pay for them taking it apart of it EVEN if I did not have them re install the new one.
(mo money anyone?)

Not only that... but I live in a small town and let's just say that the dealership's mechanics make me feel alot better than most places around here. The other places here look like something out of the movies as far as a bad shop would be you'd think.

I took my car to a couple of places for the vibration
(not the knocking, OH and by the way none of them caught the knocking or even mentioned it to me), and after hearing what they thought the vibration was and what it really turned out to be...
let's just say I wanted to run away from them like a antelope running from a lion.

Like I said I'd love to be able to get a stronger tranny too.
But I simply don't have the wallet for it.

Every since I did those mods this thing had turned upside down.
I have no clue if I just had bad luck on the tranny or what the hell happened. Before the mods I felt like my car ran fine.
After the mods I felt it ran fine except for that dash vibration and the knocking noise which I thought was just normal for the cams, which was the noise they found the tranny problem with.

I just dont get why my car was still RUNNING fine.
I had no problems shifting, no problems running, nothing.

Next thing I know I bring my car to the dealership for someone to help me troubleshoot that vibration, I am told the vibration is not what I need to be worrying about but that knocking sound is... then BAM! I get this news.

The good news is that the guy putting in the new one has a great reputation around here and he is a good guy.
He actually does alot of work on the side for people who have Mustangs around here as well. He owns one himself and so do a lot of his friends.

He is going to put the new clutch and flywheel in for free while he is doing the other stuff, even thought I bought those parts from AM.
(said it was the least he could do after all my troubles)
He is the one who actually took the time to bring me over to my car when it was all apart and show me how things worked using his hands to animate the parts moving and also showed me
the parts that were damaged and what those parts did.

We talked about my car and I told him how I just could not imagine this happening and he said it was flat out bad luck.
He said that something could have been bad at the build, or that a part could have been bad from the start... or just not as solid as it was supposed to be and worn prematurely.. he said he really did not know.

He just knew I had some bad luck when we discussed how I took care of the car.
At one point I told him
" You probably think I should just trade this in for a new 5.0 since all of this happened, but I don't have the cash and I like my car".

His reply was "Heck no, you have a very nice car, let's just get it fixed."

So I am happy he is the one taking care of me.
I also found out that we have mutual friends as well.
Right now he is the only part of this whole thing that is making me feel even partially good.

What about the break in period for this?
Is there one and what is involved?

 

Well at least some of us can take some peace in the fact that there putting the flywheel and clutch in for free. Afterall the advice there was that it would be much cheaper to have them do it while there in there anyway, then to pay a second trip in there down the road. Staring at a 3800 dollar bill though, I'm sure the first thought going through your head is, "look at all the money I'm saving in the future..." Even though it is only like 12 bolts total or something, it still is nice of them to put it in "free." Actualy, come to think of it, they have to take the clutch off anyway to get at that bearing, so its 8 bolts there gonna have to pull on the flywheel and done ;-)

If they ask or say anything about the dowels on the flywheel, tell them to put down there purse and use there man hands with the hammer. Just from personal experience, you have to hit the S**t out of them to get em in.


Did you decide what clutch yet?

How long is it going to take to get the new tranny delivered?

Good luck with the rest of this man. I really hope they do not find any more "cans of worms" while there working.

 

Dude........I just dont know what to say now. Everytime I open this thread it gets worse for you. I really feel for you.

Somehow you have managed to have an amazing attitude through all of this. Props bro...I would be so ####ing pissed.......

......good luck, you certainly are do for some.

 

From what I am hearing I should be all fixed up by Thursday or Friday. I went with the Stage 2+ and the SPEC Steel Flywheel.
I decided to do this instead of resurfacing mine because I wanted to make sure
I got a perfect fit.

Trust me it has not been easy to keep my head up.
Yesterday I thought I was delivered the wrong flywheel and I just about cracked. Come to find out Spec uses the same flywheel for a couple of different years on the Mustang GT's.

The item number was different on the box than the one I ordered and I just about completely flipped out.
American Muscle told me at first they were going to have to order a new flywheel, get it from SPEC, then deliver it. Meaning my car would be sitting there for at least 5 more days.
Then someone told him to call SPEC because he had had something like that happen and they used the same flywheel for different year models but still labeled them with different numbers. He called SPEC and confirmed it was the correct flywheel.

Then I called SPEC this morning and got it confirmed myself for my own peace of mind.

Here's the link from American Muscle.
http://search.americanmuscle.com/sea...=mustangtuning

As you can see they have different Manufacturer info numbers.
SF46S For the 05-09 Mustang GT
SF64S For the 96-98 and Mid 01-04 GT

But the item number from AM for them are the same (60009)
I was so relieved to get it confirmed from spec that they were the same flywheel.

After all this crap when I thought I had been sent the wrong flywheel I just about SNAPPED.

I cannot tell you how stressful this has been.
I have literally gotten sick over it and felt like puking a number of times. As a matter of fact I have been so stressed that I actually have woke up the past couple of mornings and HAVE puked.
I know it's the stress.

I am just ready for this to be over and done with and have my
car back.

 

i'm sure quite a few of us have been in the same boat that you are in. being in a situation that has gotten out of control bites the big one and we can only hope that
it ends soon. at some not too distant time, this will just seem like an unfortunate
turn of events.

 

Thanks hammer,

And as hard as this has been you guys really need to realize that without your help it would have been a lot worse.
I am not just saying that either. You guys have given me great help and advice and kind words to go along with it.

I can't say enough how much I appreciate all of the
help and support that I have received from many of you.
I don't even need to list the names because you all know who you are. I thank each of you.

I'm so ready to have my baby back on the road and have this bad experience just be a distant memory.

 

OH yeah......

What about break in for this new tranny?
Anyone know how many miles the break in period is and just how gentle I need to be on her?

 

Just break in the clutch for about 500 miles (plenty of stop and go and varying speeds) and the tranny will be good to go as well.