The new to me 2002 Z28 (convertible) Options

[trackbird]

I have one of those presses. I bought it second hand from a friend who was relocating for work. I got to use it about two times, then it puked it's oil out, and I'm not sure it'll work any more at all. I need to replace the bottle jack so I have a working press again, but haven't had the need lately. I guess if I up the quality of the bottle jack, I'll have a better press in the shop.

Yea, if the bottle jack dies...I can get one of those. Besides, they make one that's air actuated as well as using a pump handle. I figure I can smash "everything" with one of those. All I need is a reason to upgrade. (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

[landstuhltaylor]

In a Miata? You're more of a madman than I thought. I thought getting a 6' folding table in a 2002 Z28 coupe was a fun trick (with the hatch shut). A press in a Miata beats that by miles. Well done!

(IMG:http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m268/landstuhltaylor/10308294_10154155331125604_1992427830693248835_n_zpsgqbj2akr.jpg)

(IMG:http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m268/landstuhltaylor/10443067_10154272752080604_9063156519101959222_o_zpsjwln7ql8.jpg)

Picked up a Miller 211 with a cart in that too

This post has been edited by landstuhltaylor: Mar 31 2017, 02:23 PM

[GCrites80s]

IIRC, Most of our plans go atleast a little sideways. Sometimes it fun, and sometimes, it's stupid expensive....

Yea, I really need to quit living up to my signature. I've tried, I swear I have. It's not going well. Maybe I need a 12 step program? Seems unlikely I'd walk that far..... (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/drink.gif)

That's what I paid for my press. Carried it home in my Miata and I've been making use of it ever since. Most important job I used it for was suspension bushings but I've also used it for wheel studs and other random things. Was huge for rebuilding the 10 bolt. Don't have a vice either so it fills in there too.

In a Miata? You're more of a madman than I thought. I thought getting a 6' folding table in a 2002 Z28 coupe was a fun trick (with the hatch shut). A press in a Miata beats that by miles. Well done!

Years ago a buddy of mine and I went to pick up my Marshall amp head (no speakers) in my IROC from a music store in Delaware, OH. It was new, and the original box made it way bigger. Then we stopped at Jeg's and picked up a Hooker cat-back for his 4th gen, again in its giant box. We then drove 100 miles to Portsmouth with our faces an inch from the windshield. Press in a Miata tops that though for sure. Of course, the 3rd World has us all beat many times over.

This post has been edited by GCrites80s: Mar 31 2017, 02:35 PM

[rocky]

Thanks Kevin. Let me know when you do. I'm busy through next week and I will be in akron next weekend for work. Then I'm on vacation and I hope to get something done other than house/yard work

[trackbird]

Thanks Kevin. Let me know when you do. I'm busy through next week and I will be in akron next weekend for work. Then I'm on vacation and I hope to get something done other than house/yard work

Oddly the other synchro boxes don't match the ones that arrived today. I looked at the Tick performance website and they say the brand is "Tremec" on their synchros. I'll have to post pics of the boxes. I don't believe that to be true. Though I'll know more when we match up the numbers printed/etched in the synchros....maybe?

I've now purchased enough parts to build 2.5 transmissions, I better at least get this one together before my wife kills me. Each warm day she looks at me and says "Gee, I wish we had a convertible". I'm kinda slow, but I can take a hint. (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

Some additional notes:

The RAM remote bleeder assembly:

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/ram-78510

Does NOT contain the correct fittings to fit an OEM or a Ram slave cylinder. And since the Ram slave appears to be an overpriced OEM slave, that's basically saying the same thing twice. I set up a return at Summit Racing, they want $9.00 to print a label to send it back (and don't seem to want you to just ship it yourself). I paid $9 to get it to me. It's a $32 part and I'm going to eat $18 in freight. I need to call them. When I worked at Jegs, if something didn't fit, we'd usually eat the freight and cover the return too.

I also spoke to Tick performance. They ship and use OE Tremec and aftermarket synchros interchangeably (they build their gearboxes with either one as well...whatever they have in stock at the time). I paid "full Tremec" prices for them, but I got aftermarket parts. I'll update this early next week after I get them out and talk to Tick again. So far I'm getting a little ticked off. (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

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[rocky]

Guess it's a good thing I picked the aftermarket ones at the gear box. I haven't ordered anything yet. I don't like the idea of tick using aftermarket parts and charging the "premium" tremenc price. I would be a little ticked too. I'm going to do the build myself. I'm going to get that press and get to it soon

[trackbird]

So, the weekly T56 rebuild happened on Saturday. If we keep this up, we'll have this down to a science in no time. The 20 ton press made things much easier, but I'm already lazy from having to pump the handle for "days". I'm looking at upgrading to the air over hydraulic 20 ton bottle jack that harbor freight has on sale. We can use air to run it down until it touches and then the handle to pump it through. Using the handle allows you to feel when things get tight. I fear that I'd just smash things using air for the "delicate" work (if anything done with a 20 ton press is delicate). Either way, we should have bought one of these years ago. (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

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[79T/A]

Considering the ridiculous price of the tick rebuilds, "whatever they have in stock" is completely unacceptable. There is a large price difference between the tremec and aftermarket parts.

[trackbird]

Tick has agreed to take my parts back and I believe they are going to update the website. So far I'm pleased with their customer service. I'll let you know how it goes once it's final.

[trackbird]

Kevin- were the defective synchros from Tremec or thegearbox.org? I'm going to be rebuilding mine this summer and I noticed they have two options for synchros. I was planning on going with the aftermarket REM polished option, as they are a good bit cheaper than the tremec parts and always seem to be in stock.

Guess it's a good thing I picked the aftermarket ones at the gear box. I haven't ordered anything yet. I don't like the idea of tick using aftermarket parts and charging the "premium" tremenc price. I would be a little ticked too. I'm going to do the build myself. I'm going to get that press and get to it soon

I figured this really applies to both of the above posts.

The aftermarket REM polished synchros were the problem. The 3/4 synchro was super tight. We wiggled it around a bit and decided it was ok...it wasn't. Once I had them both in my hands, I tried to swap the hub from one into the shell of the other....the parts don't interchange. So it's not an exact copy of the OEM synchro, it's like a company built their own synchros for the T56. Tick drop shipped my other parts from the Gearbox. So, I'm assuming these are the synchros you can buy from the Gearbox as aftermarket synchros.

The oem Tremec 4th gear synchro was slightly tight...but useable. Then I had an idea. The slider is what wears on a synchro, the hub is either good....or broken. So, I grabbed the original hub for my 3/4 synchro out of the box of old parts and it was a better/looser fit with the new synchro slider that came with the new Tremec synchro. So we set it up that way and put the gearbox back together.

We threw it in last night and took it for a drive. The trans shifts great and was getting better as I drove it and things wore in a bit. The clutch is known to chatter until it breaks in and it was doing a bit of that at first. By the time we were finished, it let me leave a few lights without the chatter. I expect it to come back though. It took about 500 miles for my last centerforce/fidanza combo to break in and quit giving me the occasional bit of clutch chatter.

At this point, I'm still close enough that I should have probably purchased a T56 magnum or similar. My trans was only barely notchy (if at all...T56's aren't exactly the smoothest transmissions) and I could have likely sold it for $1500. I have a "billion" dollars in parts, plus a press (not that I mind owning a press). If I took the nearly $2k that I have in pieces and tools and the used value of my current trans....I think I could have just ordered a T56 Magnum (depending if I need anything to make it fit, that might be the only hiccup) and dropped it in. But...I didn't need all that. And this trans has the full stage 2 upgrade, and upgraded shift fork pads and billet synchro keys in all gears. It should be up to anything I'm going to throw at it.

Now I have a radiator, cooling system bits and a pile of front end parts that still need to go on this thing as well as some new brakes.

[rocky]

So what you are saying is send it to Tick or buy another versus rebuilding yourself? I have always heard good thing about Tick and their customer service.

[trackbird]

So what you are saying is send it to Tick or buy another versus rebuilding yourself? I have always heard good thing about Tick and their customer service.

I'm mostly saying to avoid the aftermarket synchros. Tick told me they often have to bead blast the inside of the aftermarket synchros to get them to slide freely (it was suggested that I try that on mine). And I went a bit farther. Most of the Stage 2 rebuilds only do brass pads on the 1/2 and 3/4 forks, same for the billet keys and such. I did them on all gears. I went beyond most of the Stage 2 rebuilds you see advertised. It's glorious overkill, but I only state that to say that I could have saved some money.

1/2 and 3/4 synchros will cost you about $270, a blocker ring kit is $299-325 (depending who you get it from). The billet keys are about $50 per set (you'll need 4 sets if you do reverse too). The steel 3/4 shift fork is about $70 now. And the brass shift fork pads are $19-ish per shift fork (4 sets). If you stick to that, it's not terribly expensive and you should do it yourself. I bought two sets of synchros and two of the blocker ring kits, etc and so on. I'm working on getting some of that returned.

[Racerdad916]

Don't forget that you may need to file fit the pads to the fork(file on the flats of the fork), especially on the 1-2 aluminum fork. Soak all the blockers in ATF (not synthetic) for 20ish minutes. Everybody has their own opinion about what ATF to use, but, slippery is not a blocker rings best friend. I only use non-synthetic Dexron III in the T56 rebuilds I do. The blockers like the old school ATF...

[trackbird]

Don't forget that you may need to file fit the pads to the fork(file on the flats of the fork), especially on the 1-2 aluminum fork. Soak all the blockers in ATF (not synthetic) for 20ish minutes. Everybody has their own opinion about what ATF to use, but, slippery is not a blocker rings best friend. I only use non-synthetic Dexron III in the T56 rebuilds I do. The blockers like the old school ATF...

...anybody need a bunch of Mobile 1 ATF with 3 minutes of run time on it? (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/drink.gif)

[rocky]

Thanks for the clarification Kevin. Time to order parts lol. Thanks for the tip Billy. I was planning on dexron 3 like the tag says but I was wondering about synthetic. My teardown is next week (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

This post has been edited by rocky: Apr 5 2017, 01:14 AM

[trackbird]

Thanks for the clarification Kevin. Time to order parts lol. Thanks for the tip Billy. I was planning on dexron 3 like the tag says but I was wondering about synthetic. My teardown is next week (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Good luck!

This is why I share this info...the good, the bad and the ugly. If someone can learn from my mistakes, then it's worth documenting them.

Also, if you can find the Stage II upgrade through thegearbox.org, buy it and start there. Add OEM Tremec synchros and any additional billet keys and shift fork pads you wish and install it. I didn't realize that kit was so hard to get, so I didn't buy it when I saw it in stock. Then I "built" my kit from 3 vendors and that's been the source of most of my issues.

And, right now my gearbox is full of Advance auto house brand Dexron 3 (4?) ATF. It's in the gallon jug for about $19 and you'll need a loose quart for the last few ounces (it's getting difficult to find non synthetic ATF). It shifts great and I can "afford" to change fluid every year or when ever. Also, after about 500-1000 miles I'll swap the fluid to get the break in "gunk" out of there that comes off of the clutch material in the blocker rings.

[KCG]

All good info...Thanks for sharing!

[rocky]

Last time I looked they still didn't have a kit. I was just gonna build it through them or buy it from Tick. It is a little more through them but I like a "kit" better than buying the parts separately so I don't forget something that is in the kit.

[CrashTestDummy]

Thanks for the clarification Kevin. Time to order parts lol. Thanks for the tip Billy. I was planning on dexron 3 like the tag says but I was wondering about synthetic. My teardown is next week (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Good luck!

This is why I share this info...the good, the bad and the ugly. If someone can learn from my mistakes, then it's worth documenting them.

Also, if you can find the Stage II upgrade through thegearbox.org, buy it and start there. Add OEM Tremec synchros and any additional billet keys and shift fork pads you wish and install it. I didn't realize that kit was so hard to get, so I didn't buy it when I saw it in stock. Then I "built" my kit from 3 vendors and that's been the source of most of my issues.

And, right now my gearbox is full of Advance auto house brand Dexron 3 (4?) ATF. It's in the gallon jug for about $19 and you'll need a loose quart for the last few ounces (it's getting difficult to find non synthetic ATF). It shifts great and I can "afford" to change fluid every year or when ever. Also, after about 500-1000 miles I'll swap the fluid to get the break in "gunk" out of there that comes off of the clutch material in the blocker rings.

I'd be hesitant to go synthetic in even a 'modern' manual transmission. The synthetic stuff tends to be very slippery. Good, yes, but it tends to be so slippery that the syncros can't 'grab' anything, leading to crunching noises when you try to pull off fast shifts. We made that mistake in the SVO's T5. It still seems okay, it's just that it'll sound like you're not depressing the clutch enough to execute your shift.

[trackbird]

I have tons to do at work (that's how I pay for this mess) and I planned to work late last night....but it was 70 degrees here and the rain moved back from 4 pm to about 9 pm. So, I decided it would be a good night to get the convertible out...and it was. We had a nice drive and found a new gun store, tried a new pizza place and generally enjoyed the evening.

I smelled clutch a couple times, and I can only guess it's related to break in. I wasn't beating on it. It just seemed warm. I pulled into a parking lot and backed up a little, put it in first and eased forward (without brakes, so I just moved it forward from a slight backwards roll) and that seemed to be enough heat to give me a slight touch of clutch smell. I was easy on it, I've tried to be easy on it. Though I realized that I don't think we sprayed the protectant off of the pressure plate. Not sure how that happened, but I think we pulled it out of the box and installed it. I didn't even think about it at the time (not sure why, I've installed a "bunch" of clutches and never forgot that part before...but I don't remember actually doing it). So maybe I'm smelling something related to the oil cooking off. I did run it through first, second and third at one point. No slippage and the high rpm shifts are perfect. So I don't think anything needs adjusted.

My wife is quite pleased to have it back on the road. And tomorrow they are calling for snow....