Cracked Transmission in my AWD DSM

[@daniel2064]

666 hp @39PSI (mustang dyno uncorrected) since 2009 (maybe 4000 miles).. Second HG gaskets.maybe third ...Felpro seems to be pushing out and separating...minor oil leaks. breaking in new clutch ...third clutch slave (rust problems from parking outside). Shepard trans......Car body starting to show its age. Factory wiring starting to have glitches.....been replacing suspect wires everywhere. Recent upgrade to Flexfuel and new pumps.. The old twin warbros were still working.. May freshen up motor this winter.

[@Jafromobile]

Alex. Make sure you have a grade 10 or grade 11 M8x60. I think it's a 10, though. That kind of bell housing damage can be caused by that bolt either being not present, or not torqued properly. For the bell housing to be able to see the kind of stress and flex to allow that crack to happen, one of the bell housing bolts would have to be loose. Yes, I'm talking about the crankwalk bolt, I think we talked about it before. It hides on the rear ear of the block just beyond the transfer case. Even if you had discovered this and remedied it previously, the damage may have already been done on that bell housing, or from the donor car the bell housing you have came from before you got it. I'm telling you this because I chewed up 3 AWD tran$mi$$ion$ via. busted input shafts, 2nd gear forks and thrust bearings. The bolt was never on my car from the time when I bought it with its first busted transmission. I never had a bolt left over, so I never knew it was missing. Make sure you have the Crankwalk bolt in your pile.

[@Taleofone]

Shoot, thanks jafro! Now the dsm is going back up on Jack's. Lol your truly the most humble and intellectual wiseman's of DSM's. Your insight and knowledge has proven its self invaluable time after time. Its the only reason my 1990 talon tsi is still driving down the road. I just wish I could repay you in some form. One day I'll have a good paying job and not worry about surviving paycheck to paycheck. On that day sir, your the first one I'll make it right with!! With all my sincerest gratitude, I thank you!! -Alex- (not the Alex who uploaded the video but another) lol

[@donellmecca.booker5969]

personally i recently cut back my boost and found it just as fun at 400 as it was at 470. just much happier doing it with out melting or overheating and can go all day.. the major thing is heat control. i applied all i learned from my rx-7 and applied to my dsm. pritty much build for 600 run in the 400s, about the same ratio mitsubushi used when building there rally engines. love your car and enjoy this channel alot.

[@sponsor00]

I have a 542awhp daily dsm. Keep it and build the trans since that's where your weak link is. All DSMs seem to have a mind of their own on what they want to break and when.

[@Carolina_Squid]

Stayed till the end. As a current DSM'er facing trans/clutch issues on a 97 awd Talon. I feel your pain. Im saving for a dogbox but the Evo is also screaming for attention. Theyre both money hungry. Lol. Keep it up. You'll get her figured out

[@Al3xTalon]

Thanks bro 🙌

[@mitsubishikid1187]

Drill a hole inside the transmission to where the crack ends at 9:12, and then use a rounded carbide burr and carefully make a half moon along the crack on both inside the bell housing and then weld the crack and finish by welding the drill hole lastly.

[@restosandrevivals4597]

I had a ‘90 N/A Talon. The trans bolts kept coming loose! Eventually I realized the tranny mount was wrong and the trans was sitting on a funny angle causing a lot of excess stress! The mount ended up being from a ‘93ish ELANTRA!!!!!!

[@mattjukkala7344]

Dude you're putting it work! Good luck on the trip.

[@Al3xTalon]

Thanks buddy!

[@Sparcsmi]

There was a point that I pulled my awd trans maybe 3 times in a month slowly replacing parts for clutch engagement (turns out flywheel needed to be PROPERLY resurfaced). Good to see it get a stronger trans soon, and I agree to keep power safe but fun. It sucks seeing someone drive their barely running car onto a dyno just to get excited and basically tell the tuner to blow it up for them. Also according to Adam Lz and the Freshist of Kicks. Once you go over around 600-650 hp. Everything else starts feeling really slow. Literally Adam's hp goals for every new car has been high 5 low 600s.

[@Al3xTalon]

Haha right! After having the car dyno’d, once I turned it back down it just didn’t feel the same. It’s definitely an addiction but it’s expensive. One day I would love to have a car that makes 600hp again but maybe that day isn’t today. It’s also nice to be able to have a turn key DSM that you don’t have to be working on all the time.

[@red_dragonracingsilvereclipes]

yeah this weather is nuts glad you found someone to weld it. may want to check into a hydraulic throw out bearing Alex if you keep up with migueldsm on his evo build he had same issues with the throw out fork breaking his case so he went with a new style throw out bearing gets rid of the fork and converts the throw out to hydrulic and you still use slave lines he said his clutch feels like butter now and he has the double clutch now too.yeah stayed till the end..lol

[@Al3xTalon]

I’ll have to look into that. For now I just need to make sure I have all the required bolts haha

[@red_dragonracingsilvereclipes]

@@Al3xTalon yeah make sure that all bolts are in don't need to snap a bell housing next..lol

[@waldo1877]

Finally a new video!!!!

[@jeffdoherty4320]

It shows awesome thanks for the content Where do you get your transmissions from the built ones

[@Al3xTalon]

My first transmission I ever had was the only built one I’ve ever had. If you’re looking for someone to build a trans, Tim from TMZ performance is your guy.

[@markdesmond9285]

Are you sure the slave cylinder is not over extending pushing the clutch all the in and putting hydraulic force on the bell housing. Why is the fulcrum shimmed? Make sure the slave cylinder rod is correct length and at rest you should easily push rod rod in by hand. Check out Road race engineering tech page and or TRE clutch adjustment pages. Good luck.

[@awd4g63turbo]

I feel your pain. In my Dsm, the only way my transmission stayed alive is big turbo/slow spool. I ran my bone stock trans for @ 18 years on different set-ups ( Pte 6776, bw s363). I believe the only thing that kept it alive was the torque hitting hard deep into the power band. But there definitely was a trade off. The larger turbo's make more power, but are also harder to launch (on street tires anyway), and have slow boost recovery when shifting gears. NLTS does help some, but not game changing. After fighting the car for a year trying to get it into the 10's (had been stuck in mid 11's @ 127 mph), I decided to just send It at the track one night to see what it would do. Ended up breaking the center diff on the launch. After that, I auto swapped it. Never made it back to the track though bc I sold it in January. The only thing about the auto is with the larger turbo's, you have to get them to leave on boost or you will have 2-3 second 60ft times. So I had to add a 50 shot to get up on the converter. Basically... both auto and manual have their drawbacks. But me personally, I was never going to spend that much money on a dogbox, or even the 3k for a "built" manual transmission, so auto was what I went for. And, my car was a street car. I also drove it to and from the track whenever I went. And since I didn't want to be bored just cruising along with the auto, I added a 3g tiptronic shifter. Still have me the feeling or shifting gears so I wasn't bored. Check out some of the vids on my channel and you can see it in action...

[@Al3xTalon]

See I feel like auto swapping a DSM is one of the last stages of owning the car. Seems a common story is auto swap and then sell. I have an auto swap already, just can’t get myself to do it.

[@awd4g63turbo]

@@Al3xTalon I totally understand. I will always prefer the driving experience of a manual, but at what point does fighting the problems that come with it outweigh keeping it. I just got tired of fighting shifting issues from shifter cables, and clutches. The best combo I found was the Southbend sx-b (same as you have I believe) and the comp clutch flywheel. It held the best, lasted the longest, and felt the best. Either way, do what you prefer. I owned my car for 19 years and I sold it 3 months after I auto swapped it. Not bc I didn't enjoy driving it, but bc I was offered a lot of money for it. And I thought that I would be bored driving around with the auto, but with the 3g shifter, it still gave me the feeling of shifting gears. In the end, if you have the extra cash to go built trans/dogbox twin disk, I wouldn't blame you a bit. Neither would I if you swapped to auto....

[@phantomracing2217]

I feel you man, the ingenuity behind these cars were never built to withstand those high horse power numbers. Transmissions are never built to be “stronger” just built for longevity. I’m over here wanting 600hp on a stock trans 😬. I personally recommend getting a push rod v8 (ls lol) power plant on a proven chassis. So cheap and easy to build and you’re not worrying about breaking something as much as your DSM.

[@Al3xTalon]

I’m leaning the same way. I want a v8 in my life one day. I’ll always love my DSM though ❤️

[@BoostedDilly]

I always watch the whole thing brotha! I honestly think you should find a 🦮 📦 for it!

[@Al3xTalon]

Thanks buddy! I want one but $10k is a real steep price.

[@BoostedDilly]

Al3x Talon I hear you, they are expensive

[@AutoDetour]

Oh! And sick hat BTW!😁

[@Al3xTalon]

I’ve been wearing it a ton lately!

[@Idiots_on_Parade]

500hp should be good just make sure everything around it is helping to handle it. And it looks like you found hopefully the last weak link.

[@wense87]

My 2 cents. I use red locktite

[@chrissund4889]

Dog box, and fp black 😎

[@martywilsonwilsonenginesho7940]

Get yourself a good DD and make this your full send, weekend show car/muscle eater!

[@Al3xTalon]

Haha it already is and has been 😝 3.5 ecoboost f150 DD and DSM fun car.

[@JDMEGO1]

I have a new stage 4 shep trans for sale

[@miked5789]

Time for built AT....

[@Al3xTalon]

But street car 😫😫

[@orbital_sx9518]

Alittle late to the party lol but keep the gray DSM as your show car with pep, build the black auto DSM as the fast one. The auto is much stronger than any built 5speed, check out TedSpec on YT or FB he goes season after season on the same auto.

[@CaptainTonus]

I stayed until the end! Here's my two cents, as someone who's been in the DSM game for over 20 years. The sweet spot for these cars seems to be around 400whp and around 350 torque if you want a reliable, fun car. This is with a professionally-built manual trans and a proper clutch setup that is adjusted properly. I ran with an old TRE transmission in my car for years with a quartermaster twin disk, and it took a serious beating. I was around the 500whp and 350 torque mark, shifting at 9000rpm, and it always shifted great. Eventually, the twin disk clutch failed and messed up the input shaft splines, so that trans had to come out and I had to put a stock trans back in with a single plate clutch for the time being. I do plan on sending that trans back to TRE at some point to be freshened up. Anyway, my point is, keeping the torque low and having a higher-RPM powerband is the magic sauce with these cars. I also believe a twin disk clutch makes a huge difference just because of the lower weight of inertia, but you have to spend big money on the right clutch. TMZ did all the research on this, and the info is on his site, but the 8-leg gear-drive quartermaster is the way to go. This is the setup that I'll go with again someday, and I think my end goal is similar to yours. Hit me up if you have any questions

[@stunn3r312]

Is this the same Tony Bird with the white eclipse that did a video on the Smoking Tire?

[@CaptainTonus]

@@stunn3r312 yep! That's me

[@Al3xTalon]

I’ve been considering going twin disc as well. If I went dogbox I would have to get a twin disc anyways. My one concern with the 68hta is that it puts out pretty much identical torque numbers as hp numbers and I have blown 4th gear on the 68hta. The black definitely puts down less torque and more hp so might be safer on the transmission. So many options lol. Thanks for your comment I appreciate the advice!

[@CaptainTonus]

@@Al3xTalon Twin-disks are seriously awesome for high-RPM shifting, the light weight takes a lot of stress off of the synchros. Drivability around town isn't great, but the gear-drive clutch takes care of most of that, and reduces the chattering which can be hard on the transmission. You'll be amazed if you ever end up going that route. As far as torque, you can run a smaller turbo and change the powerband with larger cams and/or intake manifold setup. I have an FP3065 on my car with FP2 cams and a small-plenum JMFab intake manifold. The cams are definitely a mismatch, but it's still way down on torque. I also have a very aggressively-ported 1g head. Just some things to consider.

[@please722]

Do you us ECMLink v3 to tune or do you have a tuner? Where you at in Minnesota? I live just 30 mins south of the cities. I just bought a '97 GSX 6/30/20. Not using it throughout Winter but once Spring comes I'll have some upgrades to run my 20g (shooting 350-420whp). Probably going e85 but not 100% decided. Anyway, nice vids, I enjoy watching.

[@please722]

Also I'd say keep it reliable and clean #savetheeclipse

[@Al3xTalon]

I have played with ecmlink myself, but my car is currently dyno tuned by DB Performance in Rogers. I’m in the cities area. Thanks! Hopefully one day we’ll run into each other at a show!

[@anthonyfauceglia5116]

Hey nice video. Are those rims you are using 17x8+38 front and rear with 245 tires? If so do they rub in the front or rear?

[@Al3xTalon]

17x8 +35 all the way around, on 245/45/17s. No rub at all. My ride height is on the high side though.

[@waldo1877]

Professional rebuild Build the auto with alot of hp!

[@hunghuynh2722]

You should stay at 300 hp and as reliable as you can ,so this car will be wonderful for daily driver car, now if you want to race with Anyone you need to get a p200d Tesla model x no one can beat you , check out my car ok I love 1 g dsm

[@AutoDetour]

Dude! I say make it reliable and then go get your C6 Z06.