This is the second time i've stripped 3rd gear at the track. Both times the exact same thing happened. I was at Sebring, coming out of turn 7, shifting from 2nd to 3rd. Except that 3rd was no longer there. No noise or kick back. Just gone. All other gears were still working fine. We replace the gear with the exact same Porsche gear the first time. The tranny felt fine up until it happened the second time. Have any of you Mega-HP guys had any tranny problems? My car is about 510-525HP.

So now I am trying to decide what to do:
-Replace it again with the Porsche part
-Replace the gear with Porsche Motorsport gear ($3,600 for part alone)
-Put in a racing tranny
-Put in original part and get a dedicated track car

Then there is also the idea of putting in a tranny cooler like Tom.

 

Having just gone through a rebuild for 2g popout...I feel your pain.

Steel parts are noisy...or so I was warned..... My 3rd gear at 34k miles was warn looking too, slightly....and I have never ever missed a shift (I am 2nd owner though...)....

I know that if it happened to me twice, the idea of getting a track car for track only would be in my mind...with a track tranny....steel syncros, etc.

If you keep the car, get a cooler. I know Kevin at UMW has just done a tranny with racing parts/coolers/etc., etc. I had talked to him about my issue(s). I could not afford the fix, but his fix was, shall we say, of museum quality. Probably what you need. I'd call him.

S-Car-Go also does a nice cooler, manual switched, for about 2k installed....or so I was told.

Good luck.

 

I find this very interesting. I had Brain Copans completely rebuild my tranny with longer 1st and 2nd gears and shorter 3rd thru 6th. These are all Porsche Motorsports gears. I drive my car like it is meant to be driven. Long hard runs in the mountains at all speeds for long periods of time. The tranny has been ROCK solid. Brian told me I would not break his gearbox!..so far he is right. The complete build cost me $11K

I realize I do not do track racing but still. Oh and that 3rd gear is too expensive, mine cost $1,550

Sorry to hear about your problems though

 

From what I have heard, Brian Copans is the best. He is not able to change from Porsche spec though....so he won't machine out 2nd's slider, etc. That is considered by some (me included) as a possible/likely cause of the dreaded popout.

So, keep in mind that he services race cars where trannys and things (and money) flow freely....he is the best, but if there is a problem in the design and your guy is the best guy at building it to spec...it we be perfect and flawed at the same time....


Just an aside. For stripping third, a Brian C. build with the top of the line stuff inside is probably your best bet...but he won't machine the slider, so you might get popout. I machined (had it done to be honest) my 2nd slider....because darned if I'm not going to do everything in my power to avoid 2nd gear popout again. Now, if you call him and he'll do the machining per Powerhaus's old fix (call Erik at Carquip)....then all bets are off and you get a win/win....and go for it.

My full rebuild with stock stuff (all syncros and machining...all internals/bearings/seals/rods) = 4800. DAS. FYI. It is possible "pieces" of your 3rd got into the mix in there and I would make super sure you don't have any collateral damage. I figured...heck, we're in there, let's do it all.....just it added 1200 to do it all over just 2nd. FYI.....stock stuff.

JB

 

Sorry to hear you are going through this, especially a second time. Which engine and tranny mounts are on the car and how many miles on them?

 

Well that was odd. I called Brian Copans to see what he would suggest. He got very defensive and told me that what he does is proprietary information and that I would have to send him the transmission before he would discuss it with me. He was scared I would take his precious knowledge and have someone else do the work. I guess what he does can't be that special if I could have anybody do the same thing. Oh well. Maybe caught him on a bad day but I definitely don't intend to pursue his services.

 

I have to add - Copan fixed my 2nd gear popout. I'm in Dayton Ohio, and one weekday, preplanned, we put the disassembled gearbox in my MDX and my wife drove it out to him in the middle of south east Ohio... she grabbed a coffee, went to a local bookstore, etc.. picked it back up and was reassembled and perfectly fixed. He even replaced some bearing etc and gave her a bill for us to mail him a check when she got home - so very trusting and experienced. If you can have him fix it for you, he would be my first choice over anyone else. In fact, if you google his name, you'll find porsche race cars for sale with his name on the transmission as a selling point - you don't get much better cred than that.

 

Odd. I heard he was super and very nice. He is the official Porsche go to person too. I would have used him if I could have had him do the magic powerhaus thing for me for sure......heard via various sources that he did it by the book. I respect that. I just think the book has some minor flaws....that book was written by some engineers in Germany. Brian is tops.

Viperbob up in Orlando (close by to you sort of) might be the person to call...Tom Kerr has used him to upgrade his transmission to an honest "uber" status...

Vortex Motorsports.

I called Bob...he was under a car (good sign), but he colleague relayed data in real time and he was super nice about helping me out with data/sharing it.

While I was at DAS a cup car's tranny was being rebuilt.... so there are shops than can do high end work out there.

Erik at Carquip (see the 2nd gear popout sticky) was a wealth of data...call him too for sure. I only discussed 2nd gear issues, but these guys have been inside of these units and know a lot. And are really nice.

I have no financial relationship with any of them at all. Just sharing data.

I think a new cup tranny is 37k. Rebuild was about 22k....just to put it into perspective.



JB

 

Brian is an interesting man, get on his good side and he will do anything for you, catch him on a bad day and watch out...LOL. I have seen both sides, fortunately he seems to like me. Pam his wife is the best and a good go between.

 

Actually Copans isn't expensive compared to many other places. Most of the cost is in the parts. His wife Pam is great. I'd call back and speak with Pam, explain Brian was a little grumpy w/ you, say what your problem is, and then find out what they'd recommend to solve your problem. Satisfaction almost guaranteed.

 

This is an email I received from Paul Guard Transmissions:
-------------------------------------------------------
We have a helical 1.409 (22:31 tooth count) that is considerably stronger than Porsche's 1.407 (27:38), with only about 0.1 difference in mile-per-hour. We sell a LOT of these gears to replace both the G50 5-speed and 993 6-speed 3rd gears which tend to break. (The earlier 5-speed version was somewhat stronger than your 6-speed version.)

GT 1.409 (22:31)
OE 1.407 (27:38)

Porsche makes their gears with quiet-running and economical high quantity production as their top priorities, while we make our gears in small batches with high strength as our top priority.

Our gear teeth feature a Formula 1 gear profile with enhanced (strength-wise) pressure angle and helix angle .... a true racing gear. And yet we are the only manufacturer of aftermarket gears that utilizes OE factory synchro teeth for trouble-free match up to the factory shift components.