If you ever have to rebuild a transmission, do not let your indy or their "SOURCE" tell you that the parts are readily available.

If you every have the inclination that you will, in the future, need to or want to rebuild your transmission, and especially the mainshaft, do not take your car out of service until you have ALL of the parts in hand.

I've been well over 4 months "waiting" on parts. First, to no fault of one of our own (and someone I consider a friend) I waited for a box of trans parts that Fedex lost. By the time that the box ended up back on his doorstep, my indy had "suggested" that we move on to another plan.

Let me rewind the clocks for a moment, so people don't think I'm a blooming idiot... When we decided it was time to rebuild the trans, because it was getting difficult to get the car into and out of first and reverse, I asked my indy a number fo pointed and specific questions. Once we got over the cost of it all, I made sure that he "assured me" that parts were "readily" available. Once given the "assurances", we pulled the trigger... I dropped the car off on September 15th... Then we waited.

It's January 15th. I was just notified this evening that it would be at a minimum another 10 days before I get the car back. I'm pretty much fit to be tied. I can say this much. I will learn to rehab my own transmissions from here on out, or I won't rebuild another transmission without all parts in hand. This has been a process I will not repeat again.

You've all been warned... Be prepared before you "rebuild" a transmission.

Mike

 

Wow, great advice...

 

Sorry to hear man. Hang in hpefully it's really 10 days... and be nicer to those syncros

 

God Mike... Did you ever consider salvage one?
Curious if you ever did a price comparo. Granted, the used could be poor so you have a crap-shoot too.

 

Mike, hopefully this is just a "bump" in road. You got a boat load of good Karma on your side from alot of people (including myself) you have helped here on the 6

 

Sorry to hear this Mike, it will be worth it in the end... can I just say one thing, please, please get a cooler plumped in.

 

After doing some repairs myself I experienced the same situation ... parts are hard to come by and it's unreal that some of this stuff is only in Germany. So many North American owners and they don't stock at least one of everything over here.

 

I had the good fortune of going through Dougherty Automotive Services (DAS) in Philly and they have deep, deep routes and connections. Given those, the parts were obtained in about 4 days for my car when I needed the parts. My mechanic was a crew chief on a World Challenge team (GT) at the time, etc. Cup cars in parts all over the place. See the second gear pop-out thread that used to be a sticky...there are a few things any 996TT'er should consider having done to prevent 2nd gear pop out while in there. If funds allow and you track the car..., do a tranny cooler. I was talked out of steel synchros...as I drive it on the street....someday I might regret that decision, but right now I do not having heard a car with steel synchros...would have made the car almost impossible to sell....IMHO.

Sorry to hear of your saga. Stinks!


Jeff

 

I'm sorry to hear about your situation. Thanks for the good info.........

 

Brian Copans at BMC&G has most parts in stock all the time. He can get them quicker than anybody else due his ties to the factory teams.

If anybody needs a stock mainshaft let me know as I have one for sale.

Ben

 

+1 on Mr. Copans. We called him. He will fix a tranny fast, but ONLY to oem spec. So if you want to fix the design flaw of the tranny that makes 2nd gear popout, you are out of luck. He'll take things back to day 1.

As a source of parts, I'd use him (I think we did). Good guy.

Jeff

 

Not sure about the "To OEM Spec" Jeff, he will build to whatever you want. That is what he did for me. No second gear pop out for me ever

Ben

 

I'll try to answer the above responses in order...

JJBravo, We didn't want a salvage trans, as we were trying to build a stronger and more durable transmission, with the best parts available.

Steve, We have a cooler in the works, but will wait to instal it until later in the spring. I'm not concerned at this point.

Jeff, When you rebuilt your trans, parts were much more available and easier to source. The ground has changed under our feet.

Ben, I had my indy tell me the exact same thing... "I have sources in Porsche Germany, and parts will not be an issue". At that point I had no reason not to believe my indy.

We wanted to get the strongest mainshaft available, so we were trying to get a 997GT2 or TT unit. If I had it to do over again, I'd have just bought a complete custom "pre-built" transmission. I can tell you this much, I won't believe anyone ever again when it comes to "large" or "major" parts source issues. I'll also say this much: If parts sourcing for this car continues to become a long term issue, mine will be sold and I'll move on to another, more well sourced platform. I'll never go thru this again...

Very unhappy at this point...
Mike

 

Bill Dougherty contacted him and was told my tranny would only be done to OEM spec...perhaps you got lucky....not sure. Not a big deal. Did hear he was the best (and that he could do one in an hour or something like that....).

No idea the parts had dried up on us all....sad. Thanks for the data Mike! Good luck at VIR. Miss that event!

Jeff

 

Hey Jeff can you explain why adding steel synchros to the tranny will make the car almost impossilble to sell? I have to go into my tranny and was thinking of using steel synchros since I do alot of track days and never heard this before.