Have you guys had any dealings with a company called Milzy Motorsports? It seems like they deal more with the 3400/3500 engines. I came across their website and decided to take a look around. Apparently, they have 4T65e 1" chains of their own design, to replace the void left by the unavailable GMR chain.

 

Milzy used to be very involved on the old mymonte board. Met him at a couple of UMM meets and he seemed like a good dude.

With that said, he's got a lot of bad reviews lately around the various 3800 forums for not doing stuff in a timely manner. There are several people claiming he's very late on delivering- one almost a year from the promise date for a chain (on top of the 3-4 month quoted lead time), another guy that waited 3 years for a turbo kit, etc etc. Some bad reviews are on the BBB page, but there's also plenty of info out there on the various 3800 groups. IIRC two people even went as far as getting a lawyer involved. IMO, it seems like he's overwhelmed as its not just a single crazy customer or two.

Also, that chain is still relatively new, but so far hasnt proven to be all that great. I know of 1 that failed after 5 full passes in the mid- high 10s (after getting the tune dialed in on a handful of partial runs). Literally didn't even last one full track day with good power. Its clearly not as strong as the GMR chain - speculation is its probably closer to a stock GXP chain, although I'm not sure enough people are even going to buy them to really prove them out given the reputation issues and already having a failure out there. The failure mode was chain stretch, almost to the point of case contact, so its not like it was a single bad pin/ link or something goofy.

The first two sets shipped also had some kind of tolerance issue that caused the input shaft to lock up when the chain was installed with the thrust washer. Required modification to work properly. Not a huge deal, but not a great start either especially given the high cost.

This also isn't the only company doing a 1" chain, there are 1 or 2 others from what I remember trying to get one off the ground. Heck, theres even a whole FB group dedicated to 1" 4T65 chains.

 

I know this a nearly 3 year old thread, but I'm wondering if anyone has worked with Milzy (Mike Millner @ Milzy Motorsports in West Carrollton, OH) in the last year or two (2022-2023) to any significant degree on this forum. Has anyone bought a trans from him, 1" chain, etc.? I've spoken to him a few times in the last couple of months and it's obvious he's got experience with the W-body 3800 platform and 4t65e transmission variants. Now I've got an LS4 in my 2007 MC, but he was super willing to talk and spend quite a bit of time on the phone with me. Plenty of bad press on him on the internet a few years ago, but he's still in business, but I had a hard time seeing anything recent.

If anyone has a reliable shop that has experience with a MC LS4/4t65e-HD transmission that can actually do the work on the car, not just sell parts, please pass that information along. I live in Virginia, but willing to potentially discuss bringing the car to Midwest, Mid-Atlantic, or near south (NC, TN, KY, etc.). Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks!

 

IMO you'd be crazy to given the numerous reports of issues (no offense of course). Those are some of the parts people had issues with on timing- one guy on FB with his transmision waited 2.5 years. Heads were the other big one (made even worse by the wording on the website that they're nonrefundable despite actual lead times being several multiples of what is quoted).

His 1" chain also doesnt seem all that great, its certianly nowhere near a real GMR. Two reports of people breaking them under 200 miles of use. Seems they may not be holding up much better than the stock GXP chains, especially for the huge amount of added cost. To be fair, it doesn't seem like hardly anyone is running them, but I dont blame them when there are so many 1st hand reports of issues getting product that was long since paid for.


There are complaints on BBB from 2022 and 2023. Not much on the other forums that new as far as I can find - seems he absolutely obliterated his reputation with the issues over the last few years.

There aren't many people on here modding much anymore (at least not bigger builds) Id post up questions about recent transactions with them on the 3800 FB page as thats a much larger group of people.

Did Triple Edge stop doing builds again / do they not have a reccoemnded alternate? Have you reached out to ZZP to see if their builder still works on them?

 

Bumpin covered a bunch on this. I will echo it is worth checking with Triple Edge Performance, they were the experts with the 4t65e. Another option, reach out to Brandon Furches, aka the LS4 King. He is breathing new life into this platform (focused on the LS4 powered cars). He has a bunch of info pertaining to a 4t80 swap.

 

Thanks for the feedback guys!! I've already reached out to Dave and have seen the LS4 King site too. Much appreciated!

 

IMO, that's the way to go these days, especially for a built ls4. No doubt its got its own quirks/ issues - but when you're talking 10x the cost for a 65 to hold the same power (including trying to track down parts that haven't been made in a decade), it just doesn't make sense anymore.

TBH the thing that would scare me about a 65 build with unobtanium GMR parts to try to make it bulletproof is that something else fails (a 10 cent roll pin or something absurd) and nukes the whole transmission. It doesn't take much of a failure to cause enormous damage when you've got that much torque spinning stuff at that high of an rpm.

The other thing is even the GMR stuff isn't truly bulletproof, and they have been broken (even behind a 3800). GM was running those parts in an ultra light drag only Cobalt behind a turbo 4 with zero street use. Thats worlds different than a full weight W body with a turbo v8 that we're expecting to last thousands of miles and numerous pulls.