ok so all you know i am in the process of a complete overhaul on my trans and trying my best to get it done for the detroit 3800 mega meet. i figured i would share some pics of the 1" chain set install and how i needed to machine the stator support housing to fit the massive drive gear. i searched for this info everywhere and couldnt find and info on how to machine what etc so i figured i would make one incase anyone else in the future needs the info.

i am using the gmr 1" 7/16" pitch chain set so it is a lot bigger than the regular gmr 1" 3/5" pitch chain. with the 7/16" pitch chain set you need to machine down the sides of the stator support housing so it fits inside the drive gear. once this is done you need to reinstall the stator support housing and then dremel down the bolts that stick through as well. this will give the clearance needed. see pics.







once its machined it can sit in the gear correctly like this





now for some random pics of the gear set.




comparison from a 7/8 chain to a gmr 1" chain




chain set installed

 

now pics of the damage that caused me to do this rebuild.












in the first pics you can see where i had metal on metal contact. this was from the 7/8 chain set being machined wrong from the manufacture. they gave me some money back for this issue, thanks zzp

in the following pics you can see it trashed all of my clutches, i replaced them all. 3rd clutch was suppose to be z-pak and tim king never put z-paks in so i called him and he sent me a brand new set of z-paks for free do to his mess up.

i didnt use the z-paks i am using dave at TEP 12 pack upgrade in 3rd, i added more fibers and changed the steels to tighten up 2nd and input. i also removed the wave plate (i dont need cushioned shifts i need shifts that wont slip ) i sent my valve body and channel plate to dave at TEP for all of the sonnax upgrades as well. i am dropping my stall from 3500 to 2700 also. and finally my old chain and gear set was a 2.93 ratio and my new gmr 1" setup is a 3.52 ratio so hopefully the car wont be so lazy off the line anymore

 

Super jealous, for two reasons:

1) Getting your hands on a 1" chain, where'd you find that thing?

2) Having the knowledge to rebuild a trans. Those things scare the crap out of me. I can replace a crank, rebuild a motor in a couple hours. But if my trans starts slipping...boom to the wallet I go.

 

I got lucky with the chain set. My good buddy pat knew a guy demodding and that guy had it. Was never advertised and I bought the chain set and pat bought his torsen diff. I wanted the diff but pat beat me to it seeing as he told me about the chain set lmao.

I was always scared of a trans as well and pat said he will help me and show me how to do it. (Pat is an instructor at wyotech) so I said OK sure I wanna learn!

Now that I've done it, if you are careful and take your time and have a good service book its no harder than building an engine in all honesty.

If you can read a book and take out bolts you can disassemble a trans. If you can read a book and know how to torque bolts and keep all parts very clean you can reassemble a trans. Its not as scary as everyone thinks and trust me I know how you feel because a month ago I was also the guy saying trans scare me I'll never build one. Now here I am with a trans built by me and pat with pats guidance.

 

Well John, your the Monte owner I'm not. Guess if I HAD to I could, but you probably don't have to either, your just more of a hands on kind of guy. This has to be a mandatory upgrade for anyone the kind of power you are to the ground. Hell you just smoke the **** out of your tires on that one photo, lol I always think of that shot. What a compilation of photo's, yep you destroyed a few parts, shredded and broken parts everywhere. Sweet you have your hands on a key component of this new build. Best of luck and God speed on your build John.

 

Thanks Greg. I enjoy working on my car I don't like others touching it. The way I feel is if I do it I know what's done and if I mess it up I can't blame no one but myself. I had the first trans built by Tim king and look at all my issues I had. Perfect example why I do my own work. Having bragging rights being able to say I built it all in a huge bonus as well

 

Least you have the courage to try and do the tranny, wonderful you have a mentor to bounce ideas off of. Read your going to do a lower stall, sometimes I wonder if I need to do that to. My Monte is lazy off the line and the new larger turbo I think will only make it more so. How did you come up the 2700 number? Wonder if a 50 shot to help me spool would be a solution. Your lucky to have come across the new 1" chain for your build, did not know they made 2 types of 1" chains. Don't know what I have, I just pay the bills as they build it. LOL, hell of a way to build a car. Best of luck on your race tranny build. The Iron Maiden is what I'm calling your new tranny.

 

yes im going with a lower stall. my issues i was having it it was lazy off the line and barely would move and then the converter would flash and i would be at full boost and just blow the tires off. this was happening on a 2.93 gear set and a 3500 stall. the best 60ft i ever got on this setup was 2.3sec. i either had to feather the throttle to keep traction at first or i would just blow them off.

the new setup is a 3.52 gear ratio and a 2700 stall, with this setup i am hoping the car will get off the line on its own will better before i hit full boost and then by the time i am at full boost i am rolling quick enough to keep traction. sounds like a great theory but i wont know until tested and proven lmao.

the 2700 stall i got from kevin at cartuning. he has a local guy that custom builds them for your application and his turbo setup. he said he made over 500whp in his daily driver and a lot of track passes with this converter stalled at 2650 and never had an issue yet. he has another one stalled at 2600 in a local guys 600whp build and no issues with his either. he said he been using these converters for a number of years now and have had awesome luck with them so i said send me one lol.

it was kevin that told me the converter was why my 60ft times are bad and he suggested lowering it. he said on a turbo car you want the turbo to work as much as possible you dont want it stalling power. now on a sc car since they have no lag at all and all the power is instant you need to stall them so you can get them moving a bit before the converter flashes and you hit full power. he said a low stalled sc car would act like mine right now off the line (blowing the tires off)

i say no on nitrous, i dont like the stuff and never had. a lot of people like it and made good power with it and ran good times with it but i still feel "only babies are bottle fed" no offense to anyone on that statement because as i said i know some fast cars on spray. my saying about nitrous is like others saying on "theres no replacement for displacement" and thats been proven wrong as well. its all on how much money you are capable and willing to spend....

what gear ratio do you have in your trans greg?

yes there is 2 different types of 1" gmr chain sets:

one set is a 3/8" pitch 1"gmr chain and gear set that came in either 3.69 or 3.29 gear ratios and is rated at 800whp. (this was the more common one available, probably what you have)

the other is a 7/16" pitch 1" gmr chain and gear set that came in 3.52 (which is what i have) or another odd ball ratio i dont remember what it is right now. and these were rated at 1,200whp (this was the more rare one available, the one i have )

 

All right John, appreciate the info. Matt has talked to Kevin at Cartuning 2 or 3 times now. He said that Kevin is very car smart. So I'm going to copy and paste your message info and email it to Matt. I don't want to be sitting while your a gittin. I'm glad you posted about this new tranny build, I'm in the position to where I might as well do something to help launch better and I bet your on the right track with the torque converter theory. Will have to find out what my axle gears are.
Talked to Matt today about the converter and he said he wants to see what the engine does with this new turbo before doing anything with the converter. I hope Kevin's converter is a decent one. I bought ZZP's a few years ago and it lasted about 3,000 miles I bet. We opened it up and most all the fins were bent and twisted away from the housing from the extreme tanny fluid pressures.. So Matt brought a new one in and he had it opened up and all the fins fully brazed to the housing. I have put some serious fluid pressures through the new one and no failure anymore. If Kevin has put 600 whp through these and has no problems, I bet Matt would respect his judgement.

Matt's shop is also against using NOS, his father who runs dragsters says he has seen to many problems. I did not know if a 50 shot would help spool off the line. But I bet your right, stay away from it. Don't need to pop a top.

I will ask Matt about my 1" chain to, he would know what I have, but I suspect your right. Take care John, Thanks for the intel.