GT Transmission (Help Needed)

[MarkH]

Does anyone know of a GT transmission that may have been scraped for parts or does anyone have one that is broken that may have a good "countershaft" that would be willing to sell. I had a broken transmission that we have been using for parts but we are seeing that the bearings cased in a plastic housing have a tendency to break/melt and come apart destroying the countershaft. After disassembling the transmission it seems that everything else looks good inside once you get all the small needle bearings cleaned out but it destroys the countershaft. We are trying to get a transmission back together for a customer but since parts are not available we are asking the forum for help. If anyone knows of anybody that might have a transmission being used for parts we would be willing to purchase the countershaft if in good condition, trade other GT transmission parts or whatever is willing to be worked out. We are trying to not purchase a completely brand new transmission if we do not have to for one part that seemed to fail.

Thanks,
Mark H.
M2K Motorsports, LLC
281-346-8114 Shop

 

[RALPHIE]

Mark -

Is it possible to get the manufacturing drawing from Ricardo, since they no longer make it? And then machine the countershaft?

PS - I can't seem to find the part number of the internal parts on this assembly drawing.

 

[PL510*Jeff]

You might give a call to Kyle Millen at Stillen in L.A.

 

[NorthwoodGT]

Does anyone know of a GT transmission that may have been scraped for parts or does anyone have one that is broken that may have a good "countershaft" that would be willing to sell. I had a broken transmission that we have been using for parts but we are seeing that the bearings cased in a plastic housing have a tendency to break/melt and come apart destroying the countershaft. After disassembling the transmission it seems that everything else looks good inside once you get all the small needle bearings cleaned out but it destroys the countershaft. We are trying to get a transmission back together for a customer but since parts are not available we are asking the forum for help. If anyone knows of anybody that might have a transmission being used for parts we would be willing to purchase the countershaft if in good condition, trade other GT transmission parts or whatever is willing to be worked out. We are trying to not purchase a completely brand new transmission if we do not have to for one part that seemed to fail.

Thanks,
Mark H.
M2K Motorsports, LLC
281-346-8114 Shop

send me a pic of exactly the part you're looking for. I have a pallette of take out Ricardo transaxle parts but by description I'm not that educated on hte internals. email me direct at supercarpart@msn.com thanks, scott

 

[MarkH]

Thanks Scott, I will get you a picture of the broken piece this afternoon and email it over for you to review. Thanks a bunch for checking..

Mark H.

 

[NorthwoodGT]

MARK- I won;t be around tomorrow at all. getting my internal pipes roto rootered. will get back to you Thursday. thanks, scott

 

[MarkH]

Scott:

I emailed you a picture of the countershaft that is needed with a brief explanation. Once you start to feeling better let me know your thoughts...

Thanks,

Mark

 

[SMOKDU]

How do these break ? Track car? Mile car? Can you post a pic of the part for future cases

 

[MarkH]

Just wanted to say a great big Thanks from Scott for working with M2K Motorsports and the need for the transmission countershaft.... Scott had the piece we needed and was able to be very reasonable on the pricing so we can put this transmission back together and get this car back on the road...

Thanks again Scott...

Mark H.

 

[MarkH]

Sorry for not answering the questions asked by SMOKDU but this car was on a daily driven car but the car had seem some heavy passes on the street and no doubt was a driver with approximately 15K miles but a lot of them were hard miles... If you can see by the picture below, the plastic housings that hold the needle bearings on just completely melted under high heat/temp and that is the black you see around the countershaft... This is something we have seen on bigger horsepower cars with continue use on holding the RPMS for extended amounts of time. There is a fix for this but the key is to replace them before they melt and trash the countershaft. We are now using a metal housing to place the needle bearings in to not have this melting problem of plastic in the case. Unfortunately, to make this change, the transmission has to be disassembled to make such modifications and is labor intensive.

Thanks,

Mark H.
M2K Motorsports, LLC

 

[Specracer]

Did the car have a trans cooler? Just curious.

 

[MarkH]

This car actually did not have a cooler on it and I am starting to think for an added security, everyone should have one on for sure..... I just had this conversation with Kevin of M2K that its cheap insurance to make sure they all have it plus for those really wanting to go extreme, replacing the plastic housings as well... The problem we all face is that there are NO parts for these transmissions. If it wouldn't have been for Scott, we would have had to source someone to make the part, or purchase a completely brand new transmission and use the old one for parts... There are folks willing to make parts but in such small production runs, the cost of the parts being made almost forces one to just buy a completely new transmission from Ford...

Thanks,
Mark H.

 

[PeteK]

Sorry for not answering the questions asked by SMOKDU but this car was on a daily driven car but the car had seem some heavy passes on the street and no doubt was a driver with approximately 15K miles but a lot of them were hard miles... If you can see by the picture below, the plastic housings that hold the needle bearings on just completely melted under high heat/temp and that is the black you see around the countershaft... This is something we have seen on bigger horsepower cars with continue use on holding the RPMS for extended amounts of time. There is a fix for this but the key is to replace them before they melt and trash the countershaft. We are now using a metal housing to place the needle bearings in to not have this melting problem of plastic in the case. Unfortunately, to make this change, the transmission has to be disassembled to make such modifications and is labor intensive.

Mark H.
M2K Motorsports, LLC

Mark, thanks for the picture and explanation. I'm begininng to think that a thinner trans oil will generate less heat from internal friction, and carry it away better. Of course, one needs to make sure that a lower viscoisty oil will provide adequate lubrication. However, as a point of reference, many newer manny trannies use ATF instead of heavy gear oil. I'm also considering putting a temp sensor on the tranny.

Another thing to consider using: I have a kit one of my brothers gave me several years ago that consists of markers (like crayons), that you wipe on a part, and they change color when a certain temp is reached. You use several markers with different temp ratings to find out high high the temp got. You can find these in industrial supply catalogs, and probably on line.

 

[SMOKDU]

Thx for the response . I also think the tune and the heat of the exhaust could also be an issue. Stock catalytic convertors are hot and are close to the tranny. So driving these cars on the track with hot lapping and on a hot summer day wil produce heat and heat is hard on parts. I have noticed after I put on headers and straight pipes loosing the big can muffler (borla) or stock the temps in the engine bay went down. Thx again .

 

[NorthwoodGT]

heh Mark glad I could be of some help. have plenty of bearings, shafts, side covers etc. for the Ricardo transaxle. let me know if you need anything else.
scott minch

 

[nautoncall]

My car has a replacement transaxle. The 3rd gear synchros went out. I have the original. From what I understand there is no fix. Some of you are running big HP with no problems while other have had replacements. What's going to happen in the years to come as more of these fail? So Ricardo made a "throw away" transaxle with no serviceable parts?

 

[RALPHIE]

... What's going to happen in the years to come as more of these fail?....

With laser modeling and 3D printing, it will be possible to recreate parts must faster in the future - there will be businesses set up to recreate virtually any part made in the past. Think of what the GT40 car owners have had to go through in the past.

 

[BlackICE]

With laser modeling and 3D printing, it will be possible to recreate parts must faster in the future - there will be businesses set up to recreate virtually any part made in the past. Think of what the GT40 car owners have had to go through in the past.

I'm not up to date on the tech, have they gotten to the point where high strength parts like gears and splined shaft can be printed that are as strong as machined parts? Having the right tolerances, finish, wear characteristics, etc is a tall order unless the original parts were way over engineered.

 

[NorthwoodGT]

I think what you'll see in the future is that someone will take the bull by the horns and really study the Ricardo to see exactly what parts are common to other transaxles and transmission. there is no way that Ford or Ricardo designed every single part to be unique. there has to be some common parts to other boxes as well. the parts that are unique will probably be manufactured again by someone who does have the 3D printer capability. I also think someone needs to connect with Ricardo in the UK and find out what's available over there since Ricardo is based from there. at one time I had a deal worked out with someone over there to purchase 200-300,000.00 worth of left over Ricardo parts but we couldn't agree on the money conversion and a short time later the person passed away so I have to believe there are some parts somewhere. jmo