RATE AND VOTE PLEASE...

Page 1: Profile shots
Page 2: Performance mods
Page 3: Audio
Page 4: Interior
Page 5: Evolution of my Monte
Page 6: Future mods
Page 7: Transmission rebuild
Page 8: LosMagificos Custom Car Show 2003
Page 9: My perspective
Page 10: Inspiration

08/10/2006 - BROKE MY TRANNY
Well, the story goes as follows...

I was driving home from the corner store and was playing around with the turbo, you know... boosting for a few seconds, then coasting for the next few hundred yards. All was great. I accelerated going up a bridge, then once I reached the top, I let off the accelerator and coasted all the way to the bottom. When I got to the bottom I pressed the accelerator, and nothing happened. The engine revved up, but no power, no funny noises, no fluids all over the road. I pulled over and attempted to shift the tranny into reverse, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd gears... Nothing!

Hmmmm, what could be the issue!? I thought maybe the turbo fried a harness or something. Looked under the hood, ...everything perfect, nothing fried.

Its the transmission... something broke. I took it to a local shop [TransPro Transmissions. (281) 332-5405] and asked the owner [Bob] to rebuild it open for me... after all the car had over 100k mi on it, and i wanted to upgrade it either way.

The very next day, the Bob had me come out and take a look at what happened:
- 2 broken chains
- 2 broken sprockets
- 1 broken VSS Reluctor ring
- 1 shattered speed sensor.
- 1 stripped 4th gear clutch

Imagine the look on my face! Oh well, no point in dwelling on it. I did a little research and found out that there are upgrades to the 4t65e tranny. Called up my buddy Kevin from Cartuning Performance and asked him for some advise. He recommended Eric from DynoTech Performance. We had an informative chat and decided to go with:

- 15/16 inch single drive chain with stronger sprockets
- stronger 'Billet' input shaft (the original is in good condition, but after upgrading the chain/sprocket set, the input shaft would be the next weak link in the system.)
- Z-Pack 3rd gear clutch
- over sized 2nd gear steel plate
- TCC relief valve
- O/D pressure plate and steel combo
- JTFM H/D Torque converter
- 4th gear clutch, made of hardened metal
- custom shift kit

- New Torque Converter (Custom Built)

- New Chain/Sprocket set, and input shaft

- Side-by-side 4th gear clutch
New on left, old on right

- Notice how the teeth are worn away on the old clutch, the new one should take car of that issue since its made of a hardened steel.

- Side-by-side of the input shaft and sprocket
New on left, old on right

- Notice the broken teeth...

- Side-by-side of the drive chain
New on far back, old 2 front left
Notice how both smaller chains snapped from the extra torque/strain produced by the engine

- Side-by-side of the drive sprocket
New on front left, old back center

- old versus new

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12/06/2006 - BROKEN TRANS-AXLE
Started to notice that when I try to accelerate my whole car would begin to vibrate... could not figure out why. So I took it to the tranny shop [TransPro] and told him [Bob] about my symptoms. They put it on a lift and did a simple test to see if there was anything wrong with the trans axles, it turn out that the trans-axle on my driver-side had a busted sleeve which led to the grease leaking out and overheating the joint. The bearing looked like someone took a torch and heated them up a few times. Honestly I am not surprised, I tend to drive the car pretty hard most of the time. So from my point of view, a bad trans-axle is acceptable.
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05/10/2007 - ADDED TRANNY COOLER
Started noticing that my tranny would get really hot when I took long trips at freeway speeds.

Never had a problem city driving, but on a trip longer than 20mi @ 75mph, with a few intermittent 11psi boosts, the tranny would reach temps over +200*F.

Did some research and bought a Hayden tranny cooler.

Since I have a big ass A-A intercooler, the only space was above the intercooler and in front of the radiator. This did not work very well, the temps were not affected at all.

The way the front bumper is designed, there is not enough room to have sufficient air flow to the upper radiator.

Also notice the foam pad that sits in front of the bumper. I cut out a space as to make a box for the tranny cooler. Just make sure to leave enough foam in the back to maintain its structure.

This is what it looks like with the front bumper/cover back on.

- this is still just a rough draft, I'm planning on cleaning this up ASAP.

I'm going to cut out a hole in the license plate cover and inserting a wire mesh to be used as a screen for the cooler.

05/26/2007 - COVER FOR TRANNY COOLER

Page 1: Profile shots
Page 2: Performance mods
Page 3: Audio
Page 4: Interior
Page 5: Evolution of my Monte
Page 6: Future mods
Page 7: Transmission rebuild
Page 8: LosMagificos Custom Car Show 2003
Page 9: My perspective
Page 10: Inspiration