tjpops- what you are missing is the fact that even among supposedly knowledgeable car folks a lot of "wisdom" is based on old wive's tale. Much as any transmission is better of with synthetic, our overheating-prone transmission needs it even more. As far as I know resistance to heat breakdown is the biggest advantage of synthetic.

phast - are there parts in a transmission that "run in" through sliding contact or whatever? I know in your engine the valves need to form a metal on metal seal and the rings need to seal to the cylinder bore. Are there transmission parts that have a running fit like this?I know there are friction surfaces (which we don't _want_ broken in) and gears (rolling contact & they better be ground to fit together right from the start).

Also, no matter how slick an oil is it can't prevent contact... the "high spots" on the metal which need to rub and wear, if they were going to rub with dino juice, they will rub with synth. If anything the run in process might be a little bit slower on synthetic, but I feel like this might give better, tighter fits.

Just my $0.02

cheers
mbs