Lan's peformance 4eat transmission

[longassname]

I have a performance 4eat I'm about to sell. This is the first performance 4eat I ever built. If you go to the subiechips website and look at the photo album ( http://www.subiechips.com/photoAlbum.htm ) you can click on the folder icon next to "1st performance 4eat build" and it will expand to show you the five sub folders of pictures from when this transmission was built.

This transmission shifts lightning fast and works better than you can imagine if you haven't at least driven an SVX with one of my valve bodies. Right now, it's still in my pearly.



I'm going to pull it out pretty soon here and "freshen it up" and crate it. Freshening it up will basically entail opening it up, looking at the clutch packs where and when I will find they are all still like new, and then replacing the high clutch pack anyway, and replacing the brake band with a better one I started using later on. I'll post pictures when I do. I'm posting this now so anyone interested can start making plans.

[ShiuludeSVX]

What's the bottom line?????

[longassname]

$3,000 crated.

[longassname]

Ok, keeping things rolling along....


I got this transmission pulled out of my pearly and onto my cart. There's nothing wrong it it but I'm going to take it apart anyway and will be posting pictures here as I go through it. It was working smoothly, holding tight, and shifting lightning fast before I pulled it out. I drained the fluids and they were clean and perfect with no indications of wear.







Again, this transmission happens to be the 1st performance 4eat I ever built. It is the transmission who's rebuild was the subject of the original thread here on these forums 8 years ago when I desperately needed to figure out how to make a transmission that would put the power I was making to the street. I think it's a piece of SVX history.

Before this I had put a 165hp shot of nitrous on my ebony which dyno'd great but on the track spent more time between gears than in gears.

Then I had put a twin screw blower on my ebony which coincidentally dyno'd right around the same power output as the nitrous shot but on the street sheered the transfer clutch off the drive gear the very first time I got on the throttle while turning.

I had put my ebony on the awd dynapack dyno at Mastro Subaru and shown that stock it was reading 165hp at the wheels. I got that up to 176 wheel hp with a z32 air flow meter and ECU chip. I got it up to 280 wheel hp with a nitrous system and ECU chip. I got it up to 269 wheel hp with a twin screw blower.

I had installed a low miles 97 transmission (this transmission) into my ebony between the nitrous system and the blower system. The transfer clutch sheared on the first corner with the blower system. I then developed the through bolted transfer clutch mod which I installed into a 3.9 ratio transmission out of a turbo legacy. The supercharged car smoked that transmission almost instantly. I got stuck shipping out a group buy of half a dozen supercharger systems without a final version of firmware and with my own SVX broken down. Things had gone terribly wrong. This transmission needed to be developed.

So...this transmission was the low miles 97 transmission I had put in my ebony and then sheered the transfer clutch off of. Pictures of the build are in the photo album on the Subeichips website here:
http://www.subiechips.com/album/albu...ce+4eat+build/
http://www.subiechips.com/album/albu...ld%2Fassembly/
http://www.subiechips.com/album/albu...Fdissassembly/
http://www.subiechips.com/album/albu...ild%2Fforward/
http://www.subiechips.com/album/albu...build%2Fvbmod/http://www.subiechips.com/album/albu...d%2Fvbremoval/



You can see in the photo album that every piston seal was replaced, every clutch pack was replaced...it was thoroughly rebuilt. Part of the upgrade of the transmission was just that frictions used had an upgraded friction material. There were a lot of modifications beyond that. I can highlight some of them in specific pictures in the photo album.

This picture is of the low/reverse clutch pack. I forget the year split but Subaru actually downgraded it in later years. Early SVXs had more frictions than later SVXs. You increase the torque carrying capacity of a clutch pack by 1) increasing the apply pressure of the hydraulic fluid pressing the piston against the clutch pack 2) using a friction material with more grab and or 3) increasing the # of frictions in the clutch pack. Any SVX transmission has as many or more frictions in all of its clutch packs as any other model Subaru with a 4eat transmission. Usually more, the SVX transmission was and is the strongest 4eat out there. 92 SVX transmissions had 8 frictions in this clutch pack. Later model SVXs and every other model Subaru out there had 6 frictions in this clutch pack. I bought out Subaru's inventory of 92 style pistons at that time to ensure I would always be able to upgrade this clutch pack. Using the 92 style piston and a pressure plate of appropriate thickness to set the lash where I wanted it I upgraded this clutch pack to hold 8 high energy graphite frictions.http://www.subiechips.com/album/albu...DSC_4002%2Ejpg

The main forward clutch on most Subaru's uses 5 frictions, SVXs use 6, I used 7 high energy graphite frictions.http://www.subiechips.com/album/albu...DSC_4012%2Ejpg


Subaru made many modifications to the high clutch hub over the years. Apparantly they were trying to increase the cooling of the high clutch rather than beefing it up. They've gone through all kinds of patterns of holes. I've seen them looking like swiss cheese. This is the 97 version where they settled on a smaller # of larger holes. I don't consider which version you use to be important. The important thing is to upgrade the high clutch so it doesn't slip and make all that heat to begin with. I only post the picture of the 97 version hub to be informative: http://www.subiechips.com/album/albu...DSC_4034%2Ejpg


I don't seem to have a picture of inside the high clutch pack but that's ok I will be taking a picture of it when I take it apart again. That is where the most important upgrade was made. Other model Subaru's use 4. Some of the higher output models use 5. SVXs use 5. I use 6 high energy graphite frictions and kolene steels. Now, the actual high clutch drum which houses the high clutch is different in different model year SVXs. The frictions of the reverse clutch spline into the high clutch drum so the high clutch drum determines which style reverse clutch frictions you can use. Later model frictions are bigger and better but I've never seen a reverse clutch be bad without the high clutch also being bad. I believe they only go bad when cooked by a bad high clutch. This one obviously has the latter model, better one but I don't consider that important.
http://www.subiechips.com/album/albu...DSC_4036%2Ejpg


I only make this modification to transmissions that will be installed in cars with serious power. I made it to this transmission. There is an arm inside the pump which presses up against the side of the vane pump changing how much fluid the pump outputs. It's a feedback mechanism to decrease pump output as line pressure increases. Very slightly grinding down the end of this arm allows a little more leak down and increases line pressure.
http://www.subiechips.com/album/albu...DSC_4051%2Ejpg


Upgraded sealing rings and stainless sealing ring expanders were used on this transmission as well:
http://www.subiechips.com/album/albu...DSC_4066%2Ejpg

A 2nd spring was added to the 1-2 accumulator piston to stiffen up the shift from 1st to 2nd. It makes the 1 to 2 shift very fast and sharp. I don't usually do this anymore because some of the more luxury oriented drivers found it too sharp and I was able to make the shift fast without it. This transmission was built to the max and I'm going to leave it that way. I don't find it uncomfortable at all and it is very definitely FAST so I'm not going to mess with it.http://www.subiechips.com/album/albu...DSC_4107%2Ejpg

Speaking of being built to the max..this transmission has a through bolted transfer clutch hub so it will not shear off if you have a twin screw blower, a 165hp shot of nitrous, or a Garrett gt series turbo: http://www.subiechips.com/album/albu...DSC_4126%2Ejpg

It's too much to illustrate in pictures but the valve body modifications in this transmission included changing springs for the pressure regulator and pressure modifier to further increase line pressure as well as blocking holes and drilling holes in the plate separating the upper and lower valve bodies to increase the flow in cooling and lubrication circuits. Most of the mods are different than what i do now but they are still highly effective. After all this transmission has proven itself. It's smooth, it shifts lightning fast, and it has held up.

[longassname]

There are a lot of parts in a transmission....so there are going to be a lot of pictures. I've gone through this

transmission now and as expected it shows virtually no signs of wear. It has really held up well. After 6 years every last

friction in it is still like new.

Ok, so out comes the torque converter:



Then I cleaned up the outside with some wd40:



Opened the extension housing and removed the transfer clutch:


Opened the transfer clutch up and inspected the frictions. The transfer frictions are the only "tan" (tan = regular)

frictions I use. The transfer clutch is broken in so it operates smoothly but not at all worn. The original thickness of

the frictions when new was 0.071"...they are still 0.071" thick. You might also note that the fluid in the transmission is

very clean. That's because nothing in it has worn.




Next, I destaked the stake nut which holds the driven gear to the end of the pinion, pulled the through bolted transfer

clutch hub/drive gear/output shaft assembly, pulled the driven gear, pulled the parking lock mechanism, and cleaned the

mating surface.

[longassname]

Next came unsnapping the harnesses so they hung free, removing the fill/dipstick tube, and removing the cooler lines so the

differential could be removed. The differential doesn't show any wear either. I actually have the Subaru specialized tools

for setting up the differential. When you set them up right and use the right fluid they don't wear. You might note that

the contact pattern is large and in the center of the teeth.




With the extension housing and differential off it's time to stand up the transmission. The pump and pinion can be removed

as a unit.



With the pump off the transmission is open and I could start pulling out parts. I pulled the brake band out and inspected

and measured it. Although it was just a regular brake band it wasn't worn. It measured the same as the borg warner band I

favor now and will replace it with.

[Cotton]

As a machinist, I can appreciate your choice of a quality caliper.

[longassname]

Ya, I've put a lot of use on that 8" Mitutoyo caliper. I'll admit I have a set of Chinese wrenches where they somehow did a good job of copying the bluepoint set but most of my tools are made in the USA....except my measuring tools. My Intrimiks are made in the USA Brown and Sharp but all my micrometers are NSK Japan and my dial gauges are NSK Japan. I'm not sure how but I got into collecting NSK Japan. I have some Federal Mogul stuff too.

In some of the pictures you might see my Lessnor Maer Spindle Wizard CNC mill in the background.

Originally Posted by Cotton

As a machinist, I can appreciate your choice of a quality caliper.

[longassname]

I got a chance to work on the crate for this transmission today. I wasn't quite able to finish but all that is left is the top panel. I don't expect to be able to finish it before Sunday so the $3,000 price I am offering this transmission for here until I have it crated will remain in effect until then.

I'll make a point of finishing the crate Sunday so I can list the transmission on Ebay Sunday. At that time the price will change to $3,500.

[longassname]

I got a chance to finish the crate. I'm going to post this transmission for sale on ebay now. It's ready to ship and available now for $3500 plus freight. The crate is 36x21x25 and should be about 300 lbs.

[longassname]

I would prefer anyone from here that wants the transmission contact me directly but the ebay auction is here: http://www.ebay.com/itm/231550177898...witem=&vxp=mtr