Something put a hole in my transmission UPDATED w/PICS 8.12.2007!!
 

Hi,
I was at the local track last night, and something let go in my trans, putting a hole about the size of a finger through my casing right near where the shift linkage connects to the trans (LS hydro trans). I am pretty sure I can see the diff. now. The funny thing is that I didn't hear anything strange when it happened (apparently, it was right off the line because I oiled down the entire track!). I knew something was wrong when my cabin filled with smoke from the oil covering my exhaust. the car is still driveable, In fact, I put some duct tape over the hole and drove the car home, 50 miles away from the track. Every gear works fine, no noises, no nothing! So I guess my question is, what could have let go inside my tranny that would put a hole in it but not affect its ability to shift gears? (Mista Bone, help me out!). I'll try to get pics up later. Needless to say, I need an LS case, and who knows what inside, I'll have to pull it out and apart. It will be my first time inside of a transmission. Hopefully it will be covered in my manual. Anyone with a trashed hydro LS or just the case, PM me!
UPDATE:
I pulled the trans out of the car today and took it apart. This is what I found:
http://img2.putfile.com/thumb/8/22317563030.jpg
(click on pic to enlarge)
I have circled the hole in the case as well as what seems to be the cause of the hole. The reinforcement tabs in the case broke off and took others with them. I found the remnants of the aluminum bits throughout the case, mostly at the bottom of the case though. Although there is a fine mist of aluminum throughout the trans, everything looks pretty ok, although this is the first time i had cracked open a transmission. the only thing that creeped me out was the grooves present on each gear. I don't know if they are supposed to be there or not, although they are uniform, on the same spot on every gear which leads me to believe they were there from the factory (?). I have to search for more pics of these gears. I thought for sure something let go in the diff. considering where the hole in the case was. Here is one of the gears that I pulled from the mainshaft:
http://img2.putfile.com/thumb/8/22317503321.jpg
Again, you can click on it to enlarge it. You can see the grooves in the tips of the gears that I was talking about. Very uniform.
Does anyone know if these grooves are normal? If they are, I plan on either getting a new case or welding the current one closed and adding an LSD. This trans was great before this happened, no grinds at all!
Hopefully It can be saved...

Re: Something put a hole in my transmission
 

sounds like you broke a tooth off a spider gear,

gonna need ALOT more than just a case........

Re: Something put a hole in my transmission
 

Can I just replace the Diff? I wanted to change it out with an OBX LSD anyway.

Re: Something put a hole in my transmission
 

the case has a hole in it and you want to just fix it. just get a new transmission and put the lsd in that. ls transmissions are like $200 at most

Re: Something put a hole in my transmission
 

for a hydro ls trans? Can I get your source?

Re: Something put a hole in my transmission
 

Yeah, seriously, I'll take 2!
I don't know jack about transmissions, but I am fairly confident that this one can be fixed, I drove it 50 miles low on fluid with no weird noises. I have to get it out of the car so I can assess the damage, but if most damage is to the diff, it won't really matter in the grand scheme of things, i'll just replace it with the obx.

Re: Something put a hole in my transmission
 

If the hole wasnt so big i would consider that

Re: Something put a hole in my transmission
 

heres is an ls with tranny for $525 http://www.jaxstreetscene.com/forums...howtopic=10555

thats all i can find right now, but craigs list has them all the time to here

Re: Something put a hole in my transmission
 

Go with Chris....he'll hook you up nice :y

Re: Something put a hole in my transmission
 

pick and pull. I yanked a y8 trans for my hatch for $75.

Re: Something put a hole in my transmission
 

Not $200.

y8 and LS are quite different.

Re: Something put a hole in my transmission
 

and I have yet to see anything newer than a 1988 acura integra in a pick and pull style yard. They all get bought up buy salvage companies has a 1995 acura integra is gold compared to a 1995 escort

Re: Something put a hole in my transmission
 

Agreed. Hell, I can't even find cable LS tranny's for $200 around my area. :P

Re: Something put a hole in my transmission
 

Dude, save the hassle and by another tranny.

I can fix any tranny issue, but require cash up front in most cases.

Suck it up and move on........

Re: Something put a hole in my transmission
 

I have yet to open it up, the damage might not even be that bad. Like I said, I drove it home 50 miles without any problem. It will come out tomorrow. I don't want to spend $400+ on another tranny and then another $400 on top of that for an LSD so this doesn't happen again. :(

Re: Something put a hole in my transmission UPDATED w/PICS 8.12.2007!!
 

Bump it up for my pics and update.

Re: Something put a hole in my transmission UPDATED w/PICS 8.12.2007!!
 

I'm thinking the stress of the one wheel peel torqued the diff, and the bolts holding on the ring gear hit the reinforcement tabs, exploding them. Everything else is ok, I'm gonna weld up the case and install an OBX lsd.

Re: Something put a hole in my transmission UPDATED w/PICS 8.12.2007!!
 

right......and I'm the friggin Pope.

You'll learn to listen after you've wasted time and effort, but don't let me stop you.

Re: Something put a hole in my transmission UPDATED w/PICS 8.12.2007!!
 

I don't understand. Whats wrong with my prognosis/plan of action?

Re: Something put a hole in my transmission UPDATED w/PICS 8.12.2007!!
 

nothing is wrong man, its just hes trying to save you the hassle of having to buy another trans anyways. you think after a failure such as that, you can just reinstall the trans with a new lsd? the way i see it is buy a new trans, get a lsd, and thrash it then. look at it this way. fix a already stressed and possible grenadeable trans, have problems later pull it again after it blows chunks. attempt to fix it, have to buy new trans anyways, or buy new trans with lsd, install and be on your way. im not telling you what to do here, but its obvious that looking at things analytically speaking, a new trans is easier to do...just my 2 cents.

Re: Something put a hole in my transmission UPDATED w/PICS 8.12.2007!!
 

I understand where you're coming from, the problem I have is that functionally, the transmission works fine. Nothing inside the transmission blew up, with the exception of the reinforcement fin things that I have outlined in the picture above. There is no visible damage to the differential or the gearsets. Like I stated above, I drove the damn thing home from the track without a problem. I don't see the point of laying down $400 or more to replace a trans that has little damage/wear other than the cracked case. I am down for a challenge, I like to learn by doing things instead of reading about them. I have the Helms manual, which I will study, and I will check all of the necessary clearances when I get there. I know that this is HMT and all, but theres a cheap way to do things and theres the right way to do things. I'm not going to slap everything together and call it a day. I plan on disassembling everything, cleaning every part very thoroughly and reassembling. If I get it together and it doesnt work, at least I know that I tried, and it won't be all for naught, because I will have learned something along the way. When I first started getting into the whole import/turbo scene I knew very little, but I read up, and learned by doing. I don't think that this situation is very different.
Oh yeah, I know that its really hard to assess problems over the internet, even with pics, and I value the advice you guys give me, I just think that in this case, the situation isn't as grave as it appears.

Re: Something put a hole in my transmission UPDATED w/PICS 8.12.2007!!
 

something had to knock those fins loose, and it's not the ring gear bolts. You can also see scraping on the inner case......

A little alum. fin would not have punched a hole in the back of the case, STEEL did that.

Have you ever welded junk ass cast alum.? I have someone who does, he charges $100 and hour, your looking at 1.5-2 hours of work to fix that case. BTW he's certified for nuclear work, aka top of the line welder.

Inspect the spider gears, you likely shot a tooth out the back.

Re: Something put a hole in my transmission UPDATED w/PICS 8.12.2007!!
 

Aren't you sick of being right? I checked the spider gears more closely, sure enough there is a tooth missing from one of the small gears. I thought the carnage would have been worse.

Re: Something put a hole in my transmission UPDATED w/PICS 8.12.2007!!
 

if my being a dick, even an -------, but right, saves someone a headache.....it's worth it.

JB weld is amazing stuff, that plus some "screen" material MIGHT fix the hole. To be welded back together you'd need the missing piece which is likely still at the track :)

Re: Something put a hole in my transmission UPDATED w/PICS 8.12.2007!!
 

A dick?? Please, this is HMT, a full ass chewing is perfectly acceptable. I've got a line on a new trans case, but its from HT so I'll probably be spending an arm and a leg on it. I was also looking at some rebuild kits on ebay from user "Acerl" , the kit for the LS trans includes all bearings and synchros, but its $200. How much do the diff bearings and ISB bearings usually go for?

Re: Something put a hole in my transmission UPDATED w/PICS 8.12.2007!!
 

Randy @ Transparts or ACERL looks to have good product. Matter if fact only person I've come across to bitch about certain synchros like I did.

I did a check on prices thru ACERL vs. me thru Honda. Price for the kit were the same.........except with ACERL you'd get the brass also for the same price, aka free brass synchros.

Re: Something put a hole in my transmission UPDATED w/PICS 8.12.2007!!
 

I had a chunk missing off the bottom of a trans on the edge or the clutch housing. I cut a piece of steel the same size and JB welded it back in. Worked fine.