Well the old girl turned 19 this year and I am looking at options for transmission number 3. Quick back story:

Bought new in 2005
30K miles NA
2008 no longer daily...yay
SC around 2010 ish. IDK its been so long 340whp
Turbo around 2011.......cause mo powa! 450whp
Trans 1 killed around 2019 ish at 55K miles It lived a good life
Trans 2 killed around 2023 ish at 59K miles It died a horrible death. I was mean to it

Trying to decide if I go T56, CD009, or completely rebuilt stock unit and just drive way less aggressively. I am 45 now, slamming gears is kind of past me. Thoughts?

 

Are you really gonna be nice to it and not slam gears? I know nothing about the T65 or CD009. Surprised you didn't blow up the diff!
I think 450 with a Turbo might be pushing it but I think that was more about the diff than the transmission from my understanding over the years of hearing horror stories.

Am I reading it right that you killed a Trans in 3K miles? Scratch what I said before..........upgrade that transmission. LOL!

 

I'd build and beef up the stock trans at that power level. If you plan on getting to 600+, then go with the Samsonas 6 speed.

 

Ah you are still around. What would you beef up in the stocker? I do not plan to raise power anymore. I had dreams of 600whp with e85, but age and kids made that fade away for now. I remember people saying the case flexes and building it was not great. Any input is appreciated. I know a decent trans shop down in Tamarac, FL that has a good rep to do the work. I am not opposed to just buying trans though that has had the work done and just paying to have it swapped in. I saw some on the site below.

https://www.manualgearboxllc.com/sho...treated-800hp/

IDK, thinking of doing something in the next 60 days. Car has been sitting in my garage and spider webs are starting to accumulate. Time to get her back on the street again.

 

Oh yeah, definitely still around and still building my S. Life does get in the way though. LOL

The issue with the stock trans is the case flexing and the 2nd and 3rd gears on the floater shaft end up pulling away and strip. I couldn't open that link you show but found it on FB and I believe all they do is cryo treat the gears, which wouldn't help at all to strengthen things up. The only way to utilize the stock trans is to go with a PPG gear set that strengthens up the floater shaft and things from what I have heard. www.BullheadGears.com I believe still does the synchro and dog gear sets and I believe they are good for like 500 lbft. It sucks that we are limited with the stock trans because it is a sweet shifting unit.

The Samsonas 6 spd, like what I am putting in mine is full dog box and can handle well north of 1000 lbft. You can select your gearing to match the stock trans and it also has a reduction gear that you can easily swap to other ratios for about $500 per to change gearing for different events.

Either way you go with these 2 options, it gets pricey, like $8k+, but is worth it in the end.

The T56, I wouldn't go with because the gearing is super high/long and doesn't match the S2k well at all, unless you do some gear changes in the diff, and even then, the gear spread kind of sucks with it. I had the T56, built by RPM, and ended up selling it to go with the Samsonas since I could get the gearing just right keeping the diff ratio at 4:10, and can change the reduction gear for different events as I need, like 1/8 mile, 1/4 mile, and 1/2 mile.

Only other option at your power level would be to just keep rebuilding the stock trans when it pops, unless there is another build option for it that actually works to strengthen it that I'm unaware of, and costs much less that a PPG set.

Hope this helps some.

 

So the answer is sack up and move the weak point down stream to the diff or drive nicer and pray I do not toast another trans. Modifying cars is fun.

 

Are you still at 450whp? My understanding is that's right on the edge of the limit of the OEM tranny. If you drive it nicer/don't slam gears you're probably fine having fun on the street. 500whp+ seems to only be a matter of when it breaks. The turbo s2k guys complain about the trannies being weak but it's all relative. I got a Miata last year and the 5 speeds really can't take more than ~low 200wheel.

 

Do NOT buy from that guy. He has somewhat disappeared, but he's been selling what he is calling ap1 sychros that are out of some other honda trans. They look similar but are not, the engaugement angles are not correct. A friend runing gltc bought it and found out real fast when the synchro ate itself in 70 miles.

I am currently sitting on 5 trans and enough new oem parts to build 3 more. Reach out if youre interested. Currently building an all new ap2 trans with WPC treated everything. None of this stuff is cheap anymore though. Its about the cost of a built motor.

And to the issue of killing the trans - i ran an ap2 trans @ 600hp for 3 years, no issues. Launching will kill it and so will solid clutch discs. If your disc is sprung, you just need to change your drivint style.