I have a standard magnesium transmission in my 914-4 vintage race car. My race shop recommends a billet aluminum intermediate plate for more rigidity and longer life. I have had zero problems with the current unit. The price tag for removing the transmission, shipping it to Gbox, making the modification and reinstalling it seems high at $3,300.
Has anyone made this change? Is it worth it and is the price in line?

Thanks

Seek out Dr. Evil. That's a steep price. YIKES!

And what HP you plan or running thru the transmission is key. The current plate has held up for 40+ years. Rebuild it and your fine for another 40 years.

Doc will advise you the right way and give valuable insight, etc.

Steve

Enthusiastic +1 for consulting with Dr Evil

If you decide to get the work done, my 'tip' is

Buy this bin from Home Depot


Then look into Fedex for ground shipping. I've done it for around $90 coast to coast a couple of times...

I did replace one of my intermediate plates but only because finding some cracks while changing out some gear ratios

Thanks, I am running a F.A.T. 4 with about 140 hp. I do not really push to the limit often and am looking for reliability and durability,

Seems a like a lot of money for something you say is already working fine. I would put some of that cash to building a spare trans. So if you do have an issue, you pop in the spare while the first one gets fixed.

The price is definitely steep as you can get a newly rebuilt (with new parts even) for less than that. IIRC, there was a rebuilt race trans with LSD for about that in the classifieds a few weeks ago.

The ONLY reason the price is high is that the pinion drive shaft is "paired" with the intermediate plate.
If you swap out either one of those, you have to reset the pinion shaft depth which few people know how to do correctly.

Dr. Evil can definitely do it, but otherwise not a DIY operation.

That is probably a reasonable price. You have maybe 6 hours labor to pull and install the transmission, then shipping it out to GBox, parts and labor there, and freight back. The intermediate plate and bearing retainer are almost $600 by themselves.

Is it needed? I can tell you I won't build another race car transmission without cryo treatment, REM polish, billet intermediate plate, and billet side cover. I build mine local, but I would send it to Roger at California Motorsports if I was not going to do it myself.

The parts can run at least half the price of a $3k transmission. The intermediate plate and bearing retainer are close to $600. Then new bearings are around $700 (wholesale). A billet side cover is $330. Add in $150 per set of dog teeth that it needs, a couple hundred bucks per slider if needed, gasket kit, and you can easily spend north of $2k on parts. Then, resetting the ring and pinion can take anywhere from a couple of hours to two days (if you lose the original markings and have to go through setting patterns).

Ed has a race car that he travels with. It would be penny wise, pound foolish for him to skimp out. The travel from the Northeast to Sebring with support is more than the transmission rebuild. To get there and not be able to run because the car broke is a terrible waste of money.

"I have had zero problems with the current unit. "

Why I thought a low cost spare might be an alternative to breaking apart a good running trans.

An aluminum intermediate plate will no doubt hold up better than a stock magnesium unit. But I'm surprised that for 140 hp it would be necessary. I've been running 260 hp through my 901 for many years without an issue.

Scott