My tranny finally went back in last night - as some of you will remember, I grenaded the front differential on a high rpm launch and after replacing it I heard a LOT of deceleration whine in first gear.

I sent my transmission to be built by the DSM tranny god, John Shepherd of Shepherd Raing. What he discovered is that my output shaft had been improperly clearanced from the factory, which allowed for 1st gear to hit it under load. John also owns and Evo, which he tore down and found that his shim was also off factory specification by .010". Ours our probably NOT the only Evo trannies out there with incorrect clearancing from the factory, and this will probably turn into a problem down the road for others. He indicated that factory spec also calls for .005" to .007" of preload, but mine had .005" completely cold and MUCH more than that when warm.

All in all, he replaced my input shaft, 1st gear, ring gear, 2nd gear synchro assembly (I had some grinds on the stock clutch) and ALL synchro springs. I can not describe how unbelievable my transmission feels now. My service tech also noticed it on the first drive, and we tested a stock Evo for comparison. My transmission feels positive and firm, and all shifts go in with perfect feedback. It feels like a Porsche 911 tranny I played with once.

He turned my tranny back around to me in less than a week and corrected several factory weaknesses he identified... and he did it for $2000 less than Mitsubishi wanted to charge me for a new transmission.

I will post some pics tonight.

www.shepracing.com

 

So how much did it cost?

 

WOW - brand new evo trannys cost me 2100 - can't be 100 for the rebuild - if SO - COUNT ME IN !!

 

David said something about this a while back and that there maybe a recall on it. Do a search and see what you find.

 

...so, AvatarOfWar, what would it cost the average Joe?

 

Well, Shepard Racing indicates $895 for a DSM rebuild. I'm hoping an Evo rebuild will run less than $1200 plus an allowance for out of the ordinary parts.

 

Shepard racing is the ****. I wonder when TRE will be doing Tranny mods for the EVO.... havent heard NOTHING of them yet

http://www.teamrip.com/

 

I wouldn't hold your breath, rather I'd go with BMTranny, and Shepracing, the two other proven DSM tranny shops.

I talked with John (owner) at TRE once about rebuilding my GSX tranny and he was a complete *******. He basically accused me and the rest of the DSM people of wasting his precious time and crowding his shop with business. I guess he'd rather sit on his thumb and spin than take my money to rebuilt my tranny. So I took my business elsewhere and was glad I did.

Another problem I have with TRE is that they don't take credit cards, and endorse Paypal as the preferred method for taking payments. So pretty much tack on 3% on top of their listed prices.

TRE is very difficult to get a hold of and the pricing seems subjective. The times I called for prices for parts (never service) I was always quoted varying rates that often didn't match the website.

On the other hand, Ming was a decent fellow and was pretty much the only one who was pleasant to talk to on the phone and returned emails. I've heard that Ming is the one in charge of customer service, and for good reason, because John is a dick.

 

Now why does he not build parts for the EVO.??

Eric

 

In response to all the questions I can remember -

Dynoflash / Al - I think it's $2100 for a new diff, Mitsu asked just over $2800 for the tranny. If you can get one for $2100, good - that's better than they offered me. $100 wont even buy an hour of my contracting time, let-alone a tranny rebuild

EvoJimbo / Zeus - It cost me $1000, just as it would anyone else on this board. I'm not friends with John Shepherd, nor an associate of any kind. I meerly went to him on reputation alone - and it paid off. I don't get the rolleyes thing Zeus, I'm merely trying to help out other people who break their trannys. I don't make money at this sport like Buschur, AMS, or even Al now. I break my ****, and tell you what I did. I have zero sponsors, zero groupies, and zero parts deals.

Ryanmcd2 - I believe David Buschur mentioned a POTENTIAL recall issue with the front differential, but I promise you mitsubishi hasn't officially recognized this problem yet. Ever since grenading my gear, I've talked with several reps and mitsu people about my car. I never asked them to pay for any repairs to my car - just trying to help them recognize weaknesses.

Eric - he's not a part slinger. He works on trannies and races, that's all he does... and he's damned good at it, with a long history and reputation backing him up in the DSM realm.

John Shepherd is UNBELIEVABLY easy to talk to. For a guy with a mid 8 second car and without a race team, tube chassis or BIG $$ sponsors (ACT gives him parts as a sponsor), he is unquestionably humble. Way more than the 12 and 11 second guys even on this forum

 

One other comment concerning John Shepard.

He is one of the nicest guys you will ever meet at the track. During race day, you will find John under other peoples cars replacing parts and tuning. Plus, he consistently has one of the fastest 4G63's in street class in the world.

Speedlimt...

 

i need to meet john shepered one day

after i get my evo

 

Hey, back up... the "rolleyes" thing was for Al's comment... I applaud what your doing...

 

Hehe, he runs parts from Ultimate Racing on his Evo

Shepherd is a real nice guy. Met him a few times at the track.

 

Sorry for being touchy dude; yeah - Al can be a ***** at times, but I think he means well

I have NEVER worked with a expert like John before... he is completely humble about his accomplishments, genuinely wants your business and to help you succeed. Top that off with the fact that you've got a guy who knows every damned thing about Mitsu trannies and has unbelievable prices - and you've got a winner!