you should talk to ETS as they have an upgrade path for the X and Aaron (JohnBradley on here) has done a lot of development when it comes to tuning the MR

 

In my opinion, well-balanced AWD cars with good suspension geometry, wide tires, decent springs, and good shocks take the skill out of driving. Everyone who thinks that they can drive a powerful car should be forced to own a 302 Chevy Monza or a Gremlin X. Stick, of course.

ps. join Vancouver Chinese Motorsports Club's forum and ask there; they are the most knowledgeable bunch of car folks in BC

 

The 80's called, they said you are being a douche.

The vast majority of modern supercars are switching to these boxes because our fleshy appendages just can't compete. Welcome to the future. It is expensive to upgrade but it's the price you pay for the technology, the latest and greatest is always more expensive but it's getting better. In just the last 2 years the cost of doing major upgrades to the SST has fallen by roughly 60%, more parts are hitting the market everyday and it's been getting better and better, and don't try the "You shouldn't have to upgrade it" line either because you are replacing the stock clutch in the 5 speed at the same power levels if not less.

So basically if you just discount the MR because it doesn't have a clutch and can just do all the shifting for you if you want it to then you are really just falling behind the times. You probably also complain about how you don't understand kids these days and spend your weekends sitting on the porch yelling at kids to get off your lawn.

 

Is that so?
The stock 5 speed handles significantly more power than the stock SST...so long as you aren't launching it. It all comes down to driving style, which is much less the case with the SST.

Roach asked a question, then stated the opinion that a car without a clutch pedal is an automatic. No need for name calling.

 

Just to bring some light into the thread...

The SST is just as capable as the GSR in STOCK form. Actually we can get more power from the SST trans in stock form than what the GSR stock clutch can handle.

Keep in mind all that it takes to have a stout (500whp+) SST is keeping up with the oil service (including a first service before 10k if possible), a clutch upgrade (which is not much more if not cheaper than a twin disk for a GSR), and a solid transmission tune (we only charge an additional $50 to setup the trans while tuning the rest of the car).

You will find that most claims of the SST being weaker than the stock engine or only holding XXX power claims are generally made from people or shops who have not done the above, who have no experience or want to steal your money.

They all work together as well, meaning if you dump all the money you can into the best parts for the SST and the rest of your car then take it to a tuner that does not have the correct experience to tune every aspect of the car, you can QUICKLY fry all those new parts you just put in. We have seen this many times before, sometimes as quick as only lasting a tuning session.

Some of this is a moot point however as the OP has an SST. So to the OP, your mod list looks good. Add a fuel pump, fuel pump relay and DV as stated before. The 30r on gasoline you will not need a clutch upgrade if you follow the other 2 steps I listed above (Fluid and good tuner). Off the top of my head I cannot think of any tuners I would recommend up there. For E-tuning I would get ahold of Mike @ MTuned or Beeble Tuning as I would trust either of them to tune our shop's MR. Feel free to contact us by email, etc for any insight you may want when selecting parts, etc for the build we are happy to help.

 

And I stand corrected, thanks for the professional insight!

Just goes to show that forums have lots of misinformation!

 

That would be an understatement .

 

back in the day we'd call it a monkey f@#$in a football

 

This is very interesting and comforting for those of us that have the SST transmission. With that said, I'm assuming the SST should be able to handle bolt ons with an E85 tune just perfectly fine if we keep up with the fluid changes? Should the fluid change be done every 10k instead of the factory recommended interval of 30k to keep the SST in good health?

 

We recommend the first trans fluid and filter change at 5-7k, then every 20-25 after that depending on how you are using the car.

Regarding holding stock turbo on E85. I will answer this question in 2 parts. First, YES it can with no problems and hold this power for 60-70k (or more) on factory clutches if used in a racing environment on the weekend. BUT (second part here) only if the clutches/fluid are in good mechanical condition to begin with and the person tuning the car knows what they are doing. I cannot emphasize this enough that the SST largely depends on THE TUNER.

I have seen some of the better aftermarket clutches on the market be over heated and slipped in a matter of hours due to tuners not knowing what they are doing. ALWAYS ask how much background they have with the SST. Regardless of what modification level you are doing, the transmission needs to be turned up for anything over stock power levels. Tons of tuners will say they "tune the sst" and you never know, except for later in the cars life when the clutches wear out sooner than expected. We typically see ~80-90k miles on stock turbo pump gas cars if tuned correctly on the factory clutch pack. Unfortunate for some that local tuners with knowledge in the SST are sparse. E-Tuning may be your only option that is viable, or maybe talking with a shop to work with an E-Tuner on their dyno.

Simple way to judge a shop on SST tuning is ask them for a quote and time frame to build a 500-550whp MR. If they laugh at you or look dumbfounded you are at the wrong shop. Its silly how many shops tell people it is not possible to do so, hence why we have cars in here from all over the continent and transmissions/engines from all over the world.

 

Thanks for the info, looks like I'll be changing my fluid and filter ASAP now that I know this. Lucky for me, I only have 7k DD miles on my car. Is there a reason for changing the first SST fluid at 5-7k vs 20-25k for all other changes. I'm assuming it has to do with break in?

 

If you are still reading this Kozmic I have what may or may not be some simple questions about SST mods.

I'm planning to switch over to E85 but I fear the torque will be too much so I want to upgrade the trans first.

1. If I haven't been having any cooling issues (none of the famous slow down messages) should I still be adding additional cooling with the upgrade?

1b. I'm from way north where it gets really cold in the winter, is it possible to have too much cooling?

2. Are there any drawbacks to going bigger than necessary on the clutch upgrades? I don't know if I will ever go big turbo or sleeved block but I want to leave the door open so I'm wondering if I should just go ***** out on the trans while I'm at it instead of having to revisit it later. I'm also reckless so I just want it to hold up to the abuse in general.

 

The first change you will be surprised what comes out. We have seen casting sand, small pieces of machining debris, etc. Bascilly break-in and what the factrory did not do a good job cleaning up. I mean the transmission only costs like $10k, why would it be clean .



1. Yes it is still a good idea.

1b. Yes, the transmission/clutch/fluid ideal operational temp is 185-210F. We have had great success with the Dodson heated sump kit. It adds the rigidity to the case, as well as a bit of extra capacity. Runs off the coolant system on the engine which conveniently runs that ideal operational temp. What most people do not know is that you can kill the clutches by beating on the car with the transmission NOT up to temp. When the clutches and oil are cold, they will slip and can slip to a point of warping the steels and trashing a perfectly good clutch kit. The transmission takes about 3-4 times longer to heat up than the engine, sometimes longer. The dodson sump kit not only gets the transmission up to temp at a fashionable rate but keeps the operational temp right around the engine coolant temp which is perfect, as the slow down/over heat does not kick on until ~300F. However there is no "too cold" or "warm-up protection" in the car. This option is also good because you are now using the radiator as your cooler and not blocking air flow into the radiator with a huge external cooler in the front grill. Pricing and Purchase of the Dodson Sump Kit here, we typically keep one kit on the shelf at all times.

1b.2 - We are also working on a small external transmission cooler as the dodson kit works great but for the guys who track down here in the summer at 115+F days for 20-40 minute sessions, EVERYTHING gets hot .

2. For what is readily available on the market, no there is no such thing as overkill. There are some "useless" upgrades on the market for clutch packs. However we can happily point you in the right direction. We do have some custom frictions we made to be an end all grab all solution (and we have not been able to get them to slip yet) but their drive ability is sketchy because they are so aggressive. We basically ditched testing on those units as we want to run in our cars the SAME PARTS WE WANT TO SELL TO YOU. Meaning we want the best of every aspect of driving the car when possible.

 

I wasn't aware of this. It sounds like you would recommend this over the SSP trans cooler for us norther folks, then? Is a radiator upgrade required for extra cooling capacity when tracking with this setup? You mentioned the track guys STILL get hot on hot days down South - they may already have an upgraded radiator. Is that the case?

I was considering the SSP kit, but perhaps this is the better option for me in MN.

 

So that stuff I said earlier about it getting cheaper kinda bit me in the ***. I was talking **** about how it's been getting cheaper and one of the resident experts comes along tells me to get the cooler that costs twice as much.

However, that Dodson cooler looks f-in awesome for my application and given it's integration into a replacement pan it's really not that bad a deal.

I doubt you have dealt with it much in TX but remote start is really common here. It always sucked for me because I could start it 20 minutes early and the trans would still be frozen solid (and shift like ****) even with the engine and interior at full temp. Heating and cooling the trans in tandem with the engine is a breakthrough for us.

In reference to clutch plates:
Do you care to name a favorite? What makes it your choice?

That makes me wish I didn't DD my car. I want it to chirp the tires, BANG BANG BANG!!!