i been having this problem for awhile now at first i thought it was my clutch set up i had a act 2600pp with the new 6 punk sprung act disk and it was grabbin to close to the ground cause the pressure plate fingers with hit the spring..well i swap out the disk and installed a act street disk and it was the same problem..i'm thinking its the tranny ..the clutch pedal grabs half way now and still does'nt want to go into sec gear at a high rpm(8500 rpm) when i'm shifting fast from 1st to 2nd seems like it hits a wall if i rev it high and shift slow it goes in..its only sec gear i am having trouble with all other gears are fine..this is only when i shift fast if i dont rev it high it goes in fine..i just got this trans back from shep it has a brand new double 2nd gear setup and all i have no idea what to do ..anyone else having a problem like this???

tranny is also very notchy goin into 1st and sec gear
tranny fluid used 3 qt's of royle purple sycomax
car is a 92 laser awd 5 speed turbo

Well, it sounds like it will be notchy now since you have been misshifting into 2nd gear.

The clutch engagement could be a cause, along with the stock clutch fluid line running from the master cylinder to the slave cylinder.

You said you have a shep tranny. Is this in your 2G nonturbo/turbo? FWD?? PT cruiser tranny??? (going off of your mod list -- if this is different, please describe what you have)

hey sorry the car is a 1992 laser awd turbo 5 speed car ran a best of 11.0 @ 132 with a sbr bolt on gt35r..car will go faster if i can shift the damn thing ..its been notchy since day one when i got it back from shep ...i dont know how fast u guys shift out there but maybe its me maybe these trans are not meant to be shifted real fast i have no idea i'm about to throw in the towel

Thank you for adding that tidbit of information!


First off, royal purple synchromax is crap in DSM trannies. With your application, I strongly reccomend using Redline Lightweight Shockproof Gear Oil -- 2.4 quarts. If you overfill the transmission, it can also cause problems. I am sure that Shep reccomended using the Redline also.

I have used the royal purple 75w90 in a few race trannies, and they shifted like crap, let alone broke multiple times. I changed over to the Redline, and it has been night and day since.

I strongly reccomend upgrading to a better clutch -- one that has better DISengagement properties, such as a multidisk clutch. Quartermaster/PTT makes an excellent one for our applications. SBR (http://www.slowboyracing.com/estore/product.php?productid=6002&cat=4670&page=1)and Devo Tuning (http://www.devotuning.com/dsm1g/dsm1g-drivetrain.html) both stock these clutches around the same price. It is worth the call to either one of them for more information.

As well, upgrade the hydraulic line that goes from the master cylinder to the slave cylinder with a stainless steel braided hose and -AN fittings -- much more responsive.

I would do these things first before giving up.

My shep tranny does the same thing going into 3rd, if you shift slow or regular it shifts just fine. I have a stainless clutch line and it does make the pedal feel a lot better. I think I will try the redline fluid he was talking about right now I have penzoil synchromesh in it.

If its rather new its gonna be tight and difficult to get into gear for a while. My brother and I each have a stg3 in an awd 1g and awd 2g. When they were first installed we could barely get the things to go into any gear. Then they started shifting better and better till finally we could shift fast. Ive been told by someone on the link forums that Shep trannies dont really break in until 2k miles. I dont know if this is true, but I do know that the more miles I put on mine the faster I could shift(also the same with my brother).

Same with mine. I can shift into 2nd at 7500 with out letting off the clutch just drops right in. Yea the more miles you put on them the better they shift. Mine has finally come around after 3k miles . You dont want to go to the strip with a new trany they need to loosen up.
Johns shop build one hell of a DSM trany. Just remember its not a dog box so the clutch still needs to be used. It is in fact a modified OEM trany.
I would recomend the redline MT90 or the light or med shockproof as well depending on your climate and make triple sure the clutch is disengauging.
Are the master and slave original? May be your problem.

I used the ACT 6 puck sprung disk in my car with a stage 4 Shep tranny. Here is the link to my post with pictures showing where the fingers hit the springs not allowing the clutch to work properly. Needless to say my tranny is at Shep's shop right now getting fixed (it only had 800 miles and was popping out of first). I just bought a PTT clutch. In my opinion ACT is garbage unless you use the street disk, but that will not hold the power I have. Stay away from ACT 6 puck sprung disks.

http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=231342

thanks fsu99x now i know i aint the only one having this problem..act and other people were like u did some thing wrong ...some guys on this board dont work on there own cars so they cant talk..

If you cant work on a car dont by a DSM. The only thing that hasnt been out of my car is the rear end.

TSIfreek said:

If you cant work on a car dont by a DSM. The only thing that hasnt been out of my car is the rear end.

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are u joking man i dropped the tranny 4 times for nothing ..problem is in the part not me sorry brother

Have you talked to shep about this? What does he say?
Not trying to piss you off just making a point we are constantly working on or cars for what ever reason.

this is what i wrote to john shep


Hey John this is Frank from NY you redid my tranny with a bunch of new parts forks and assembled it a few months ago i been having a problem with it for awhile now for some reason i cant shift fast into 2nd gear at a high rpm..i talked to a few people and they told me to do the test with the clutch in and rev it to 7000 rpm's if it moves forward under 7000 rpms the clutch it dragging is that a good test? ..this is making me go crazy i drop the tranny down 3 times at first the act 2600pp fingers ( act 2600pp is about 4 years old but in great shape ) would hit the springs on the new act 6 punk sprung disk if i make the clutch grab kinda high off the floor so in order for the springs not to touch the pp fingers i have to adjust the clutch to grab off the floor put after like 10 lauches and putting miles on the clutch and breaking it in i was able to adjust it grab like 2" off the floor so i guess thats ok but still wont go into 2nd gear at 8000+ rpms shifting fast...if i rev it to 8000rpms and shift slow its fine ..and its only 2nd gear giving me problems every other gears i can shift super fast at 8000+ rpm's



also what fluid do u recommend in my car now is 3 qt's of royle purple syncomax



thanks alot frank



and this is what he said



Frank,



We are working with act on the problem. Most likely the 2nd gear synchro is ruined from the clutch dragging and most likely will never be right without replacing the 2nd gear setup again. Please hang on until I can get some solid answers on how to correct the clutch problem.







Synchromax is horrible fluid for a dsm trans. It is entirely to thing and will cause damage. To hold up with higher horsepower It needs to be a 75/90 based fluid like redline mt90 etc.







Thanks

John Shepherd

Wow shep lives and dies by ACT wonder whats the problem.
I steared away from them with all the problems. Will problably never use one of there clutches.
Sounds like johns going to get down to the point of the problem.
Yea I thought that was real weird at first that you were having a problem with second. That gear can go in with hardly using the clutch.
I wouldnt worry about it sounds like john will take care of you.
Keep us informed about what was the problem. Thats why we are all here.

yea but not sure what i'm gonna do with my new shep trans if it needs a new 2nd gear i really dont wanna drop the trans again and ship out between the money i have to spent and the car being down for who knows how long this is all total b-s wish i knew all this b4 i got this clutch and tranny now this is gonna cost me alot of time and money

I have been in a very same situation you are in but turned out the clutch was not disengauging 100%. John knew exactly what it was right over the phone.
You need to get on the phone with john and reexplain your problem your having as well as the email.
At this point you have no other choise but to drop the trany and send it out again. I know its a pain in the ass big time but needs to be done. You may want to ship the flywheel and clutch assembley as well. If john thinks there is a problem with second than there is.
John may even send you a shipping slip were they will pick it up at your house fedX and off it goes to johns shop just rememeber to get all the fluid out and tape the openings up so no junk gets in there.
Im sure he will work on it right way so you will have a car ASAP.
I would not worry it was your fault in any way so I would just let it be as it is an see what he finds.
Wait untill you talk with john before you pull it back out.
Its just money right? . A DSM with a shepard trans is priceless.

Im not sure what advice to give you for your situation. What Im doing is I shipped my tranny back to John. I shipped it with the mind set of I just need my car to work. Its been a while since Ive had a running DSM. I called him and told him that I needed it to be like new. He is working with me which is very nice because it's not his fault that a transmission he built was messed up by a bad clutch design that he just happens to be sponsored by. The situation sucks for everyone and I just want my car to work. I NEED to have a running car for this years DSM shootout. I really want to go.

fsu99gsx said:

Im not sure what advice to give you for your situation. What Im doing is I shipped my tranny back to John. I shipped it with the mind set of I just need my car to work. Its been a while since Ive had a running DSM. I called him and told him that I needed it to be like new. He is working with me which is very nice because it's not his fault that a transmission he built was messed up by a bad clutch design that he just happens to be sponsored by. The situation sucks for everyone and I just want my car to work. I NEED to have a running car for this years DSM shootout. I really want to go.

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just got another email from john this is what i wrote him

John,

I wanted to know if i drop my trans again and ship it back to you for the damage done to the 2nd gear from the clutch dragging what will it cost me total ?

kinda pissed off i dropped the tranny down 2 other times cause of this damn clutch problem this will be my 3rd time dropping it ..i think i'm gonna go with the PTT twin disk what do u think about them ?

also what redline gear fluid do u recommend cause theres like 5 diff ones (mtl, mt90,75w90 shocks proofs etc) ..thank you


and this is what he wrote back

Probably around $500 for parts and labor.



I have gotten to the bottom of this I think. If you are using the new style disc you must use the new style ribbed pressure plate.



The mt90 is fine.







Thanks

John Shepherd




so i guess we all cant use the old style 2600 pp with the new disks
mean while b4 i installed the old 2600pp with the new 6 punk sprung disk i called act and they told me i can use the old 2600pp ..what a mess

Makes me glad I'm auto......

Good luck with whatever you decide. I have heard alot of good things about the new fidanza clutches. You may want to give them a try.

twicks69 said:

First off, royal purple synchromax is crap in DSM trannies. With your application, I strongly reccomend using Redline Lightweight Shockproof Gear Oil -- 2.4 quarts. If you overfill the transmission, it can also cause problems. I am sure that Shep reccomended using the Redline also.

I have used the royal purple 75w90 in a few race trannies, and they shifted like crap, let alone broke multiple times. I changed over to the Redline, and it has been night and day since.

Click to expand...

What kind of problems will overfilling the tranny cause? I've always overfilled mine a bit by filling it while it's raised on a jack because my tranny has always had a very small leak that I cannot locate.

I just switched to the Royal Purple 75w90 because I was having issues with Pennzoil Synchromesh breaking down rapidly and also because I developed a grind into 3rd at high rpm (which I think I caused, not worth going into details). To be honest this stuff feels notchier and the grind seems to have gotten worse since the switch. I can't say it's been better in any way. I really wanted the Redline MT90 but I couldn't find the stuff locally to save my life and everybody has Royal Purple in stock.

Im staying away from ACT, they have had problems


People on here just jump on the band wagon, and just because they dont have problems means its a good clutch.....

I didnt like mine, my freind didnt like his, 6 evos around here hated theres...I can keep going on with this...

i have the new style act 6 puck sprung disk in my car right now but i would like to try some one else's ( i think mine warped) so i'm looking to buy a used new style act 6 puck sprung disk with the yellow springs ( might also need a 2600 pressure plate to)..email me here if u got one [email protected] thanks