Racing gears

[Rabbit Farmer]

Turns out my engine doesn't like stock gears.... where do I source "racing" gears that are a heck-a-lot tougher than stock?

[sciroccohp]

isn't the 2m box stronger then the 5 spds?
otherwise shine racing in walpole has always gotten us our transmissions and Dick knows how to build them so they don't blow up too. of course you could always get a quaife dog box for like 6k

[walterclark]

Is Dick doing anything at Shine anymore? They moved to Attleboro maybe a year ago, Eli is gone, and the last time I tried to get something - for my GTI's Shine race suspension - whoever it is that is supposed to work there was gone and the place was closed up tight. And that was after calling ahead and having an assurance they were open. I arrived abut 40 minutes after the call, about 11AM, during what most would consider a normal business day. I called from outside the shop and got the answering machine, left a message and number but never got a call back. I ended up fabricating my own replacement parts.

Anyway, in my book - whoever they are now - they are not what they used to be and I no longer have any use for them.


Amendment... Dick is indeed a great guy, extremely knowledgeable and helpful. He spent a Sunday afternoon helping me properly reassemble my 020 tranny back in 2002 or 03, literally gave me some proper syncros so I wouldnt use the crap I bought on the internet and showed me what to look for with the syncro hubs in terms of variations in manufacture and possibilities of stress cracks. Their coilover race suspension I am using since I built the car in 03 has been great (spring rates excluded) and even the latest tranny I picked up (a 4K 020 with Quaife) was built by Dick years ago for a friend of his and mine for racing (and until this season never used). The last year or so before they moved it seemed like SRS was keeping Dick in hiding - you could never reach him on the phone or in person thru the shop. I am not sure who was behind that but Dick was 99% of the reason I valued SRS. I dealt with Eli a LOT over the years and he ranged from helpful and knowledgeable (road racing) to pretty ignorant and misleading (rally) but he always came across as knowing everything VW and Audi related. When I bought the suspension Eli sold me on 10" 300F 200R springs for stage rally (being a total newbie I depended on the recommendations of others to put the right stuff on the car for the first events). I am using them for hillclimbs now (excellent everywhere except the present top of Ascutney) but I pretty quickly learned they were way too stiff and way too short for stage rally. I eventually went to 14" long springs that were 225F 150R for smooth gravel events (like the top of Ascutney) and 200F 125R for rougher (like you dont want to know).

[sciroccohp]

that is dissapointing, I haven't used them in like 5-6 years when they were sponsoring our production car. dick is such a resourse and a great guy to talk too. my new car is actually their old ITC shop car. My father bought it from them about 15 years ago. He also built me a one off QSW suspension that was awesome. very dissappointing.

[Rabbit Farmer]

Their website (http://srsvw.com/) hasn't been updated since Sep 2008 with a lot of "coming soon" pages. I used to call Eli all the time when he was working there. Unsure what happened to the shop after it moved to MA.

[sciroccohp]

just thinking out loud what about cryo treating the gears? I know we have remmed (sp?) to make it shift easier but we are in a whole different HP range then you (150 max)

[walterclark]

Cryo treating should help strength and durability. Might as well have the syncro hubs and shafts done at the same time. I cant seem to access any quantifiable studies documenting strength increases in various steels, but the anecdotal evidence is still pretty compelling. E.g. reports of racers who previously had to change out gears multiple times per season being able to do so every other season after cryo.

Seems like the costs are about $25 per piece for small stuff...or these guys will do the whole tranny for $135: http://www.nwcryo.com/motorsports_price.html and these folks are in Worcester Ma. and will do the same for a few bucks more: http://www.nitrofreeze.com/racing.html