Shew, this has been an ordeal for me. Let me outline the trials and tribulations ;)...

I asked Andy@AA about the gear sets, specifically the 4.10s. He gave me great info on them and I also contacted quite a few members that have them in their cars and they couldn't be happier. No whine or noise and great acceleration, not a bad deal, eh? So I splurge and get the gear set. I thought this would be perfect b/c I just bought a 300M hardened output shaft from Chris@Speeddemon for $250 shipped on his sale. Sweet.

Andy tells me that I need to send my hardened output shaft to Paul@COH so it can be assembled with my gear set. No problem. I e-mail Paul telling him I'm sending this hardened output shaft to him to be assembled with my gears. "Done deal." he says. I mail out the output shaft and Paul receives it on Thursday and tells me they'll be "built tomorrow" and they'll ship out on Monday, KICK AZZ! I'll have my gears just in time for my clutch install the following week. I can kill two birds with one stone :yesnod:

Paul emails me on Saturday I believe informing me that he'll be out of town the next week but no worries because Jimmy will take care of it all. No problem.

Monday rolls around. No shipment. Tuesday, no shipment. I call and they tell me they'll get it out to me. Wednesday, no update. I call and they tell me that the gears have been built since Monday but the people they contract out to build the gears forgot to call them and tell COH they were ready to be picked up and shipped out. Friday, they ship out. Saturday, I have to install my clutch and guess what, NO GEARS! If COH would have fulfilled their promise to ship the gears out on Monday I would have had them for Saturday so I could install my clutch. All of this because, I assume, my $1200 isn't important enough to follow up on the gears and have them shipped accordingly. :mad

The gears come this past Wednesday. I open the box up and take the gear set out (shew, that's a heavy sucker). As I'm looking at it, there's a cracked heat sink fin on the bottom of the case. I called Andy and he told me not to worry about it as it serves no structural purpose but most likely a heat sink to cool the gear case. Cool, I'm fine with that. Later, as I examined the case more I notice the left output shaft is VERY different from the one I sent to be installed with the case. Here's the one I bought from Chris@Speeddemon:


This is what the one in the gear set looks like:


Strikingly different and absolutely not the one I sent COH. I get ahold of Andy and he finds out that COH used THEIR hardened output shaft that is also shotpeened. They "claim" it's stronger than the one I had. This is all fine and good but I was NEVER, EVER, told to expect to see this nor propositioned about it. So what would you think if you had sent out a polished shaft to be assembled with your gears and you were returned with a gear set that didn't include your output shaft? Needless to say, had I lived in Texas, near COH, I may have chucked the gear set through a store window. I was fuming mad. I lost sleep over this b/c as far as I knew, they installed a stock output shaft in the gear set. Thankfully Andy returned the news that it was indeed a hardened output shaft that is also shot peened for greater strength (and the reason why the shaft is graphite looking I was told). COH had better pray this is true. A simple email that this was going to be their route of action would have eliminated ALL of this confusion. Communication is a necessity and COH, IMO, is severely lacking in this department.

After I get the shaft situation "cleared" up I see that there are 15-20 styrofoam peanuts IN MY GEAR CASE! I used a shop vac to get most of them out. The others I had to fish out with various objects, etc. I used an air chuck to get the rest out (at least I hope I got them all out). Now, all they (COH) had to do was put the gear set in a garbage bag or some sort of plastic wrap and THEN put them in the box and fill it with the peanuts. Seems simple to me. I hope tiny pieces of styrofoam in my gear set won't have any adverse effects on the rear end :(.

I put the gears in last night, swapped all of my fluids to Amsoil and drove her. I didn't get on it at all (to break them in) and there's no gear whine, noise, etc. Good deal. However, I cannot comment on the performance, etc at this point b/c I have to break them in :( (damn it!)

I must say that my car shifts MUCH MUCH easier with the Amsoil ATF. Very smooth shifts. I love AMSOIL!

Hopefully my saga with the gear set is over and I'll have nothing but great things come from the gears. Unfortunately, I will never deal indirectly nor directly with COH again. Andy@AA did all that he could and I respect that. I knew that he had no control over the gears from his standpoint but he went out of his way to get it all under control for me. I just wish Andy could have physically overseen the entire project b/c I know it would have gone as planned and I wouldn't have had to pay for my rear to be dropped twice :mad (even though I installed it all I had to pay for the shop to use their stuff and some of their man power).

I'll chime back in when the gears are broken in. It's a good thing I'm helping WhitneyR install his killer stereo in Louisville this week b/c that'll be 200 miles to tack on to the break-in period ;).

Later fellas.

 

That's quite an ordeal! I would've been just as mad. I can't stand it when people don't communicate, especially when MY money is involved! I hope after all this, the gear set works out and remains nice and quiet for you.

:cheers:

 

Damn, Levi! :mad :cuss Sorry for your troubles but happy to hear you got it straightened out. :) Many vendors don't follow up with customers to inform them of delays or problems. I've experienced this several times during the past several months.

Enjoy and let us know how they perform. :cheers: :yesnod:

 

I would still be pissed that they put in a differnet output shaft than the one you sent to them and told them to put in. I seriously doubt that they were just "looking out for you" when they swapped in their output shaft in place of the one you sent them from SpeedDemon. I suspect they want to do some metallurgical testing and dimensional analysis to compare it to their product. How would they know whether or not their shaft is stronger than the one you sent them just by looking at it? You can't tell just by looks, you have to do destructive testing to determine the ultimate tensile strength, minimum yield strength, % elongation, reduction of area, hardness, Charpy V-notch impact, and chemical make-up of the material.

If it was me, I would demand my original shaft be returned along with certified material test reports (results from the tests mentioned above) showing that their shaft is indeed superior (stronger). If it is not, they should remove their shaft and reinstall the one you originally sent them totally at their cost.

I can imagine how mad you are as I got mad just reading your post. I have one of the hardened output shafts from SpeedDemon ready to go into a set of 3.90's. Guess who won't be doing the install...

 

no use of FME, amamzing......:(

 

Yes, I to doubt they were seeking out my better interests. I just sent them an email requesting what you just suggested to me about the shaft's integrity. I'll let you know what they say.
I'd send it to WCC to have them built if I were you ;).
Thanks man.

 

Styrofam + gas =Napalm, Styrofoam + oil = Something similar to napalm. Hope you did get it all out.

 

Oh well that sure is reassuring. Well, I know who to call if the car burns to the ground :mad

 

I would have them return your shaft to you, and they shouldnt charge you for the one they put in. After all, its not what you ordered.

Eric

 

My new 373 had a broken fin too. Seems like this maybe more common that it should be.




[Modified by 2001C5, 1:52 PM 7/26/2002]

 

Mine fin was just cracked at the base and wasn't completely sheered off like yours. They also put my gears in a 3.15 case instead of a 3.42 case but I was told they're structurally identical. I hope they're right.

 

Wow, that is one very interesting story. I hope things work out with the gear.

 

Boy, now that is an ineresting story.... :rolleyes:

Levi, I am sorry this happened to you. We can have gears set up as well, so if you decide something is wrong, I would be happy to help you out with the entire thing.

Good luck,

 

Chris, trust me, if that need be I'm DEFINATELY calling you. Had I known you did setup gears you would have had my business, hands down. PS, IM me how much you charge to set them up. Thanks.

I wonder if my gears like to munch on these?



[Modified by C5Noir, 4:25 PM 7/26/2002]

 

Levi,

It sucks that you have to go through all that crap. I don't know what I would do I were in your place. :cuss :cuss :cuss

And now, guess who is doing my heads swap and who is not. :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

COH is returning my shaft to me. (there had better not be a charge to my CC for their shaft, either) Now, my question is, should I have my rearend rebuilt with this new shaft? I really don't want to be paying almost $2G for gears :mad


[Modified by C5Noir, 5:05 PM 7/26/2002]


[Modified by C5Noir, 5:11 PM 7/26/2002]

 

Man, Levi. That blows.

Know what you mean. Got my 3.73s on a GP for 1600.
Paid 5 bills for the install only to break the output shaft on just the second launch.
Bought BPP's shaft (350ish).
Paid another 5 bills to redo the whole damn thing. :rolleyes:
Oh yeah 160 tow bill from the track.

Over 3K for a gear set. :mad :mad :mad

Hope this is the end of your troubles. :blueangel:

JC

 

COH stepped up and made it right for me. Paul is sending back my hardened output shaft and if this shaft currently installed, fails, he'll rebuild it. Had Paul not left for vacation and delegated the responsibility to Jimmy I feel none of this would have occured. In my opinion, all parties involved handled the matter professionally and concisely.

We all learn from our mistakes and as long as we build on them, it's all good.

On another note, I have 100 miles logged on these puppies since yesterday!!! I only have about 150-200 miles to go then I'm gonna hammer it! Expect hellatiously better track times to come... :cheers:


[Modified by C5Noir, 11:16 PM 7/26/2002]

 

:cool: things worked out in the end!!!
Hope you enjoy them :yesnod: :cheers:

 

Good deal, Levi. :cheers:

Just one trip to Houston for the party at Snowman's place next week (8/3)and you'll be well over the break-in milage requirement.:D

-Tuan