Gearstar
- Thread starter Johnny
- Start date
I haven't heard of this outfit. My theory of transmission companies comes from a combination of observation*, rumor, anecdotal evidence and personal paranoia and not necessarily in that order.
Have you been in the back room of a transmission shop? Not all,but some are like museums of old transmission innards. I suspect the reason some shops collect the inner organs of old stuff is because they either want to make only one trip to the scrap yard or want they collect enough parts they may build a trans out ot it. I wonder how many shops have a trans dyno and I don't mean the customer's car?
A pal of mine built street rods for a living - fantastic TIG welder who told me about a TCI trans his customer bought. I don't recall the details but it supported my opinion all is not guaranteed Kosher** in the trans business.
* Yogi Berra said it best: "You can observe a lot by watching".
**While not of any particular religion. I've been called Rabbi Doug by a couple of friends on deals.
Gearstar, B&M, Hughes, TCI and many more have all been around for a long time. They haven't stayed in business by making more bad transmissions than good ones, but you will always be able to find horror stories if you look long enough. I think that you should be fine with what you have found, to me the price seems right. You might also call a couple of muscle car clubs in your area and see if they can recommend anyone local who rebuilds transmissions. A good local builder can give you exactly what you want, and if there is a problem you can take it back rather than ship it back. Just my 2¢
Jeff
Jeff
Lee_in_KC
Active Member
You won't have to look very far to get a horror story about TCI... here's mine. I bought a TCI TH350 "Super Streetfighter" (supposedly good for 600 hp, per TCI) through Summit for my 500+/- hp 6-71-huffed SBC 350 in my 1900-lb. bucket. I think I paid about $1100 for it. Didn't get through one season (maybe 1,000 miles) before it started making a bad grinding noise. I contacted TCI about warranty, which I thought was 90 days and within which I still was. Well, the warranty is for 90 days from date of purchase, not date of putting into service. I had the tranny for more than 6 months for construction of the T. TCI said to ship it to them and they would look into it to determine if it was their fault. If so, they would repair it at their cost and ship it back. If not, they would charge me at least $350 to repair it, plus I would have to pay return shipping. OK, so let me get this straight... I pay $185 to ship the tranny to TCI, then they decide whether they're going to charge me for the repair, which will be at least $350, and then I pay another $185 for return shipping?!?!? Thanks but no thanks, TCI!
I mentioned my tribulations to a hot rod buddy and he hooks me up with a local guy who builds racing trannies as a hobby and is highly respected in the KC hot rod scene. He tells me he will completely rebuild the 350 using real hi-po parts for $300! Done! When he gets the tranny torn down he calls to tell me the problem was a cracked sprag race. He says TCI has been having problems with a batch of supposedly hardened sprag races. He called TCI to try to get a replacement sprag race on warranty with no luck.
So I would also recommend finding a local guy to build your tranny.
TCI is a real hit or miss company. I have had one of their misses. Won't bore you with the details, but I could not get any customer service. Trans was not right from the start and I could find only one guy with customer service. The trans has been taking up room on the garage floor for several years. I have been watching P A for feedback, seems OK so far. Son bought a Lentech AOD and has had no problems.
