Ordered my G-force tranny

eric n

Founding Member
Jul 14, 2001
875
2
19
Bakersfield, CA
Well after wrestling with my syncros for about a year, I finally made the decision to go with a g-force t5 with the upgraded main shaft and some clutch set up that they recommended. I got it ordered 4 days ago and am expecting it sometime this week.

I'm totally excited about this mod and will keep one and all posted once I get it installed.
 
Uh-oh. Hope your experience is better than my buddy's buddy. My buddy Kevin is a Ford tech at a dealership and has the sweey red '68 coupe in the pics on my homepage.

One of Kevin's buddies has a cherry '93 Cobra that he wanted a stouter tranny that looked stock, so he sent in his T-5 for the G-force conversion. He got it back, they installed it, and it wouldn't shift into any gears. Pulled it out, tried it on the bench, same thing. Called G-force, they said they'd ship him another one and send that one back in the shipping case, so he did. Got the second one, tested it on the bench, seemed to work fine, installed it, same problem. Took it out, bench tested it again, still wouldn't work. Called and talked to the big dog (Eric?) and they said they'd take care of it and pay for the installation and deinstallation of the tranny. They did and sent his original one back that was "fixed". They bench tested it, seemed fine, installed it, still fine but was shifting funny, then all of a sudden, he no longer can shift it towards the back of the car, only has 1-3-5. The second tranny is on my buddy's bench in the second shipping case, but they never sent a shipping tag. He's about to ask for a refund on the tranny, R&R again and keep the tranny so he can send it to someone that can fix it right. My bud said the second case had Liberty's shipping sticker on it. He wonders if Liberty does all the machine work and G-force just assembles them. I'll post when I find out the conclusion of this fiasco. I will say that I'm not totally sure that it's G-force's fault, but I trust my buddy (my best friend) that he knows what he's doing. I'm not trying to drag G-force's name thru the mud, but they are having a problem and G-force seems to be doing a good job trying to make it right, but this is just a stock '93 Cobra.
 
A friend of mine was running a T5 behind his 4litre Falcon 6 in the Australian Rally Championship a few years ago and was forever killing third gear. Also there's a class of circuit racing here that uses them, initially with many problems.

The problem is apparently caused when the casing heats up and expands more than the gears inside (lengthwise). This leads to unacceptable internal tolerances and eventually (actually very quickly) failure.

One 'fix' that I have heard of is to run an oil cooler and direct the return flow directly onto 3rd gear. The other is to install a straight cut gearset. The expense of doing this is great - probably about the cost of a Tremec, but the end result is a small saving of weight.

Personally, I'd rather modify the driveshaft angle...
I'm not too familiar with fitting a Tremec into a '65/6. What needs to be done?
 
talked to Mike today at G force. Said I should receive my unit by wednesday. Hope to have it in by the end of the weekend.

Sure, I know some people have had some negative issues, but others swear by them... Hope I'm one of those
 
I hope you are too Eric. They seem to be really trying to make it right, but three problem trannys in a row makes me wonder a little bit. But it could be a freak deal, like I said, I'll update when I hear some info.
 
This thread is making me a little nervous.
Perhaps the best route is to go with a new g force T5 not the rebuilt?
I was originally looking at the TKO 600.
I was advised that I would have to significantly modify the trans tunnel for this application. Or adjust the angle at the rear pinion.
Some people are of the opinion that this is a poor fix.
The car is a 66 (no rust,unmolested) 2+2 so I don't want to start hacking away.
Thoughts? Opinions?
Scott
 
steemin said:
This thread is making me a little nervous.
Perhaps the best route is to go with a new g force T5 not the rebuilt?
I was originally looking at the TKO 600.
I was advised that I would have to significantly modify the trans tunnel for this application. Or adjust the angle at the rear pinion.
Some people are of the opinion that this is a poor fix.
The car is a 66 (no rust,unmolested) 2+2 so I don't want to start hacking away.
Thoughts? Opinions?
Scott

if you're not pushing pushing 300 hp/tq at the wheels and you don't plan on abusing the car the T-5 should do you fine. the TKO is for high hp/tq applications when you want a tranny that won't break. Tremec bought the toploader tooling from ford and re-engineered the TKO from it.
 
Damn, *****, Damn, Poo Poo, CA CA, ti ti, doo doo.....

Still not installed!!!!

Dropped off my car last friday at Mike Reed's Aamco here in Bakersfield, for the install. Mike's wife was a client of mine and they are good people who do quality work for their customers.

Well....Monday Morning I get a call to ask if I have a couple of minutes to come look at some stuff. I get there and they show me that Pretty much my old T5 was poorly rigged into place and many many things need to be replaced to do it again.

I ask Mike to research the parts I'll need as I'm not much of a wrench turner and I'd likely order the wrong parts 3 or 4 times. Ultimately Mike puts me in touch with CJ Pony parts. There is tons of calling back and forth between CJ and Aamco and me finding what is currently on my car, what we need and how we can make this happen. I'm really impressed with the amount of phone tag both places were willing to to get a line on what I need. CJ gets the parts together and even saves me a buck with a used Bell Housing.

The long and short of it, is I'm still not driving my car. Should be 4 or 5 days before I have the new parts and a day or two to get them installed....

Just wanted to update my situation and let you all know about what I currently perceive as pretty damn good customer service.

Hopefully next week will bring quicker shifts and smokier burnouts. hell with this G-force maybe a 125 shot of nos would be in order
 
qplk11 said:
Heard anything eric?? Also curious about your friend, 1320. Did he get everything straight?

In theory ALL NECESSARY parts came in friday from CJ Pony Parts. I want to state again that these guys seemed to work overtime to get me the parts that they felt I would need. Numerous conversations between them and me and them and the shop doing the install. Hopefully I'll be driving Monday afternoon, though I feel tuesday is more likely.

We shall see.
 
Okay, went, saw the car, got the news back, all is good.

The tranny works fine now. Matter of fact, the owner entered it in ET3 brackets at WFC8 and on Sunday, he won his class, $750 so that's pretty sweet.

The owner said that G-force even refunded him about $800 for install and de-installing costs. They still have the 2nd one crated up, ready to be shipped back. Shoulda brought it with them as G-force was at WFC8.
 
Well.....I picked up my car today. After much screwing around and a lot of help from the guys at Mike Reed's Aamco and CJ Pony Parts it's shifting and running like never before. Feels strong and this thing is geared differently than my previous t5 in that first gear isn't such a short gear. New clutch, recommended and sold to me by the guys at g force is much stiffer than my old one, but ultimately feels great.

We shall see how it holds up over time.