Shoeless GTM #501 Here we go!!!

[cgundermann]

Did ya all order your Mendeola through FFR or through them?

Chris

[crash]

A Mendeola Transaxle can only be ordered through Mendeola directly at this point.

Contact Ian @ 619-xxx-xxxx

Sorry, the number has changed...

619 947 6534 ex110

[cgundermann]

Thanks Crash, tried it but no worky...

I’ll try emailing him.

Chris

[crash]

Thanks Crash, tried it but no worky...

I’ll try emailing him.

Chris

Number has changed. I updated below...

[cgundermann]

Thanks crash,

Chris

[cgundermann]

Number has changed. I updated below...

Crash ~

I’d always heard of the tranny delay, out of curiosity - what’s the reason for the lag time for production? I’m not in a big hurry (lots a balls in the air, e.g. - homes selling and steel shop built), but was wondering...

I’m guessing the virus has taking the wind out of FFR’s annual winter sale.

Chris

[crash]

Crash ~

I’d always heard of the tranny delay, out of curiosity - what’s the reason for the lag time for production? I’m not in a big hurry (lots a balls in the air, e.g. - homes selling and steel shop built), but was wondering...

I’m guessing the virus has taking the wind out of FFR’s annual winter sale.

Chris

In speaking with Mike and Ian, it sounds like the biggest hurdle is the castings. Pretty much every time they do a run of castings they are spoken for almost immediately. The castings seem to be the part that is the most tricky to build as not only do the parts have to be cast, but then there is quite a bit of machining to be done before they are usable. Also, inevitably with cast materials, there are always parts that look just fine but are eventually rejected because of porosity, a mistake in machining, etc. The lead times are not short on the castings, especially because foundries are really getting hard to find these days, and then you really have no idea what the total usable parts are going to be even if the foundry delivers the requested number of cases/parts.

I believe last time we spoke about this one of them said that they were having to go quite a distance to use a decent foundry. At least Los Angeles, which is a couple of driving hours away from San Diego. This distance makes things more difficult as well.

Any gearbox is really like a watch on the inside and takes some time to get "just right" but I believe the bottleneck in the process is the castings.

[Shoeless]

crash seems to be spot on here and its the same thing in the aerospace world. Castings are long lead and if they have internal defects that only get exposed by machining and can't be reworked/repaired, than its scrap and you start over.

Personally, I wanted to order one box of everything (Transaxle, Clutch, Flywheel, 930 CVs, Bolts, Support Bearing, Starter,...) that I would need to install this in my GTM. I have honestly only needed to buy different length flywheel bolts and one starter bolt as that one was supposed to be a donor part (hell I probably have it someone in my donor crates of parts).

Once I received the transaxle, it went right in, and Ian has been Johnny on the spot with answering my installation questions. I'll have more questions soon once I'm about to fire up the engine for the first time.

[HerculezJT]

if only you could get one of these
http://supercarsystem.com/gearbox/

Latest Facebook post about this was October 3rd with what seems like good news
"Who wants HYPERDRIVE ? bench testing complete, next stop 7 production units testing including in our own cars and the shockingly talented Cody Loveland dropping Hyperdrives into a couple of Ultimas.
Expect an amazing price around $12k and Q2 2021 delivey! for this aerospace quality 6 speed quiet helical sequential, mass centralized with adjustable ratio rear end and our massive solenoid shift for bump or paddle precision. Those sloppy cables are gone! Oh and yes its pretty."

[cgundermann]

Thanks Gentlemen - interesting! I’m glad to hear about the great customer service. I’ve been really busy trying to read everyone’s build threads...

Chris

[cgundermann]

if only you could get one of these
http://supercarsystem.com/gearbox/

Latest Facebook post about this was October 3rd with what seems like good news
"Who wants HYPERDRIVE ? bench testing complete, next stop 7 production units testing including in our own cars and the shockingly talented Cody Loveland dropping Hyperdrives into a couple of Ultimas.
Expect an amazing price around $12k and Q2 2021 delivey! for this aerospace quality 6 speed quiet helical sequential, mass centralized with adjustable ratio rear end and our massive solenoid shift for bump or paddle precision. Those sloppy cables are gone! Oh and yes its pretty."

I remembered seeing that when they first posted info...way, way cool and what a great price point!

Chris

[crash]

if only you could get one of these
http://supercarsystem.com/gearbox/

Latest Facebook post about this was October 3rd with what seems like good news
"Who wants HYPERDRIVE ? bench testing complete, next stop 7 production units testing including in our own cars and the shockingly talented Cody Loveland dropping Hyperdrives into a couple of Ultimas.
Expect an amazing price around $12k and Q2 2021 delivey! for this aerospace quality 6 speed quiet helical sequential, mass centralized with adjustable ratio rear end and our massive solenoid shift for bump or paddle precision. Those sloppy cables are gone! Oh and yes its pretty."

I would be exceedingly wary of any solenoid shifted unit.

We have all heard before about the latest and greatest that is scheduled to come out, and some even make it to production. None that I have seen live up to the hype.

On the flip side, Mendeola has over 10,000 transmissions out in the world doing what they are supposed to do. This number was told to me during a conversation I had directly with Mike Mendeola.

[HerculezJT]

I would be exceedingly wary of any solenoid shifted unit.

We have all heard before about the latest and greatest that is scheduled to come out, and some even make it to production. None that I have seen live up to the hype.

On the flip side, Mendeola has over 10,000 transmissions out in the world doing what they are supposed to do. This number was told to me during a conversation I had directly with Mike Mendeola.

Agree that the solenoid is a failure point that sees high amount of use, looking at the CAD however appears to be easy change, cost is unknown. Electronics to control it is also unknown.
By no means am i knocking Mendeola, but nor does it mean any other competitor can't get their claws into the market. Though, per their website, this should have been out in 2018 at around 15K. I look forward to seeing real world results that is not published by the manufacturer. If it does come to fruition with most/all they promised to be, at 12K appears to be good value and gives builders more options to look at.

[crash]

I was not referring to long term robustness of a solenoid, although that may be an issue, I don't know. The problems I have seen with solenoids are that they are not "soft" like a pneumatic actuator. They tend to damage things within the transmission and also have issues with changing parameters due to heat soak. Springs can be added to soften how the solenoid interacts with the other bits, but the heat and associated electric issues still remain. At some point one adds all this "stuff" to the equation and it just gets out of hand.

I have actually experienced first hand many of these same problems with pneumatic systems, but they do seem to be a little less prone to issues.

Personally, nothing beats a physical shift lever for feel and driver adaptability should a situation arise. This is why we have resisted the "latest and greatest" paddle or electronic shifted options on the FFR PDG GTM race car. For us, in extreme endurance racing situations, the simple beats out the more complex every single time.

[Presto51]

if only you could get one of these
http://supercarsystem.com/gearbox/

Latest Facebook post about this was October 3rd with what seems like good news
"Who wants HYPERDRIVE ? bench testing complete, next stop 7 production units testing including in our own cars and the shockingly talented Cody Loveland dropping Hyperdrives into a couple of Ultimas.
Expect an amazing price around $12k and Q2 2021 delivey! for this aerospace quality 6 speed quiet helical sequential, mass centralized with adjustable ratio rear end and our massive solenoid shift for bump or paddle precision. Those sloppy cables are gone! Oh and yes its pretty."

Anyone remember the Griffin transaxle that was supposed to give Mendy a run for it's money? https://griffingearboxes.com/

AFAIK still waiting.

Plus it might be faster to either wait for C8's to gather in the salvage yards, or adapt a 7 speed PDK to go in your project, If you really want to have proven paddle shifting.

Ron

[cgundermann]

I’ll be plopping down 5K for the Mendeola unit preorder before I order a GTM. I’ll be manual shifting this car. This will be my first transaxle super car and I’m really curious how well this compares in terms of traction with my Cobra. I actually for the first time bought a new paddle shift car recently (something I swore I would never do) - last year of the 370Z with GTR paddle shifters. Was born in Japan and learned to drive on a 280Z, so I have a soft spot for JDMs. The only reason I did (have the stick Cobra) - was because of all the seat time sim racing and grew to like paddle shifting somewhat...for speed.

But, I do subscribe to the KISS principle (keep it simple stupid) especially with a new build platform.

Chris

[crash]

Sorry Shoeless...we kind of took over your thread.

Let's get back to your awesome build!

[Shoeless]

No worries fellas for the additional discussion

Chris,

I did the same and ordered my Mendy before I even ordered my GTM kit. Allbeit only a few months before, but I did order it before my kit. I also ordered my InfinityBox system right at new years time and they were running a really nice special something like 17% off for the end of 2017. I ordered up every component I needed at that time and saved a boat load. Then I realized I would use the inCoder here recently. Not sure if they do this every year, but something worth keeping an eye out for.

[cgundermann]

Thanks for the tip, I have also thought about the InfinityBox system.

[Shoeless]

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!! Hopefully you all got some time on your builds.

I worked on finishing up the CF Intake over the last couple days. I needed to install ports for one of the engine breathers and an Inlet Air Temp Sensor. I broke down and masked up the two pieced of the intake I needed to cut holes in and started to drill progressively larger holes. Once I got closer to about 1/2" drill bit it would almost splinter and catch and want to split the CF sheets so I had to take it VERY slow. Once it started to do this, I shifted over to a rotary file and small sanding wheels with the Dremel to open the holes to the final size. Scuffed up all the parts, cleaned them very well, and used 3M Panel Bond to seal in the pieces I needed. I made a small aluminum support that I hit with 1000 and then 2000 grit sandpaper to give it a nice brushed look.

[crash]

Looks really amazing.

One suggestion? Upon final install you might consider rotating the hose clamps so that only the band is showing. Just a little detail that would clean it up a bit. Would probably make them more difficult to access, but IMHO would be cleaner looking.

[Shoeless]

Looks really amazing.

One suggestion? Upon final install you might consider rotating the hose clamps so that only the band is showing. Just a little detail that would clean it up a bit. Would probably make them more difficult to access, but IMHO would be cleaner looking.

Hey Crash, thanks for the compliment and I like the idea of rotating the hose clamps so only the band shows. It's the little details that will make this really stand out, so thanks for the input and yes, I bet it will be a PITA LOL.

Just installing the aluminum brace to hold it up had me contorted in all kinds of funny ways, but the overall look is bad a$$ and I love it.

I'm seriously considering Shane's rear hatch piece that has the Lexan see through louvers so you can peek in and see the engine bay detail with the hatch still closed, and having the functionality of allowing hot air out.

[crash]

Where did you source your "Adel Clamps" (least wise that's what we call them) that are holding down your hoses? We had a stock of those that are almost used up and I am having a tough time finding replacements. I really want to stay away from the plastic versions which I can find easily on the internet.

[Shoeless]

Where did you source your "Adel Clamps" (least wise that's what we call them) that are holding down your hoses? We had a stock of those that are almost used up and I am having a tough time finding replacements. I really want to stay away from the plastic versions which I can find easily on the internet.

These are actually the basic ones that came with the GTM kit. So I'm just using up what I had on hand.

[crash]

I must admit it has been a little while since I searched.

Quick search turned up that Jegs has these available...

https://www.jegs.com/i/QuickCar+Raci...ries%20-%20LST

[Shoeless]

I must admit it has been a little while since I searched.

Quick search turned up that Jegs has these available...

https://www.jegs.com/i/QuickCar+Raci...ries%20-%20LST

Looks legit enough for me to use. I know Pegasus has some, a bit pricier though. I had to get a specific size once to hold my new ebrake cables in place and ended up getting a pack of like 5 off Amazon that had good ratings.

[beeman]

Amazon has a bunch 20% off today for Black Friday, just search for p-clamps.
Great work on the intake, Sean. I'm on Sanibel with the fam this week, hope to make some GTM progress soon.

[Shoeless]

Great work on the intake, Sean. I'm on Sanibel with the fam this week, hope to make some GTM progress soon.

Thank you Sir!!! I’m looking forward to hearing about your first engine start soon.

[Keith1]

Awesome work Shoeless, the CA intake turned out great. Your engine bay is so clean and organized. Truly a work of art! For what its worth, I like the clamp screws just the way they are. They add detail in a beautiful engine bay and its functional.

[Shoeless]

Awesome work Shoeless, the CA intake turned out great. Your engine bay is so clean and organized. Truly a work of art! For what its worth, I like the clamp screws just the way they are. They add detail in a beautiful engine bay and its functional.

Thanks Keith1!!! The theme I'm going for is really starting to come together. I can't wait to get the engine harness built and laid in place. I'm working on creating pig tails with all Deutsch AS connectors for all the sensors as we speak. VERY time consuming.

[Shoeless]

Pretty big milestone on the GTM today. So not so fun story that started me down this path a few days ago. So I was test fitting the harness I have been building lately on the GTM and working around the power and ground distribution blocks I have behind the passenger fuel tank. The goal was simple enough, how long do these leads need to be? So as I was wrapping the ground cables around, bam, one of them touched the hot +12V lug and sparks flew. All the excitement, all the anticipation...and I made a stupid mistake like this. My main concern was obviously that I just fried my ECU. My stomach sank. After disconnecting the battery, I pulled the harness and looked over everything VERY carefully. I found no issues and basically concluded one of the leads was grounded somewhere and then I inadvertently hit the power lug. The only outstanding issue was the harness was connected to the ECU at both main connections.

The only thing I could do was push forward with the main bulkhead connector on the harness that would allow me to connect the engine harness to the chassis harness, fire the system up, and ultimately test the ECU. I was able to accomplish this task tonight and confirmed the ECU is just fine!!!!!! I was able to load the latest firmware and actually load one of the base tunes that Infinity has for an LS3 58x timing motor. The instructions state this is good enough to get the engine running, but I still need to make several changes in the configuration setup based on my application.

I was pretty much on cloud 9 knowing I didn't fry my ECU so I took it one step further and pulled out the CD-7 Digital Race Dash. They state this can be powered off the CAN network, but I have seen several people run into an issue with that and opted for simply wiring to 12V switched power. I pulled some new wiring, plugged it in, and bam she fired right up.

[VRaptor SpeedWorks, LLC]

Congrats! That is always a great milestone....to wire for days or weeks and then finally hook up power and find out that things really work like you planned! Awesome!!

[beeman]

Great update, way to keep at it!

[RR46]

That steering wheel button setup is really neat

[Shoeless]

Thanks for all the kind words guys!!!

That steering wheel button setup is really neat

This is a custom one off design that I worked up, CNC cut out of carbon fiber, and then clear coated. Took a lot of planning, but turned out awesome!!!

[Ajzride]

I smoke the ECU on my 818 build, I know that feeling. Looking awesome for you, hope to be seeing the first start video soon.

[Shoeless]

I smoke the ECU on my 818 build, I know that feeling. Looking awesome for you, hope to be seeing the first start video soon.

OUCH. Yea that sinking feeling haunted over me until I fired it up and confirmed all was well. Thank you for the kind words, the first start is right around the corner, I'm so excited I can hardly sleep.

[Shoeless]

It's getting closer and closer to the first start. I topped off all the fluids, installed the harness, and am starting to work through the configuration of the ECU.

Thanks to Shane for helping me with the volume of the coolant system (4.5 gallons). I originally picked up 3 gallons and she drank that up no problem LOL. Grabbed a couple more gallons today and I'm sitting right at 4 1/4 gallons with the rear expansion tank about 1/2-3/4 full. I figure I have some air in the system so once I get her up and running we'll revisit this coolant level and make sure she is topped off properly.

[VRaptor SpeedWorks, LLC]

I would try to purge most of the air out of the system before you start it. I made a quick and dirty "cap" for the coolant reservoir that I hook up to a vacuum brake bleeder. Make sure the tank is about 3/4 full, apply vac for 10 seconds or so, then slowly release the vac to avoid allowing it to suck air back in.....repeat several times until you stop hearing bubbles come up when you vac. Be sure to also purge the air from the top of the radiator.


20210208_083114.jpg20210208_083108.jpg

[Shoeless]

I would try to purge most of the air out of the system before you start it. I made a quick and dirty "cap" for the coolant reservoir that I hook up to a vacuum brake bleeder. Make sure the tank is about 3/4 full, apply vac for 10 seconds or so, then slowly release the vac to avoid allowing it to suck air back in.....repeat several times until you stop hearing bubbles come up when you vac. Be sure to also purge the air from the top of the radiator.


20210208_083114.jpg20210208_083108.jpg

Hey Shane,

Thanks for sharing your tricks of the trade on the vacuum pump setup. This is easy enough for me to slap together.

The wife was nice enough to help me on the top of the radiator side. I have one port blocked off and a pet **** on the other. Once the fluid level came up to the point of dripping out, she closed it off. She is not one to be keen on helping on the GTM build LOL.