I was watching TV last night, Holmes on Homes, a HGTV production where a well meaning General Contractor (Mr Holmes) responds to write-in pleas from viewers to come and “remediate” their horror building experience. I gather from watching just one episode that the general mantra is to come onto a site and start by identifying all the sub-standard work completed by the now displaced contractors. Phrases like tear-it-out, do-it-over, are interspersed with – “cant believe they did that”…….. “no way that’s to code” etc.

For us in the Porsche tuning industry, there is no “code” except perhaps the one of honor and integrity. There really is no scrutiny of whether anyone works to best practices and there certainly is no assurance that the expert advice you are receiving is from an expert that really values an outcome that will serve you well. Sometimes (too often) the result is like the brand new roof they tore off the cottage last night on TV, poor workmanship, gaps, leaks and the basis of guaranteed internal damage if left without remediation….

I have suffered the same exasperation as Ultruistic Contractor Mr Holmes many times. It is tough to talk to clients about the need to spend their money to fix work they believe they have already paid for elsewhere.

At the very heart of a 915 transmission is the pinion roller bearing 999.110.146.00. This $200 bearing controls the location of the pinion shaft and with that, much of the life and efficiency of the final drive gear-set.

It’s long been understood that with high mileage and hard use, the fit of the bearing into the case is lost and the once round hole is shagged into an ellipse by the bearing loads, heat, pounding, driveline shock etc, etc. A downward spiral of wear leads to damaged parts, normally accompanied by excess transmission noise as the first indicator.

Over the past 15 years I have seen some pretty miserable attempts to bodge the fit of the pinion roller bearing. The photo of the one above is somewhat typical, but in this case there seems to been a real application of effort, mathematical, almost scientific approach to a matrix of punch marks and bruises intended to push a little material support back around the bearing. Sadly, this is much like emergency caulking on a leaking roof, the wrong idea, at the wrong time and precursor to doing again and doing it properly before it’s right

At WEVO we created the 915 Race Case program about 10 years ago. By developing a steel insert for the final drive housing, we restore the fit and location of the pinion roller bearing to the exact intended position. We define the shaft spacing exactly at 76.00mm and we restore the case face to both flat and perpendicular to the pinion shaft. This work is not cheap, but at around $1000, less than 10%, actually closer to 7.5% of the total price of a proper high performance 915 rebuild. With internal parts so expensive the 915 Race Case upgrades are cheap insurance against accelerated wear of bearings, gears and synchronizers. Upgraded transmission cases run cooler by virtue of less friction and correspondingly deliver more power.

The best of the 915 rebuilders in the USA and around the globe are using the WEVO Race Case upgraded transmission housings, we have delivered some 120 upgraded final drive housings in the last 10 years. Builders like Gordon Ledbetter, Jerry Woods, Rothsports, Auto Associates, 901 Shop and many others all choose WEVO Race Case upgraded parts for serious transmission repairs and race preparations.

WEVO Race Case upgrades are also available for 930 final drive housings and both 915 and 930 maincase castings.

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 28th, 2010 at 12:29 pm and is filed under Hayden, WEVO. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.