The Mustang Forum for Track & Racing Enthusiasts

Taking your Mustang to an open track/HPDE event for the first time? Do you race competitively? This forum is for you! Log in to remove most ads.

  • Welcome to the Ford Mustang forum built for owners of the Mustang GT350, BOSS 302, GT500, and all other S550, S197, SN95, Fox Body and older Mustangs set up for open track days, road racing, and/or autocross. Join our forum, interact with others, share your build, and help us strengthen this community!

Ben Calimer MT82 installed

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

TMSBOSS

Spending my pension on car parts and track fees.
7,530
5,247
Exp. Type
HPDE
Exp. Level
10-20 Years
Illinois
In real terms, how much advantage would the ceramic bearings be to an owner with tracks the car 4-8 days a year and goes for the occasional cruise? BTW, my car has a bit under 10K on the clock.

Is there any value in the Ceramics for the average build?
 
Ben any chance you are going to have MT-82s to ship without sending mine across the country twice? I would be interested in such a program to buy then send mine back later as a core swap.

Thanks in advance . . .
 
TMSBOSS said:
In real terms, how much advantage would the ceramic bearings be to an owner with tracks the car 4-8 days a year and goes for the occasional cruise? BTW, my car has a bit under 10K on the clock.

Is there any value in the Ceramics for the average build?

You wont find a lot of direct measurements in motorsport that are published however the differences in frictional losses, heat build up, longevity, noise, vibration, and even weight are all better with ceramic bearings of motorsport quality.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167892202800530
It is shown that the physical and mechanical properties of ceramics, used for balls in hybrid bearings, can reduce the power losses up to 25% as compared with conventional bearings.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9EiX1RZDik

https://www.highpowermedia.com/articles/2117/ceramic-bearings/
Here is a tidbit from Boca Bearings. A producer of Ceramic bearings:

Ceramic is the ideal material for any application operating in harsh environments where extreme temperatures and corrosive substances are present. Ceramic has 35 percent less thermal expansion, 50 percent less thermal conductivity, are lighter weight and are non-corrosive.

Applications:
Cryopumps, medical devices, semiconductors, machine tools, turbine flow meters, food processing equipment, robotics and optics.
 

Mad Hatter

Gotta go Faster
5,237
4,227
Santiago, Chile
Just a brief update. After 8 months and some 16 track days. Still no problem with Calimer tranny. Upgraded to a Spec 2+ clutch and had some "crank relearn" basics to relearn! But its still going strong so far. Looks like fourth time lucky!! Car is by far more competitive leading in the points in two divisions with two class track records (its early in the season, hope they hold up!)

Still my favorite upgrade.
 
Thanks for the updates. I was fortunate enough to run into a spare MT-82 for sale and bought it. Sending it to Ben for him to work his magic. Think I will just get a Stage 1 upgrade as my Boss won't see FI and once I start tracking the car, it won't be but a few days a year.

I already have a MGW RaceSpec shifter, but wondering if I should upgrade the flywheel and clutch while the tranny is being swapped.

Any flywheel/clutch suggestions for a street cruiser and wanna-be road course racer. :)
 

Mad Hatter

Gotta go Faster
5,237
4,227
Santiago, Chile
Yup definetly get a clutch and flywheel. So far very happy with a spec 2+. Very affordable as well.

Sent from my SM-G900M using Tapatalk
 
TMSBOSS said:
Yes, upgrade the clutch.

I run the RST. Besides a little low speed noise, she works fine.

If I had it to do over I would look for a good single disc set up. Cheaper and less noise.
I also recommend the McLeod RST and for a mostly street driven car I'd stick with a twin disc clutch. I had the RXT in my Boss and it was pretty grabby on the street although it did get a lot better after a few thousand miles.
 

Mad Hatter

Gotta go Faster
5,237
4,227
Santiago, Chile
Had my fifth gear syncro go yesterday at the track.......... Very disappointed but at least I won my event.... Lucky for me that the straight was down hill so I just coasted down to the brake zone once I hit redline in fourth :(. Now deciding what to do. Send a spare (broken) tranny to Ben Calimer or buy a rebuild tranny kit and have it rebuilt down here in Chile. Unfortunately he has none on hand at he moment. Magnum would be tempting but out of reach as it means new Driveshaft and Clutch. Ben mentioned that the 5th gear syncro is a poor design. Once again all budget plans get blown out the window....thats racing I guess....

Its been almost a year with this Calimer MT82 Stage one... roughly 20 track days and happily it brought a lot of success, But was hoping it would last longer..... Maybe I should have changed the oil more often (Roughly every six months). Maybe I needed the MGW race shifter, shifts had been getting a little notchy lately
 
898
544
Had my fifth gear syncro go yesterday at the track.......... Very disappointed but at least I won my event.... Lucky for me that the straight was down hill so I just coasted down to the brake zone once I hit redline in fourth :(. Now deciding what to do. Send a spare (broken) tranny to Ben Calimer or buy a rebuild tranny kit and have it rebuilt down here in Chile. Unfortunately he has none on hand at he moment. Magnum would be tempting but out of reach as it means new Driveshaft and Clutch. Ben mentioned that the 5th gear syncro is a poor design. Once again all budget plans get blown out the window....thats racing I guess....

Its been almost a year with this Calimer MT82 Stage one... roughly 20 track days and happily it brought a lot of success, But was hoping it would last longer..... Maybe I should have changed the oil more often (Roughly every six months). Maybe I needed the MGW race shifter, shifts had been getting a little notchy lately

I know it is a cost issue, but I really think you are better off saving either for a Magnum or a TR6060 swap in the long run. I went through two "built" MT-82 transmissions before I bought the Magnum. In the long run, not moving to the Magnum sooner cost me a lot of money in terms of parts, labor, and lost track time. I would estimate somewhere north of $4K.

I don't know what the used parts market is in Chile, but possibly you can sell your MGW, Blowfish bracket, clutch, flywheel, and driveshaft to recoup some of the cost.
 
Last edited:

Mad Hatter

Gotta go Faster
5,237
4,227
Santiago, Chile
You make perfect sense..:(.... But will not have any funds available for a big upgrade this year... So I either buy a AMP kit for now, or hang up my helmet for the season. Weighing the two possibilities.... Even though about putting in a tall rear end to avoid fifth!! Did you have the race Spec MGW?? (I don't, just a gen1 with the blowfish bracket).

Very few manual S197 mustangs in Chile, can't be more the half a dozen, so the spare parts market is limited. Looks Like a Magnum kit will cost around $5000 delivered to my shipper in Miami, then theirs another 40% extra in shipping, taxes and duties...... Looks like is cheaper to repiar two MT82's and swap every year..... Or until I get the pot at the end of the rainbow.
 
Last edited:
898
544
You make perfect sense..:(.... But will not have any funds available for a big upgrade this year... So I either buy a AMP kit for now, or hang up my helmet for the season. Weighing the two possibilities.... Even though about putting in a tall rear end to avoid fifth!! Did you have the race Spec MGW?? (I don't, just a gen1 with the blowfish bracket).

Very few manual S197 mustangs in Chile, can't be more the half a dozen, so the spare parts market is limited. Looks Like a Magnum kit will cost around $5000 delivered to my shipper in Miami, then theirs another 40% extra in shipping, taxes and duties...... Looks like is cheaper to repiar two MT82's and swap every year..... Or until I get the pot at the end of the rainbow.

I ran the Gen 1 MGW with the Blowfish bracket with my MT-82. After I had the transmission rebuilt with bronze shift pads, stops, welded shift forks, installed a RXT, etcetera, it shifted awesome. Until, of course, third gear failed. Then it went from awesome to completely broken.

In all fairness, some people have great luck with the MT-82. I am just not one of them.

I forgot about the extra cost for importation and shipping.
 

Mad Hatter

Gotta go Faster
5,237
4,227
Santiago, Chile
I ran the Gen 1 MGW with the Blowfish bracket with my MT-82. After I had the transmission rebuilt with bronze shift pads, stops, welded shift forks, installed a RXT, etcetera, it shifted awesome. Until, of course, third gear failed. Then it went from awesome to completely broken.

In all fairness, some people have great luck with the MT-82. I am just not one of them.

I forgot about the extra cost for importation and shipping.
I was thinking of getting a MGW race shifter. Had noticed that the shifting was getting a little notchy. My buddies new mgw race shifter is much smoother the mine was despite the bracket and old mgw.... maybe I should have done it sooner....

Sent from my SM-G900M using Tapatalk
 

Mad Hatter

Gotta go Faster
5,237
4,227
Santiago, Chile
Looking for a bright side.... its easy to have a bunch of spare MT82 laying around. If you got the cash, better go with a XL

Sent from my SM-G900M using Tapatalk
 

Mad Hatter

Gotta go Faster
5,237
4,227
Santiago, Chile
Actually I did give it a whirl but was a bit rusty,, also tried jabbing into 6th for a sec then back to 5th.... I could get it in but,... not quietly.... will try double clutching again in the mean time. Unfortunately running with 295/30-18 tires makes fifth all the more important, I top out at 182km/hr in 4th. Had a hard time beating a race prepped Honda Civic with 280 hp at the wheels, those things really move!
 

302 Hi Pro

Boss 302 - Racing Legend to Modern Muscle Car
2,009
441
Southeast
The new Honda Type R set a new FWD record at the Ring a few weeks ago, so they are getting faster. Thinking it was in the 7:43 range, (give or take a few seconds).
 

Mad Hatter

Gotta go Faster
5,237
4,227
Santiago, Chile
Actually just found out that that Honda with the original owner had a track record right along with a 800hp GTR on slicks. lucky for me the guy has not had the car for long.

Bought a AMP stage 2 gearbox kit for 900 bucks. any other way the shipping would have killed me. Found a old timer with a good track history to rebuild the box down here. Fingers crossed.....
 

TMO Supporting Vendors

Top