S550 Honey Badger GT350 Build Build Thread Profile - S550 Mustangs

[Bouncing Soul]

Well that could’ve been a lot worse but bummer.

Don’t forget to plan for clearing your lines/pump/cooler. Years ago in my transmission shop days we’d often replace all that stuff to make triple sure when a trans was pushing that much trash around, but I’m guessing you have nice parts you’ll want to try to save.

 

[Fabman]

Well that could’ve been a lot worse but bummer.

Don’t forget to plan for clearing your lines/pump/cooler. Years ago in my transmission shop days we’d often replace all that stuff to make triple sure when a trans was pushing that much trash around, but I’m guessing you have nice parts you’ll want to try to save.

Well, that sucks.
I wonder what the pilot bearing looks like?

 

[steveespo]

Looks like a very stout transmission. Wonder why they don't use a sealed roller bearing in that location? Can carry more load than the ball bearing setup. HGT is on my list so good to see the ease of teardown they advertise is true.

 

[honeybadger]

Well that could’ve been a lot worse but bummer.

Don’t forget to plan for clearing your lines/pump/cooler. Years ago in my transmission shop days we’d often replace all that stuff to make triple sure when a trans was pushing that much trash around, but I’m guessing you have nice parts you’ll want to try to save.

Yeah - I was so ready for it to be absolutely trashed given how much metal was floating around in the oil. Blown away the only damage was a FUBAR bearing and some fictions in the remaining ones.

I just cleaned the lines, pump and cooler today - I feel pretty good about it. If it was an engine with all the tight tolerances, I'd toss them. But I'm fairly certain I got them clean with soak, parts cleaner, high pressure water and an air hose. I'll see how they look once I get them re-hooked up and oil sent through them, tho. Might still toss the cooler.

Well, that sucks.
I wonder what the pilot bearing looks like?

Could've been so much worse, tho. Pilot looks good - no evidence there was a bunch of stress put on. replacing it regardless, tho.

Looks like a very stout transmission. Wonder why they don't use a sealed roller bearing in that location? Can carry more load than the ball bearing setup. HGT is on my list so good to see the ease of teardown they advertise is true.

No idea. Interestingly they use ball bearings on the input/output shaft and then rollers on the supporting bearings throughout the rest of the box.

Definitely an easy tear down. Only thing I'd say is you do need a puller to pull the rear flange/bearing off to get the main box open. Easy peasy outside of that, though.

 

[steveespo]

Yeah - I was so ready for it to be absolutely trashed given how much metal was floating around in the oil. Blown away the only damage was a FUBAR bearing and some fictions in the remaining ones.

I just cleaned the lines, pump and cooler today - I feel pretty good about it. If it was an engine with all the tight tolerances, I'd toss them. But I'm fairly certain I got them clean with soak, parts cleaner, high pressure water and an air hose. I'll see how they look once I get them re-hooked up and oil sent through them, tho. Might still toss the cooler.

Could've been so much worse, tho. Pilot looks good - no evidence there was a bunch of stress put on. replacing it regardless, tho.

No idea. Interestingly they use ball bearings on the input/output shaft and then rollers on the supporting bearings throughout the rest of the box.

Definitely an easy tear down. Only thing I'd say is you do need a puller to pull the rear flange/bearing off to get the main box open. Easy peasy outside of that, though.

Get one of those Harbor Freight ultrasonic parts washers and fill and soak the cooler with mineral spirits and then ATF. You souln't have any issues. I made an air chuck fitting with AN adapter and a ball valve to do flushes. Pushing that all out at 100 psi will get it clean. No sense in throwing away a $500 oil cooler matrix. And if you are send it to me!!!

 

[honeybadger]

Been a while since I had an update. I ended up taking a break from virtually all social media/smartphone use over the holidays. it was pretty great to disconnect for a while. I also ended up going on a bit of an extended sidequest redoing parts of the garage. I've been trying to work through some updates I wanted to make based on what I've learned over the last couple years. And now that my dad's shop is built and he was ready to take his air compressor back, it felt like a good time to pull the trigger and knock this project out since it was starting to get desperate as I continued to add more tools/disciplines and I was running out of storage, space, and electrical circuits.

Anyways, I'm mostly done. Just a bit of decorating and organizing left. Here's a picture tour

Hardware storage. Feels soooooooooo good to have all this organized finally


Flex table for when I am working on the car. My ADHD brain loves piling stuff during projects, so counter space is critical. I wheel this to wherever I am working and put all the parts on it. Will be used for trans re-assembly tomorrow. Currently storing the calipers that are drying (which will soon be for sale)


Flex table top and motorsport wiring station. Bottom cabinets are full of all my wiring supplies (tefzel wiring, crimpers, connectors, sensors, heat shrink, etc.). All organized and easy to find.


Main tool box with all my hand tools, car care cabinet (micro fibers, detailing supplies, etc.), and hydraulic press


New upper storage for all my tires and wheels. So nice to get these off the ground and out of the house. wife-unit is very happy to have no more random tire stacks in the house



Front wall still has existing cabinets. Far right is my composite cabinet full of all my CF supplies like resin, vacuum pump, tapes, etc. Middle right is for all my plumbing - both brakes and AN fittings as well as some tire/wheel related stuff (TPMS spares, balancer, etc.). Middle left is full of all my lubricants for the race car and far left is all painting supplies (spray cans and HVLP).


On the otherside is my fab table with mig/tig machines and my various supplies. upper storage cabinets have been a real game changer to get the various supplies out of the way


Cutting/grinding/sanding station. Everything I use to do those tasks is in the upper or lower cabinets.



And finally the latest addition to the shop - a mini mill machine. Been having a blast with this. Cabinet below it stores all of my "machining" tools - cutters, precision tools, taps, etc.



Not shown was a new sub panel that added tons of circuits to the garage - giving me lots of room for new 240v circuits. I have a couple power hungry items in the works that will go out side (curing oven, etc.).

Super pumped on how it came out

 

[armphoenix]

Wow, that’s sick set up! Probably costs more than the car itself lol. Where are you posting the calipers? Been wanting to get the red ones on mine..

 

[Stan Whitney]

Thats a very nicely setup workspace. Another handy idea for working tables - try these. Great for task related tools while the job is in progress, and very compact. I put tools in the top, parts in the lower 2. Have 3 of these in the shop and could use more.

RÅSKOG utility cart, white, 11x15x24" - IKEA

RÅSKOG utility cart, white, 11x15x24" Flexible trolley that fits into the smallest spaces and moves wherever you need extra storage for kitchen tools, desk accessories, keys or chargers. Lockable castors keep it in place when parked.

www.ikea.com

 

[honeybadger]

Wow, that’s sick set up! Probably costs more than the car itself lol. Where are you posting the calipers? Been wanting to get the red ones on mine..

haha. appreciate it. not sure anything in my life costs as much as HB outside of my mortgage - although that would be paid off if I didn't suffer from this race car affliction.

i'll post the calipers here once done. they're my original GT350 calipers that I am rebuilding - blasted them down to bare metal, painted red, and seals/boots replaced

Thats a very nicely setup workspace. Another handy idea for working tables - try these. Great for task related tools while the job is in progress, and very compact. I put tools in the top, parts in the lower 2. Have 3 of these in the shop and could use more.

RÅSKOG utility cart, white, 11x15x24" - IKEA

RÅSKOG utility cart, white, 11x15x24" Flexible trolley that fits into the smallest spaces and moves wherever you need extra storage for kitchen tools, desk accessories, keys or chargers. Lockable castors keep it in place when parked.

www.ikea.com

Ooh. That Ikea cart is brilliant. Helps to separate the piles of parts a bit. Looks perfect for nuts/bolts/brackets. I'll pick one up. thanks for the rec

 

[honeybadger]

with the garage finally done, I had a chance to finally get back to some fab/HB work. I'll share more specifics in a bit, but I am working on a setup to test/verify the head cooling mod. Thanks @5.2 liters of democracy for donating some parts to the cause. First, will be logging the coolant passage temps of BOTH heads.



And I want to test my own version that supplies cold-side water to the back of the heads directly, I am making a custom water inlet setup. I started with this blank cover from SPE. Obviously there's way too much material here. This thing weighs a ton for something made out of AL



Threw it on the mill machine a pocket for some weight savings (so cool to be able to say that! ha)


Round over and its ready



Custom inlet welded onto it - 20an coming from the water pump with a special 8an off shoot that will head under the intake towards the back of the heads



Fit was spot on. Looks like I'm actually learning how all this works

 

[Ludachris]

Thats a very nicely setup workspace. Another handy idea for working tables - try these. Great for task related tools while the job is in progress, and very compact. I put tools in the top, parts in the lower 2. Have 3 of these in the shop and could use more.

RÅSKOG utility cart, white, 11x15x24" - IKEA

RÅSKOG utility cart, white, 11x15x24" Flexible trolley that fits into the smallest spaces and moves wherever you need extra storage for kitchen tools, desk accessories, keys or chargers. Lockable castors keep it in place when parked.

www.ikea.com

LOL my daughter uses that same cart for all her cosmetics. Very versatile cart!

 

[byronj]

@honeybadger nice set up. Set up a you tube channel of you trying to find nuts and bolts on the floor. HA!

 

[honeybadger]

@honeybadger nice set up. Set up a you tube channel of you trying to find nuts and bolts on the floor. HA!

too real, bro. too real.

Last night, this little sh*t jumped on my table of transmission parts and flung a bunch of hardware all over the floor. I spent 20 mins chasing black bolts and ball bearings on the floor.

 

[5.2 liters of democracy]

with the garage finally done, I had a chance to finally get back to some fab/HB work. I'll share more specifics in a bit, but I am working on a setup to test/verify the head cooling mod. Thanks @5.2 liters of democracy for donating some parts to the cause. First, will be logging the coolant passage temps of BOTH heads.

View attachment 100886

And I want to test my own version that supplies cold-side water to the back of the heads directly, I am making a custom water inlet setup. I started with this blank cover from SPE. Obviously there's way too much material here. This thing weighs a ton for something made out of AL

View attachment 100888

Threw it on the mill machine a pocket for some weight savings (so cool to be able to say that! ha)
View attachment 100887

Round over and its ready
View attachment 100885


Custom inlet welded onto it - 20an coming from the water pump with a special 8an off shoot that will head under the intake towards the back of the heads

View attachment 100884

Fit was spot on. Looks like I'm actually learning how all this works
View attachment 100882

This is such an exciting project. I can't believe I forgot the candy when I shipped those out though. I don't know that you'll ever forgive that, nor should you.

 

[byronj]

too real, bro. too real.

Last night, this little shiznit jumped on my table of transmission parts and flung a bunch of hardware all over the floor. I spent 20 mins chasing black bolts and ball bearings on the floor.

View attachment 100889

HAHA!! Funny - NOT FUNNY - But FUNNY. I'm sure he is worth it though. I only hope he was talking Sh*t to you while stirring the pot.

 

[dragoon]

New upper storage for all my tires and wheels. So nice to get these off the ground and out of the house. wife-unit is very happy to have no more random tire stacks in the house

Yes, my paddock queen was all to happy when I took the spare tires/wheels ( 2 cars worth, summer & track for each car ) out of the house. She’s thankful that it doesn’t “smell” like a tire factory anymore ??

 

[honeybadger]

ust realizing I have a lot to catch up on - I completely forgot to close the loop on the trans.

So as mentioned in a previous post, at the Nov event, the trans started getting really hot. It's ran dead cool all year - so overheating in 60 degree weather was weird. After verifying the pump and fan were working, I popped the fill plug off to check oil levels. A bunch of sparkly oil poured out. weekend done.

So once I got home, I pulled the trans to see what happened. Once I got it on the bench and started disassembly, I didnt make it very far before the problem was clear.




There's supposed to be a cage around those steel balls. Boooo

I took it down further and found metal shavings EVERYWHERE. Inside all the bearings, inside the shfit rail, I mean EVERYWHERE.


I also found one of the bolts was snapped and one loose. Man - this engine isn't even a voodoo and its still rattling everything apart.


I went all the way down. I reallllllly didn't want to put it back together knowing there could be metal circulating.



I ended up replacing all the bearings(ouch - those suckers are pricey) and all the seals/o-rings. All the gears looked MINT. A teeny bit of wear on the input shaft dog's but everything looks great. This is one stout like bad mama jama.

All back together (sans bell housing).




I also did some quality of life upgrades while I had it apart. Removal resulted in a horrific mess of oil and brake fluid. I got myself some dry breaks so it comes apart cleanly and you can remove without having to spend an hour cleaning afterwards.


Off camera I also cleaned the lines and cooler. The lines are PTFE, so they cleaned up great. The cooler and pump took a bit more work. I ended up hot tanking, ultra sonic and pressure washing them. I ran some oil through them separate of the trans and it came through clean.

She's ready to go back in. Just need to finish up reinstalling the oil pan. I ended dropping the k-member to re-seal the oil pan. It's had a super slow leak all year from where I missed some RTV when I installed it. Used the opportunity to inspect the bearings, cylinders, etc. All good there.

 

[Fabman]

ust realizing I have a lot to catch up on - I completely forgot to close the loop on the trans.

So as mentioned in a previous post, at the Nov event, the trans started getting really hot. It's ran dead cool all year - so overheating in 60 degree weather was weird. After verifying the pump and fan were working, I popped the fill plug off to check oil levels. A bunch of sparkly oil poured out. weekend done.

So once I got home, I pulled the trans to see what happened. Once I got it on the bench and started disassembly, I didnt make it very far before the problem was clear.

View attachment 101047


There's supposed to be a cage around those steel balls. Boooo

I took it down further and found metal shavings EVERYWHERE. Inside all the bearings, inside the shfit rail, I mean EVERYWHERE.
View attachment 101045

I also found one of the bolts was snapped and one loose. Man - this engine isn't even a voodoo and its still rattling everything apart.
View attachment 101046

I went all the way down. I reallllllly didn't want to put it back together knowing there could be metal circulating.

View attachment 101043

I ended up replacing all the bearings(ouch - those suckers are pricey) and all the seals/o-rings. All the gears looked MINT. A teeny bit of wear on the input shaft dog's but everything looks great. This is one stout like bad mama jama.

All back together (sans bell housing).
View attachment 101042



I also did some quality of life upgrades while I had it apart. Removal resulted in a horrific mess of oil and brake fluid. I got myself some dry breaks so it comes apart cleanly and you can remove without having to spend an hour cleaning afterwards.
View attachment 101041View attachment 101040

Off camera I also cleaned the lines and cooler. The lines are PTFE, so they cleaned up great. The cooler and pump took a bit more work. I ended up hot tanking, ultra sonic and pressure washing them. I ran some oil through them separate of the trans and it came through clean.

She's ready to go back in. Just need to finish up reinstalling the oil pan. I ended dropping the k-member to re-seal the oil pan. It's had a super slow leak all year from where I missed some RTV when I installed it. Used the opportunity to inspect the bearings, cylinders, etc. All good there.

I'd be pretty ticked if I spent that kind of money on a trick tranny and it only lasted a hand full of track days....what did the manufacturer say?

 

[honeybadger]

I'd be pretty ticked if I spent that kind of money on a trick tranny and it only lasted a hand full of track days....what did the manufacturer say?

ohhh. crap I forgot to post the cause. 100% my fault. indexing on the bellhousing was way off. I used my dad's old dial indicator without checking if it was calibrated....it was not. I got a new one and we redid the bellhousing and it was WAY off. Something like 0.05" off when the manual calls for a tolerance of 0.001".

I don't blame HGT at all for this. I'm just shocked it ran like butter all the way until that bearing grenaded. And even when it did, damaged was minimal.

 

[Fabman]

ohhh. crap I forgot to post the cause. 100% my fault. indexing on the bellhousing was way off. I used my dad's old dial indicator without checking if it was calibrated....it was not. I got a new one and we redid the bellhousing and it was WAY off. Something like 0.05" off when the manual calls for a tolerance of 0.001".

I don't blame HGT at all for this. I'm just shocked it ran like butter all the way until that bearing grenaded. And even when it did, damaged was minimal.

I was gonna ask about that....