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!

MT-82 grind

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

301
360
Exp. Type
HPDE
Exp. Level
3-5 Years
Raleigh, NC
My MT-82 has developed "grinding gears" over the last month only when downshifting from 2nd to 1st while the car is rolling. I'm not engaging the clutch, just moving it into gear when slow-rolling up to a light. If I come to a complete stop before going into 1st, then no problem. I assume bad synchros. For now, I'm just not downshifting (the ol' "it hurts when I do this...so don't do that").
Questions:
1. Do you think I'm right in my assessment. If so, what am I looking at to repair $$-wise?
2. Everyone seems to like the Tremec. If they need to work on the MT-82, should I take the opportunity to upgrade? Was hoping to not spend the $ if it could be avoided.
Thanks!
 

Mad Hatter

Gotta go Faster
5,237
4,227
Santiago, Chile
Oh boy this is a long saga that has been making the rounds since the mt82 came out.

1) How much HP/torque do you have? If its getting to 400rwhp, need a upgrade
2) Stock clutch is a big culprit. get a good one.
3) So is the stock shifter. MGW is the way to go....
4) Stock mt82's get very hot at the track... as in 300F after 20min full out. Cooling is required

Options
Tremec XL or Calimer rebuilt MT82s

The price has gotten pretty close between the two and if your are doing a clutch and drive shaft, then maybe the tremex XL is a better way to go. I like the Calimer stage 3 ratios better then the XL, But lots of opinions about that. It also lighter....

By the way XL' s do fail as well!!!

You can just fix the tranny, but that will cost you around US$1000 in parts... Its always like that, you open it up and say since its worn and its in apart and out of the car you might as well do it right and change all you can. Add shop labour etc and it starts getting expensive. If you do it at home, just get a rebuilt tranny for US1700 and swap it out.

At work we had 17 landrover defenders with MT82's not one ever had a gearbox problem (ever) and they had upto 380.000km on them. the difference was they had 200ft/lbs of torque. Once you get to 400lf/lbs... the stock MT82 will not last long if driven hard.
 
301
360
Exp. Type
HPDE
Exp. Level
3-5 Years
Raleigh, NC
Oh boy this is a long saga that has been making the rounds since the mt82 came out.

1) How much HP/torque do you have? If its getting to 400rwhp, need a upgrade
2) Stock clutch is a big culprit. get a good one.
3) So is the stock shifter. MGW is the way to go....
4) Stock mt82's get very hot at the track... as in 300F after 20min full out. Cooling is required

Options
Tremec XL or Calimer rebuilt MT82s

The price has gotten pretty close between the two and if your are doing a clutch and drive shaft, then maybe the tremex XL is a better way to go. I like the Calimer stage 3 ratios better then the XL, But lots of opinions about that. It also lighter....

By the way XL' s do fail as well!!!

You can just fix the tranny, but that will cost you around US$1000 in parts... Its always like that, you open it up and say since its worn and its in apart and out of the car you might as well do it right and change all you can. Add shop labour etc and it starts getting expensive. If you do it at home, just get a rebuilt tranny for US1700 and swap it out.

At work we had 17 landrover defenders with MT82's not one ever had a gearbox problem (ever) and they had upto 380.000km on them. the difference was they had 200ft/lbs of torque. Once you get to 400lf/lbs... the stock MT82 will not last long if driven hard.
Hey Mad Hatter,
The only power upgrade I have is the PowerPack 2, so not much...I think that's only good to add about 20-30 peak HP. So Probably 455-460 BHP. I'm guessing that's right around 390-410 RWHP, but never been dyno'ed.

Clutch is stock.

As for heat, the issue has presented itself around town when cold...even right out of the driveway. I didn't try it at the track this week (didn't want the whole paddock hearing my grinding gears) :p
 

JDee

Ancient Racer
1,797
2,001
Exp. Type
W2W Racing
Exp. Level
20+ Years
5 miles from Mosport
The stock clutch starts the trans issues. Get a good racing clutch like the Exedy hyper single line. With trans cooling and a good clutch you might make the mt82 live for a while, I am into year 2 of a complete rebuild on mine. But ultimately a tremec is a lot less trouble though they will require service as well. I like the gearing of the mt82, for the tracks I run it is better than the tremec so until the mt82 decides to die again I will stick with it.
 

Mad Hatter

Gotta go Faster
5,237
4,227
Santiago, Chile
In the end its the cumulative damage that makes for a noisy box.. once you hear crunching like that, the damage is done and it will only get worse. (Have been through 5 of these dam things... or was it 6? lost count.)

that said, switching to a better oil will help when its cold. I think ford had a warning about that long time ago.
 

TMO Supporting Vendors

Top