A customer project… Painted transmission!, How much would you pay? Options

[Richard Casto]

Hey, I wanted to share some photos and details for a project I finished up awhile back for a customer. It is one of the best looking transmissions I have done so far!











The transmission is going into a 550 Spyder kit car. Initially the customer was looking to use a type 902 transmission (out of an early 912) that he had on hand, and it would be using a cable shift setup designed for the 911 style tail-shift. But due to various difficulties with the 902, we decided to instead to use a tail shift type 914 as the basis and then make some modifications to match his cable shifter setup. It still is a tail shifter, but it now uses the magnesium tail and shift rod from a 911 instead of the 914 setup. It is very much like the magnesium case type 911 transmission (used by the 911 just prior to moving to the type 915 transmission), but setup in mid-engine configuration. There are some other tweaks such as the 911 style fill drain plugs, some replating of parts as well as the fact that it is painted!

Even before I started doing transmission rebuilds I have been researching and experimenting with different ways to protect cast magnesium parts. While the factory says to use Tectyl (and it is good stuff), it doesn’t provide long term protection as it has to be periodically reapplied. There are lots of opinions on how and what to use to paint a transmission. My criteria was a high temp paint, preferably not rattle can, ideally a two part paint system and something that cleaned up well once in the car. I ended up using Eastwoods high temperature ceramic engine paint. I like it because it is high temp (transmissions do get hot), works well with a urethane activator, sprays on great with a regular gun (I use a HVLP detail gun) and looks awesome! The paint is also formulated to be shot directly onto bare metal. Eastwood offers a number of different colors, but this is their "Aluminum".

The case was first chemically cleaned, glass bead blasted (exterior only and not on the mating surfaces) and then washed inside and out again (I expect I will get questions about the bead blasting process). As with any paint job, the prep work is what takes all of the time. It’s not easy to get all of the oil, grease, etc. out of all of those deep nooks and crannies. It’s a lot of work to clean a transmission case!

I am having a rough time figuring out how to price this for regular customers. I may have to price this on a per client basis, but I am curious as to what you people think would be a fair extra charge for this type of paint job when rebuilding a transmission? I would really like to put a standard price on this service. How much would you pay for this?

Richard