Drilling tranny casing to eliminate cold 2nd gear problems

Correction, my apologies: it was the 1st/reverse shaft goes into the blind hole that I drilled the internal pressure relief hole.

 

Ive seen this discussed for some years and Ive got a question about. Could drilling this hole cause any problems for the transmission? Anything at all? If the answer is no then it seems to me like this is a "no brainer" if you are already into the transmission.

Perhaps a proper rebuild would fix the problem, but I sure would be mad if I did a rebuild, didnt do this, and still had a problem shifting when cold.

What could it hurt?
Aaron

 

Agree with you -- no downside, so no reason not to make the modification (if you are already inside -- drilling from the outside and plugging the hole is somewhat more risky/challenging IMO). However, I can see it reducing the force at the lever necessary to engage/disengage 1st, as the article discussed, but not sure how that translates to 2nd gear synchro behavior or mis-behavior (i.e., the Prancing Horse article does not claim the benefit implied by this thread title).

 

As a new 308 owner, I'll be curious to see how it shifts when cold. My first Ferrari was a Mondail t, years ago, and despite having an entirely different gearbox exhibited the same miserable balkiness going into second when cold. Reline gear lube helped a bit, but what really helped was parking a 75w drop light under the transmission case and leaving it on. It made quite a bit of improvement. Another way to accomplish the same thing would be to install a Wolverine heater on the bottom of the transmission casing and leave it plugged in. The smaller Wolverine heaters draw 50-75watts and work very well. I have them on my boat engines and this time of year they are on all the time.

 

I bought my 328 (ABS), which at the time had 29K miles and no issues with sticky 2nd gear when cold. After a a couple of years I changed to this Redline mix and the gear change has been worse ever since! Unfortunately I can't trace back the type of oil that was previously used. I've noticed that when the air temp is 25 deg or higher the problem isn't there. So, the use of a very low powered pre heater would definitely work on this car.

 

The idea of needing "heater" for the gearbox seems a bit much! The first question I would ask is, "did these cars have the 'problem' when new?" If so, then it is just inherent in the design. I had a new 1999 Porsche 911 that was almost impossible to get into one of the gears (can't remember now whether it was first or second) when it was cold. My '89 328 was balky when cold to second gear when I bought it in '08 with 24k miles but not nearly as bad as that Porsche. I installed Redline MTL when it was time for a gear oil change a couple of years ago and the problem disappeared.

 

Yes, of course, it's a hydraulic lock. By drilling a hole at the end, the oil inside can escape and the shaft moves freely.

 

Yes, they all had it when new. When I picked up my car (1985) the sales persons told me to let the car warm up or skip 2nd gear until it did if driven cold. Over time, 35 years, my car has loosened up somewhat. By the time I reach the end of the block, about a mile, it's just about good.

 

Or you can just double clutch and shift slow until it warms up...
Or go 1-3

This isn't a problem that HAS TO BE FIXED, it's a personality trait that can be lived with. I mean, it warms up on it's own in a few minutes.