Asylum
Posted: Tue May 17, 2011 8:47 pm
I've done one transaction with Asylum and I am not happy with how it ended.
In my quest to keep certain projects simple for the most part, I was in the market for a built auto trans. I was not interested in swapping to another trans type since I've been there done that and just wanted to keep it simple in that area as much as I could. After researching my options and reading what Asylum was having done with his trans I later inquired about it after reading how successful he has been with his auto 3 speed trans. It was great to find someone so confident with that type of trans that it told me that this trans was no slushbox. I discussed with Asylum how I was going to obtain the trans if I were to go with one of the bulletproof transmissions built by Bill, Asylum's trans guy. Asylum and I came to the agreement that he would meet me in Detroit soon after the trans was completed and that is where I would pay in full the rest of my trans build cost.
In Dec 2009 the trans build was a go and I made sure I used/bought the highly suggested parts and fluids that Bill and Asylum suggested to be put in my 3t40 trans and was open minded for whatever else they seen fit to be used for my application. I paid for the required hard parts that were needed that Bill didn't have on hand and had them shipped to him. My parts took a few weeks to make its way over to Bill as I had them directly shipped there by the supplied address from Asylum. The trans was completed in April after Bill had time to get to it, and that is where the delivery problems started to come up even though I was lead to believe that my trans would be in my possession in May in time for me to install it and finish some loose ends to the car. I had every intention to make it to a Beretta Fest with the car and had to bail suspecting my trans would not make it to me in time.
On June 11th 2010 the 3t40 made its way to Michigan in Port Huron to accommodate Asylum's schedule where he was paid in full the rest of the trans monies. Due to the late arrival of the trans I was not able to install and break in the "built" trans until October 2010.
After the car was ready for finalization I wanted to see what it would put down on the dyno that I always used in the past. I had the car hauled to the dyno location and after a few trial runs to set the base on where the car was at, the power pulls were next.
On the first and second pull the trans seemed to be fine and the fluid temps were good. The third pull it flared up, yet it shifted through all gear ranges still. On the final pull the trans went from 1st straight to neutral and second gear would only seem to slip into gear when just lightly on the accelerator sometimes as where third gear was none existent.
First gear was ok at first but it rapidly lost holding power from moving it off the dyno in to the hauler.
I contacted Asylum about the outcome around November 14th 2010 and multiple times after that, but I did not receive any communication from him or Bill.
Early April 2011 before receiving any communication from Asylum or Bill, I had a failure/analysis transmission specialist disassemble it and the determination is a pressure and seal issue.
The fluid ended up being pretty much all clutch material and the clutches were warped/cupped very badly. Some parts that should disassemble were jammed together extremely bad and were not separable. The specialist questioned why I was led to believe that the 3t40 was a performance capable trans to begin with and that whomever told me that it would withstand any power above stock vehicle output for a subjective amount of time was not being honest to me.
It does make sense that the 3 speed is not capable of being a reliable performance trans with the parts that were used in my trans build now that I read how many times Asylum had his "freshened up" or "inspected for wear".
After emailing Asylum the results from the failure/analysis in April 2011 he replied back on the 17th of April 2011 where he told me "Send the parts back and Bill will look at it. If it's warrantable he will fix it."
I would have taken that offer to ship it all back to him if he had replied back to me back when I first emailed Asylum my trans problems, or at least brought the trans to Bill to let him determine the failure cause and make a warranty judgment.
This was my experience with Asylum, and I am posting this for user Classified Feedback Forum purposes.
In my quest to keep certain projects simple for the most part, I was in the market for a built auto trans. I was not interested in swapping to another trans type since I've been there done that and just wanted to keep it simple in that area as much as I could. After researching my options and reading what Asylum was having done with his trans I later inquired about it after reading how successful he has been with his auto 3 speed trans. It was great to find someone so confident with that type of trans that it told me that this trans was no slushbox. I discussed with Asylum how I was going to obtain the trans if I were to go with one of the bulletproof transmissions built by Bill, Asylum's trans guy. Asylum and I came to the agreement that he would meet me in Detroit soon after the trans was completed and that is where I would pay in full the rest of my trans build cost.
In Dec 2009 the trans build was a go and I made sure I used/bought the highly suggested parts and fluids that Bill and Asylum suggested to be put in my 3t40 trans and was open minded for whatever else they seen fit to be used for my application. I paid for the required hard parts that were needed that Bill didn't have on hand and had them shipped to him. My parts took a few weeks to make its way over to Bill as I had them directly shipped there by the supplied address from Asylum. The trans was completed in April after Bill had time to get to it, and that is where the delivery problems started to come up even though I was lead to believe that my trans would be in my possession in May in time for me to install it and finish some loose ends to the car. I had every intention to make it to a Beretta Fest with the car and had to bail suspecting my trans would not make it to me in time.
On June 11th 2010 the 3t40 made its way to Michigan in Port Huron to accommodate Asylum's schedule where he was paid in full the rest of the trans monies. Due to the late arrival of the trans I was not able to install and break in the "built" trans until October 2010.
After the car was ready for finalization I wanted to see what it would put down on the dyno that I always used in the past. I had the car hauled to the dyno location and after a few trial runs to set the base on where the car was at, the power pulls were next.
On the first and second pull the trans seemed to be fine and the fluid temps were good. The third pull it flared up, yet it shifted through all gear ranges still. On the final pull the trans went from 1st straight to neutral and second gear would only seem to slip into gear when just lightly on the accelerator sometimes as where third gear was none existent.
First gear was ok at first but it rapidly lost holding power from moving it off the dyno in to the hauler.
I contacted Asylum about the outcome around November 14th 2010 and multiple times after that, but I did not receive any communication from him or Bill.
Early April 2011 before receiving any communication from Asylum or Bill, I had a failure/analysis transmission specialist disassemble it and the determination is a pressure and seal issue.
The fluid ended up being pretty much all clutch material and the clutches were warped/cupped very badly. Some parts that should disassemble were jammed together extremely bad and were not separable. The specialist questioned why I was led to believe that the 3t40 was a performance capable trans to begin with and that whomever told me that it would withstand any power above stock vehicle output for a subjective amount of time was not being honest to me.
It does make sense that the 3 speed is not capable of being a reliable performance trans with the parts that were used in my trans build now that I read how many times Asylum had his "freshened up" or "inspected for wear".
After emailing Asylum the results from the failure/analysis in April 2011 he replied back on the 17th of April 2011 where he told me "Send the parts back and Bill will look at it. If it's warrantable he will fix it."
I would have taken that offer to ship it all back to him if he had replied back to me back when I first emailed Asylum my trans problems, or at least brought the trans to Bill to let him determine the failure cause and make a warranty judgment.
This was my experience with Asylum, and I am posting this for user Classified Feedback Forum purposes.