Built to Hold
Build guides, transmission tech, and install notes from the Gearstar shop floor. Every unit we ship is assembled by one builder, matched to your combo, and dyno-tested before it goes out the door. This is where we show the work: what holds, what grenades, and how to spec it right the first time.
8L90 Transmission Problems: What Fails First Behind Real Power
Five things account for most 8L90 complaints: torque converter shudder, harsh or delayed shifts, slip under load, heat, and valve body or solenoid wear....
Transmission Overheating: Why Built Cars Cook Fluid and How to Stop It
Heat is a byproduct of the torque you built the motor to make, and the factory cooling circuit was sized for a number your combination passed a long time...
Transmission Cooler Lines Replacement Cost, and When Patching Is a Waste of Money
Transmission cooler lines replacement runs $150 to $450 per line for parts and labor, and $400 to $900 if both lines go or the trans has to come down partway for...
Automatic Transmission Failure: Catch It Before the Case Fills With Metal
Automatic transmission failure is a heat problem, a pressure problem, or a control problem that got driven on. The unit that comes in on a hook with a cracked...
How Much Does It Cost to Replace a Transmission? What a Built Car Actually Pays
A transmission replacement runs from about $2,500 to more than $12,000. Where you land inside that spread has almost nothing to do with luck and...
Car Transmission Repair Cost: What a Built Car Actually Pays
Ask three shops what a transmission repair costs and you get three numbers, and none of them apply to your car. Those quotes are priced off a stock...
How Long Does a Transmission Last? Mileage Is the Wrong Number
A healthy automatic in a stock car runs 150,000 to 250,000 miles. Behind a built engine, that number stops predicting anything, because the loads that...