Gear Up….to a Gearstar Overdrive Transmission

By: John Shapiro

What keeps people from enjoying their car on long distance drives? It’s no doubt the gas mileage generated from that old tired 3 speed auto trans.
We visited Gearstar Transmissions in Akron, Oh. Which is locally owned and operated but are a national recognized transmission of choice by many of the magazine project cars and the Street Rodder Tour car for the past 10 years.
Owner Zack showed us a ’67 Camaro belonging to Terry Clark which was being brought in for a conversion from a tired 350 to a 200-4R and we followed the steps.
First, the job is done by one of Gearstar’s’ trained techs who carries thru the entire operation from dismantling the old trans all the way to putting the transmission on a dyno and to final installation, so you know exactly who handled it every step of the way.
The custom install on this Camaro and with all Gearstar’s customer cars is custom made – many times Gearstar has to fabricate cross members and possibly modify your drive shaft to accommodate the new trans.
As I watched the process, I started tallying up just what the parts might be if one had to buy them individually and that included the tranny itself, the cooler, drive shaft, Lokar shift kit, custom cross member (if you’re lucky enough to find one), well, I stopped at $2800. In just parts! That doesn’t include a warranty or the custom fab work, lift, etc.
When Gearstar had finished the Camaro, they had set the whole car up and one look under the car and it looked better than when it left the factory.
I left thinking ‘ol Zack and his crew must be really proud that not only do they build killer, bulletproof transmissions, but lots of west coast builders are coming to Akron Ohio for their trans. Heck, some of the best around here like: Lobecks, Seme & Son, RDP Motorsport, Corvette Conspiracy are clients. I guess they all can’t be wrong!
Call ‘em today, ask for Zack, 330-931-7311 – visit their website www.gearstar.net or see their ad on the back page for more information.

	Many times Gearstar has to refab a cross piece in order to accommodate the new trans.
Once up on the lift, the ’67 will have just one member of the Gearstar tech team working on the entire project from start to finish assuring a quality custom conversion.
	The old 350 transmission.
The new 200-4R, which includes an overdrive gear and looks better than when it came from the factory will be dyno’d before being installed.