S2K Trans Rebuild - Honda Tuning Magazine

Technical Guidance and Captions by James Ornelas

In the previous installment of Project AP1, Golden Eagle was taking care of the F20C bottom end, prepping it for InlinePRO's F24 stroker kit. The chassis, after having spent a few days at the Rywire.com facility, was shipped to ASC Speed-Metal for some fab work before it eventually receives a fresh coat of paint under the hood in the near future. That left the transmission to collect dust and I figured it would be a great time to freshen it up.

I contacted James Ornelas of Synchrotech who suggested I bring the transmission to their facility to disassemble, inspect and clean up the inner workings. If you're not familiar with the name, Synchrotech has been in business since 2008. CEO and president, David Henson was previously employed by a company that had decided to discontinue their performance division. Seizing the opportunity to set out on his own, Henson purchased what was left of the companies inventory and opened the doors to Synchrotech Transmissions Inc. Henson and his team went on to research and develop carbon-lined synchros, a lengthy process that took well over a year to perfect. Well known for their ability to withstand high RPM and high horsepower abuse, the synchros became a hit with D-, B-, and H-series transmission users. Just a few years later that same technology was put into K-series transmission synchros, and more recently, Synchrotech introduced their own hardened steel sleeves, hubs, and carburized synchro springs to compliment their carbon synchro sets.

Beyond the performance realm, Synchrotech has a steady stream of your average, street-driven Honda transmissions to inspect and repair as well. And trust me when I say, this workshop runs like a well-oiled machine and is in constant motion. The years of experience and parts development assured me Synchrotech would have no problem making quick work of my S2K's tranny. Upon inspection, Ornelas states, "The transmission was in impeccable shape. We noticed minimal damage with the secondary drive gear and bearing assembly, as well as the reverse sleeve center hub. The gear had some contact pattern wear and the bearing was getting a little on the noisy side. The reverse hub had some base wear as well as the distance collar, so we replaced those. The rest of the transmission was in really good shape!"

I followed along to snap a few pics as technician Steve Vasquez reassembled the trans: