Synchrotech Transmissions

So, I have a 1999 Honda Prelude which needed a tranny rebuild. I decided to save some money and pull it myself and have it rebuilt by synchrotech. I bought their carbon synchro’s and had them install everything on the shafts. I put the transmission back in my car and after the break in period 2^nd and 1^st didnt feel quite right. I was having random lockout problems in both gears when cold with the occasional grind. So I pulled the trans a few months later and brought it back to them. They inspected it free of charge and they told me that the 1^st and 2^nd gear springs had broken and that the friction damper was bad on second as well. To the best of my knowledge this failure was not due to anything they did, it was merely a parts failure. They charged me 200 bucks labor to fully reassemble the trans (a discount from the usual 400 in labor) and they gave me the new parts free. The trans is now back in the car with a lightweight flywheel and GM synchromesh and it feels great. Really couldn’t be happier with the way it shifts now. The carbon synchro’s feel pretty good. Downshifts are butter when the trans fully warms up. Hopefully they will be durable but so far I have 5000 miles on it and I couldnt be happier. For the DIYer looking for a quality rebuild cheaper than the mechanic, these guys are your best bet. Would definitely recommend them for any Honda trans.

I had hoped that by buying a transmission from a aftermarket race supplier that I could support a member of the race community and get a superior product at the same time. Nothing could be farther from the truth.
I received a rebuilt trans by freight and had a auto tech that has worked for me for years install it because I was too busy to do it myself. He has worked for me for over 10 years so I was very confused when the transmission would downshift violently during the initial test drive. I called syncrotech and was told that it had to be the fact that I used redline (ASTM compatible and cross referenced) instead of factory Honda fluid. So on their advice I flushed the trans 4 times with the factory fluid and each time the transmission shifts became more violent. After 4 months of being in my shop and annoying me I took it to a local Honda transmission expert who also races. After a few hours of diagnosing everything imaginable he pulled the two shift solenoids to pressure test them and realized that synchrotech had installed them in the wrong order.
Mistakes happen. I have been in manufacturing for most of my career. Designing, prototyping and producing axle gears for racing and military applications. So I called synchrotech to ask if they would be willing to meet me half way on the cost involved to get their transmission to run. I spoke to the manager and then the owner David. He told me that it was my tech responsibility to notice that his tech had installed the solenoids in the wrong order and that he «didn’t make enough off of transmissions to honor any kind of warranty claims».
Do not waste your time or money with synchrotech transmissions.