Be very careful in changing the final drive-transmission combination. There are some very critical dimensions to observe between the two components. Read the manual and understand what they are and how to do them, you need special tools to measure and adjust. Failure to adjust correctly will quickly cause damage to either the final drive or the transmission or both. The final drive has a very low failure rate and the trans is not too bad if you take care of it and don't beat it to death. As in any car with an automatic transmission the trans has friction plates which do wear and will eventualy cause the trans to need to be rebuilt. Depending on your driving habits and luck with the shift computer an automatic trans could last 100,000 miles. The final drive has no lifetime limit if you keep it filled with clean oil and change it once in a while, 50,000 is probably often enough. During a trans rebuild all a final drive would require is maybe new bearings, seals and, gaskets. David Teitelbaum vin 10757 --- In dmcnews@xxxxxxxxxxx, Darryl Tinnerstet <darryl@xxxx> wrote: > Jeff, the one part of your question no one else has answered yet was whether > the ring gear was swapped to the opposite side for the DeLorean application > of the Renault transmission. I can answer that - the ring gear can not just > be "flipped". The DMC ring and pinion gears are unique, and to add to the > problem the case they fit in is also. Several years ago, with the aid of a > top transmission specialist, I tried to modify a front-wheel drive > transmission by first flipping the ring gear (which isn't even close to > working), then by installing a new DMC ring and pinion. Even with machining > the case they would not fit. You can easily use the front wheel drive trans > if you can find one - the trick is to re-use the ring and pinion case and > gears from your old trans as it separates from the actual transmission > housing. And no, I don't have an interchange for the filter either - yet. > Hope this helps. > > -- > Darryl Tinnerstet > Specialty Automotive > McCleary, WA