Graziano Transaxle Installation

[Ryan Kielty]

Very excited to be installing the Graziano this month, getting close to finally hearing what this motor sounds like. I would appreciate some help on a few questions. Questions and related pictures to follow:

1) In securing the rear of the transaxle to the chassis i've seen pictures on the forum involving 2 rods at the rear of the car, 1 rod coming down from each of the top 2 corners of the rear chassis and bolting to the transaxle brackets and 1 rod coming from each of the bottom 2 corners of the rear chassis and bolting to the tubular structure that sits above the transaxle. My chassis has 2 rods coming from each of the bottom 2 corners of the rear chassis instead of 1, any idea where this second rod is supposed to connect? Picture below.



2) Connecting clutch line to transaxle. Is the port in the picture below the proper spot to connect the braided clutch line? If so, I don't think the adapter on this port that ships with the transaxle will connect with my braided line. Are most people unscrewing the adapter that ships with the transaxle and replacing with something different or do I need a special connector on my braided clutch line?



3) To where are the following 3 ports supposed to be routed? Port in the first picture I will call Port A and the 2 ports in the second picture I will call Port B and Port C, with Port B being the yellow cap.




4(a) The transaxle arrived with a plastic shift cable end already on the transaxle and RCR provided me with 2 additional plastic shift cable ends. Can I use the shift cable end that shipped with the transaxle or must I replace it with one of the items RCR provided? Small hole or large hole, picture below?

4(b) How do I get the shift cable end on the transaxle cable connection that current has a ball on it? Do I have to remove the ball and replace with a bolt? Neither of the shift cable ends will fit over the ball and from the look of the cable end that shipped with the transaxle, that wouldn't be the right way to do it even if it did fit.

4(c) With the plastic shift cable ends in place and the RCR shift cable bracket installed, it seems that the cables might be too long - that the bracket needs to be remade longer. Has anybody else had this problem? mmiller mentions the issue in post #171 of slc Ls 376 and grazziano but it was never resolved in that post.




5) Does anything plug into the 2 electrical ports on the transaxle or are those only for when used in stock application?

6) Dean gave me the info on what fluids to use, but what quantity is needed for transaxle?

Thanks for the help,
Ryan

 

[Fran Hall RCR]

Ryan,

I will have Dean forward you all the answers to your questions tomorrow when he gets in to work.

 

[Ryan Kielty]

Awesome, thanks Fran.

 

[Tony Eupizi]

Please report your finding from Dean. Most of us with this transaxle may have the same questions. You are much further along in the build process. Thanks

 

[mahlon]

Ryan unless something has changed there is a clearance problem on the right side with the arms and the plastic hiems for the grazziano shifter cables. We are in the process right now in figuring out brackets to change the hiem location to allow room for the shifter mech to move. The arm is in the way and needs to be moved towards the outside or towards the tire. We are also having to change the bracket that the shifter cables attach too as with the plastic supplied hiems are to long and there is not enough room between the bracket and attachment on the grazziano. With all this going on we are running our exhaust out the back: cats, race mufflers and stainless 3'' to 4'' tips its crowded back there. I am not sure how much of this has been addressed as we where in the first group of grazzianos Fran may have addressed some of this on yours I don't know. some of my problems where on my who is running an slc with a ls 376 and grazziano let us know if we can help too as we are working in the same area....m

 

[Ryan Kielty]

Luckily I am running exhaust out the side so I don't have much going on back there other than transaxle. I will see what I get from Dean tomorrow and will post responses up here.

 

[Aaron H.]

Please report findings. I'm all ears.. I need to complete this assembly on my new SL-C as well. Does the cable shifter come with a manual that shows the connections to the transmission?

Hopefully we can get Dean to take some close ups of a completed Grazianno with shifter cables attached . Email sent as well.

 

[mahlon]

we are working on this as we speak I have taken a break to let everyone know what we have found as It seems we are probable the furthest along with this. The hiem attached to the grazziano in the picture is for the gear selection back and fourth the ball stud one is for the neutral or slide from left to right. The largest of the supplied plastic hiems is the one that is installed for the gear selection and is held in place with a simple clip. The ball socket neutral slide is too large for either plastic hiem and wont work. There has to be a different type of connection to the ball socket it is not a threaded piece and appears to be swedge pressed from the underside. We are in the process of moving the arms around for clearance for the shifter cables and to allow more exhaust room. I am not sure if the easiest solution is to pull the linkage drill out the ball socket and just pin or bolt the connection then we could use the supplied hiems or step up to regular hiem joints. as I said earlier the cable ends are to close to the connections so the supplied bracket on the grazziano will have to be modified as well, we will try to keep all posted....................m

 

[Tony Eupizi]

My car is still at RCR awaiting the transaxle to be delivered, and I have sent a note to Fran indicating he and Dean could use it as a Design Aid Buck to resolve these issues. If the car isn't available for another week it is not a problem for me. I live 2 hours from RCR.

If we get picture installation guide it's a win-win for all.

 

[mahlon]

Brackets are built and installed, I will try and post pictures as soon as I can we now have no clearance problem with the cables and shift mechanism on the grazziano. we gained a little room for the exhaust. We will now look at connections of the shifter cable to the grazziano and the bracket for the cables. I too will look to see what dean sends to be posted................m

 

[Fran Hall RCR]

Here is a pdf to help you guys out.

Seems the cables supplied to us are too long by 1.5 inches. The supplier is working on a solution and it will be sorted in a couple of days.
Also the cable ends shipped are for an R8 but the wrong year so we will be getting the correct ones in after the holiday weekend...
These parts will be a bolt on requiring minimum work or modification

No cause for alarm guys....

 

[Mike]

I don't want to drift this post, but I noted the Graz has two rear rod supports with brackets off the trans to the frame. I've read and re-read a prior post on the Porsche box where it was discussed, and debated, if the rear of the Porsche (96.50 in my case) should be supported. Is there something different going on with the Graz to SLC set-up. I've always been a bit concerned about it.

Edit: posting here as a followup to Fran's post below to keep this thread on track -- Thanks Fran -

 

[Fran Hall RCR]

The Graziano is designed to be mounted on the rear , we use the OEM locations, the trans is considerably longer and larger than the Porsche transaxles ..similar in size to the Ricardo transaxle...on which we also mount using the OEM location on top.

Mike we didn't use a rear mount on the G97 we used in the race SLC 01 car...we had a small high durometer bushing sitting on the lower rear frame member that acted as a bumper but not a mount per se

If you look at almost any formula car you will see that the transaxles are suspended without a rear mount...even the lowly Hewland Mk8/9 VW bug trans used in Formula Fords don't have one...and I cant think of a much weaker trans casing than them.

I have gone over this many times before ...there is nothing to be concerned about..

 

[Ryan Kielty]

Thanks for that pdf Fran, very helpful. When Dean gets a chance to look into my "extra tie rod" issue (my question #1 above) if you could respond to the group it would be helpful. Thanks, Ryan.

 

[Fran Hall RCR]

There should not be two tie rods mounted in that location...see the pics in the PDF.

It was probably just positioned there for shipping as the transaxle was not in place when the kit shipped.

 

[Ryan Kielty]

Ok thanks. Will remove the extra one.

 

[Michael Fling]

Could Dean supply the PDF to everyone that has the Graz?

 

[Fran Hall RCR]

Its already on here Mike ...just download it from here.

It will be getting added to the online build manual in short order too btw

 

[Michael Fling]

Sorry- missed it.. thanks

 

[Aaron H.]

Very nice Fran.. Thank you for the quick response.

Additional questions..

Does the stub drive shaft the is used for the Audi R8 all-wheel drive get cut off? It doesn't seem that leaving that long turning shaft out in the open (unsupported) can be a good thing. Is anyone supporting it off of the gearbox case? Maybe it has enough support?

Is the cable shifter bracket that mounts to the top of the transmission shipped with the cable shifter or a separate purchase from RCR?

I'm not planning on running an external oil cooler just yet on my build. Therefore, can I simply plug the oil cooler circuit in the transmission without damaging anything or do I at least need to plumb in a hose to complete the oil circuit? I assume that I need to complete the circuit.

 

[Aaron H.]

What is the purpose of the electrical connection for the input shaft sensor? Is this simply an indication that the shaft is rotating for the Audi electrical control?

 

[Fran Hall RCR]

You cannot simply plug the oil system...there must be at least a loop to allow the transmission fluid to circulate as its a pressure system.

You already have the shift cable bracket

The sensor is an Audi part used in the OEM application.

If you cut off the AWD shaft you will void any chance of warranty I the future.

Having talked with Graziano they feel there is no issue leaving the shaft as designed

 

[Aaron H.]

Wow.. It's like Jimmy John's..
Freaky fast.. Freaky good..

Thanks Fran.