In preparation for my next race, I decided to change the transaxle fluid. I know that some debris on the drain plug magnet is okay, but is this over the acceptable level? Ive attached pictures below. I only have a clue as to how long the old fluid has been in the trans from the note left on the case in sharpie saying "Swepco 1/11." After cleaning the plug off and sifting through the debris, I only found slivers and no chunks. Ive been hearing a noise from the rear end when off throttle but I think this may be due to the cv joints needing rebuilding (my next project). Any thoughts?

That looks like a lot from my experience. How much has it been raced since 1/11? Is it LSD (more debris will collect from the clutch plates)?

Usually trans parts fail gradually so it will get worse if anything serious is going on. I'd just let it ride for a while and see what happens.

My best guess is 5 week ends worth of driving, 2 races and 3 DEs. It is a LSD equipped trans, but the debris didn't look like what would be shed off clutch plates, more like tiny slivers. I have 2 races left this fall and then off season so I'm just going to pay a little closer attention to it until off season and then reassess.

The debris I have found in the trans has all been very fine particles. I have not seen larger pieces like your photos.

I just removed the fifth gear from a trans. There was another magnet in the rear nose cone that had lots of very fine metal but nothing like yours.

Big Dog

Joy. Maybe time to start looking for a donor tranny to build.

Had one of the cv joints out for inspection. Didnt look to be in bad shape other than the grease seems to bit a bit runny so it may need repacking.

On another note, that sound that was coming from the rear of the car maybe worse than I remembered. I took the car out for a good around the neighborhood run to test the adjustments I made on the shifter and warm everything up. The noise appears when running maintenance throttle and sounds like a box of rocks tumbling. Seems to be more pronounced the faster I go. Since I was in a neighborhood, I could only get barely above 2k in 3rd so no race speeds. Ive shook on the rear wheels to see if the bearings are loose with no ill effect. I get a little play on the output shaft of the transaxle on both sides. I can feel the noise in the shifter as well. Any thoughts?