Talk me into a transmission change...

[cjshaker]

OK, talked to john this morning, he said if you leave off in 1st 2nd, or 3rd. tranny free wheels, levers don't move, 4th stays in gear. when free wheeling, you can bring rpms back up & re-engage but is a bit tricky as to not dickup the sprags. takes a bit of practice to street drive it. on the track, you can lightly lift to pedal it a bit, but not really get out of it. weight is 140#s. hope this helps.

Interesting info on the staying in gear. Guess I need to research it better. But I can vouch for the messing up sprags by unloading them and hitting them hard again with throttle. Some of the old flathead trannys will freewheel when off the gas, you need to bring up the rpms and engage them without "hitting" them hard. It's just the nature of sprag bearings or clutches.

[fairlanegt427]

jay;   I still think playing with convertors is a better cheaper idea.   I love stick cars don't get me wrong.  but the steel lenco with the steel planetary gears etc etc and bellhousing wow that's heavy and we haven't put the clutch in yet   I had the chance to buy one in my early 30s it was a 4 speed with a reverser and wow it was heavy.  I couldn't justify the cost to weight, 

[TomP]

I don't think you really need a Lenco or Liberty to handle that power. There are cars with T56's going 7's and they are much more easily streetable.

I would forget about automatics, they are just no good. As you've found out the torque pervertor is a power sapping deal that wastes a bunch of RPM. The Powerglide is a terrible street tranny and it's awful high first gear requires a very high stall speed with attendant slippage.
 It also kills the launch and traction. Watching your runs on the live feed it leaves more like a school bus than a drag car. I think that is a couple tenths right there. A much higher stall speed will help but then you will be doing 5000 on the highway with tranny temperatures pegging the gauge.

 The stick would be faster, get better mileage and more fun to drive. It can also be push started so no need to change the starter in the rain in a Piggly Wiggly parking lot.

[jayb]

I don't think you really need a Lenco or Liberty to handle that power. There are cars with T56's going 7's and they are much more easily streetable.

C'mon Tom, a T-56 is not going to handle the 830 ft-pounds of torque delivered by my engine.  The Magnums will handle 700 ft-lbs, but not reliably with slicks and side-stepping the clutch.  I'd like to see a reliable, streetable 7 second car with a T-56.  Maybe not so much a car, but a go-cart?

You can put a T-56 in YOUR 8 second street car and see what happens 

[blykins]

Although I'm in the auto trans camp for your situation, Jay, some of the modified TKO's and T-56's are not wimps.   The REM polished and cryo treated TKO 600's are rated (and dyno tested) for 700 lb-ft of torque.   I think it would be easy to add another 15% capacity to the T-56. 

[jayb]

And you think they would hold up in a drag application, when a G-Force and Jerico won't?

[blykins]

I think it would.  Look at all the GT500's, Vipers, etc. out there running very low ET's and making 1000+ hp.  All those cars have the OEM version of that Mag T-56.

However, thinking about the cost and thinking about how consistent it would be, I still think you should stick with the slushbox.

A T-56 behind an FE takes a good bit of work just to get it to bolt up unless you're willing to go with all-hydraulic actuation.  You're gonna be in at least $800 just for the bellhousing itself, as you take a Quicktime FE/T-56 bell and make it SFI approved.   I don't necessarily know if a Soft-Lok or similar would work for you, you might have to go with a hipo twin disc.  Either way, you're looking at $1200-$1300 at least there. 

The trans would probably run $4000+.  In a heavy drag racing application, I'd be tempted to face plate the gears or pro-shift them. 

[whitea62.7t]

http://www.astroperformance.com/advanced_search_result.php?manufacturers_id=29&categories_id=100&subcategories_id=293&inc_subcat=1&x=24&y=12

[jayb]

Well, color me skeptical on that one, Brent.  My guess is that those race transmissions are heavily modified, and I wouldn't know the first thing to do to get them to hold up.  Pretty sure I'm sticking with the slip-n-slide at this point...

[cjetmech]

I found a couple T56 trans rated at 1200hp/1000ftlbs. G-Force makes one and Rockland Standard Gear makes one called Tranzilla, Lol.

[jayb]

Hmmmm....  I'll look at those.  Thanks for the info.

[cjshaker]

Pretty sure I'm sticking with the slip-n-slide at this point...

I knew this was an early April Fools joke!

[jems68]

Jay do you have a anti roll bar in the rear of the Shelby clone ?

[cwhitney67]

Jay try Joels on Joy in Micihgan. They do all the C4's for the Cobra jet race cars for Ford. The Mod motors with Blowers are putting out a 1000HP+.

[jayb]

Jay do you have a anti roll bar in the rear of the Shelby clone ?

Yes I do, Jack.  Its an adjustable anti-roll bar from S&W race cars.