i have a v6 tranny in the car right now, i have a local engine builder building me a motor with an estimated 525-550 horsepower in it. do any of you have any suggestions on a sturdy manual tranny for around 2 grand, and also what size gears i should i put in it, this will be strickly a 1/4 mile car.

 

a gently used t56 or a new tko600

i like 3:73 at least. the tko's overdrive will help out on highway, and the t56 has 2 OD's so cruising will be great and the get-up-and-go will also be good.

 

Use the money for the gears to buy a new rear end, a Dana 60 from Strange. Get either 3.73 or 4.10 gears. If the motor can make power to 8K, then go with 4.30 gears.

Oh, if this is strictly a 1/4 mile car, go with an auto and a 4K stall and 3.73 gears.

 

auto tranny's are boring in my opinion, im not really concerned about consistency, just out to have fun, how much is that dana 60 you mentioned and is that a good drag rear end or is that for the street

 

It's a really strong rear end suited for both street and drag racing. Starts at $2K + shipping.

 

so i guess i need to find out what rpm my motor runs out of horsepower from the dyno before i choose a rear end gear, is that a corrrect assumption

 

ya

 

Forget the T56 or TKO, you dont need overdrive if its strictly a strip car. Slap some 4.10s in there, (my freind's cutlass is built excellent for the quarter mile, it tops out just after the finish line) it has a turbo 350 trans, and 4.11 gears in the rear. He crosses the line at about 6500 rpms, just over 100mph. If you buy the parts and build it yourself, you can have a bullet proof rear end for about $1k. Upgrade to 28 spline axles, buy a posi carrier (detroit tru-trac) andn a set of gears. New bearings, and your set. OR, if you want a cheap solution, just modify it with beefed up axles, and make it a "spool".

If you dont want an auto, id look into the older style 4 spd transmissions. Maybe a muncie? Or a Super T10 (but there were very few years for those that were good). Good luck.

 

$1K will build you a nice rear end, but it will be far from bullet proof, if you are building the 10 bolt.

Your friends cutlass sounds like it has about 300hp (don't say it has 500 since it traps nowhere near a 500hp car) so it is geared right. If he happened to have more power he'd need to go to a higher gear (numerically lower) or he'd over rev the motor before he finished the 1/4 mile.

 

I never said anything about hp. Im just trying to tell you that his engine makes a big amount of power and torque, and his parts have held up fine. Theres a bit more to determining power than just top speed, the car has serious traction issues, it cannot be floored before 3000rpm in second gear, and will still try to spin the tires into third. It weighs 3900 lbs before driver, and still manages to finish a 13.5 ET. Not bad for an engine that was built in the 70s, and is on its last legs.

if its strictly a drag car, you would be very happy with 4.10s, or 3.73s. depending on where your power band is, and how high you want to rev, The dragsters in the ole days used to love taller gears, there werent no overdrives then..... 4.10 is definately not too high. You can fine tune it with the size of tire.

 

i have a local transmisssion shop trying to dig up a muncie 4 spd for me and rebuild it, my motor should be in my possession in about three weeks(can't wait), just for the hell of it until i get my transmission can't i bolt this 355 up to my stock t5 for a v6 by changing out the bellhousing to a v8 bellhousing or is there more to it than that. i would just like to be able to drive the car to different shops to talk about work i want done, instead of trying to paint a picture for them, the car would be with me.