I have a '95 LT1 and HIGHLY modified the engine (new heads, intake, cam, the works...) and I think I might have broke a U-joint in the half shaft due to the extra power and torque. I don't go around town "hot ******* it" but I did try to blow the cobwebs out of it soon after I worked on it. This got me thinking on how much power and torque the transmission and the rest of the drive-train can take. I'd REALLY hate to tear up my transmission. Any thoughts?

 

My first thought is to do a search on "Dana 36" and "power level".

My second is to list actual mods/power level.

 

If you blew a ujoint, you would know it.

 

My u-joint is shot, I know it. I just don't know if it's from the extra power or it just wore out. Or both.

 

Auto or stick, big difference in the power each will take?

Stick = dana44
auto = dana36

 

Like above, is yours an auto or manual trans? How many miles? How much actual horsepower? Is the horsepower an estimate - or real dyno proven horsepower?

For most people who do a heads and cam upgrade, and who never take an angry wheel to the track, the stock stuff is very durable. If an auto, then at least a shift kit and possibly some transmission reprogramming would be adviseable.

I can't say how yours will compare, but on my '95 with a heads, cam, etc. Hot LT4 conversion with custom programming done on the dyno (not a generic mail order calibration or power programmer tune), it puts out 370+/- rear wheel hp on the chassis dyno (different days, different results - but all within 2 or 3 hp), probably ~ 430 hp at the flywheel. Stock manual trans and Dana 44 differential. After more than 400 passes at the dragstrip no u-joint problems. The limited slip seems to last around 200 passes, so I've redone that twice now. If you don't go to the drags and do many burnouts, then your limited slip should go a long time. I would think that on a street car that is not drag raced, even the dana 36 should hold up for a long time.

Thomas

 

6 speed manual, 86k miles. Modifications are as follows...

Vortec air rammer, 1050 cfm MAF housing, Trick flow 58mm throd body, Edlebrock intake man that was port and polished, Trick flow 195cc heads that was port and polished, Hot cam (218 intake/228 exhaust @ .050") with 1.6 ratio roller rockers that gives me a gross lift of .525" (with the new heads I had to go from 7.20" to 7.35" pushrods to give me that lift), true roller timing chain, Hooker super comp. long tube headers (1 7/8" into a 3" collecter) that I wrapped with exhaust wrap, bullet high flow cats, x-pipe, Hooker strait-thru mufflers and I went from 2 3/4" to 3" exhaust.

As far as power increase? I don't have a clue. All I can say right now is alot. When I tried "blowing the cob-webs out" I didn't want to do a burnout at the light so I slowly brought the engine upto 2500 rpm and then got on it pretty hard(I really don't think I had it floored). The back end started to get a little sideways when the ASR kicked in. I'm a little afraid to have it dyno'ed because I was told you had to bring the car upto redline in top gear. The tires I have on the car right now is W rated which means their good upto 150 mph. If the engine is at redline in 6th gear I know the tires will be spinning at better than 150 mph. I got the W rated tires cause they where cheaper and I figured I'd never have the car faster than 150 mph. Guess I never really thought it through. My next set of tires will Z rated and wider in the back for extra grip. That and they look much better.

 

Wow why such a large exhaust/headers? That motor is begging for a larger cam

 

The dyno gear for a C4 M6 is 4th (its the 1:1 gear) C4s with A4s should be dyno'd in Drive (3rd)


Mike

Good luck.

 

I was prepping it for future upgrades. I thought it would be a waste of money to upgrade the exhaust only to upgrade it again because of other engine mods. And I did get a larger cam. .525'' lift is about as much as I want to go because of clearance. I read .575" is the max for clearance but I don't know for sure so I don't want to push it.

 

Thanks a bunch for the info! You've got me looking for the nearest dyno tester!

 

you've done alot of work on the engine chad .wish you luck on the horse power number when you take it to dyno test and let us know,of coures after you have done with the drive train problem.just let us know how much it will hit.
you must take in consern from the begiening,when you started working on the engine ot up grade the drive train.
is your rear end stock 3.45 or 3.7?

 

In my 95 I'm running a tight quench...pistons are .005 in the hole and .027 Cometic MLS head gaskets and I have no clearance issues with a .615 lift (23x 23x on a 110 lsa)

As for u joints I suggest you use a quality solid joint (no grease zerk)

I've had good luck with SPICER and NEAPCO (brute force) ujoints. I change mine annually (same as transmission, power steering and brake fluids)
Mike

 

You're in the same boat as me. I also have a ZF and Dana44. Though I've not yet found out if the drivetrain will hold, my research on the subject showed the ZF and Dana44 very capable of the mods you (we) have.

Because my driveshaft was out of it for the engine swap, I checked it. the rear u-joint seemed to have a little slack so I replaced it. I'm thinking that could be the weakest link.

I should have asked the shop if stronger, upgraded u-joints are available (before I had it replaced).

 

What's the other mods planned? If you got the .6" lift springs, I think you're right about max lift being around .570" (for the coil bind issue). But you can go a little higher for piston-to-valve clearance (depending on duration).

It's interesting that cuisinart would say you're begging for a new cam. For the motor itself, I you're not that far off,,,for the exhaust yes. I guess people who install 3" pipes are looking for max top-end time/power?

 

The lower half of the engine(pistons, crankshaft, ect...) transmission, rearend is all stock. And after I get it dyno'ed, I will let you know how I did. I'm really curious on what increase I've got.

 

I got the exhaust before I worked on the engine. As far as other mods, I'm taking it easy right now because of $(those engine upgrades wasn't cheap). But sometime I would like to get a alum. flywheel, and ultimately a supercharger but that probably won't be for a while cause you can spend major money on a supercharger.

 

Are you sure your exhaust primaries are 1 7/8". That is pretty huge for a 350 ci motor on the street. I put 1 7/8" headers on my 08 Z06 with a 427 but that redlines at 7000 rpm. My bracket car with a 406 which I shift at 6500 uses 1 3/4". You are losing a lot of bottom end with those headers which probably won't give you any advantage until over 6000 rpm.

 

I replaced my u-joints with Lakewood heavyduty performance u-joints and so far she rolls along just fine (hope she stays that way). Thanks to everyone for the great info!