Hey All,

Whelp I had the chance to grab ahold of Chris' ear this afternoon concerning my 2.73 gear "problem" (THEY ). I feel bad pulling him away from a busy shop on his first day back from a 4 day hiatus, but I've been chomping at the bit for almost a week now over this subject.

Chris asked me several questions about how I use my Vette today and what my future goals are for the car, his impression was to stick with 3.42's and go with an SS3600 T/C. Heck it's a little cheaper, gets me a brand-spankin' new diff from Getrag and of course a new T/C.

Soooooooo, I'll be getting this setup installed together with my D1-SC kit from Andy @ A.&A. They're going to make every effort to have the car buttoned up for me to pickup this Sunday.

I CAN'T WAIT!!!

The power estimate is around 470-485rwhp, I told him to PUHLEEZZE keep it conservative as I want the motor to last at least a year before my next round of significant mods.

Here are my questions for all - Do you have any tips/suggestions that would help me to keep the tranny living a good life for some time? What really causes these darned things to fail so quickly?

My use is almost ENTIRELY street (will be buying some Nitto DRs) and I'd like to make a Corvette Challenge event once or twice a year as well. Heck I'd go more frequently but the kids get a little scared with loud car noises.

Lastly, what do you all think of that T/C & Gear combo? Anyone have it already on a blower car? Some driving impressions would be nice.

Thanks to all for your continued support and I'm sure once I get this thing home there will be a bunch more questions.

 

Cool!

To answer your question about drivetrain failure: what causes these things to fail is stress. There is less stress if you have street tires on since your car will just spin. If you put on slicks, then something else in the drivetrain will have to fail... maybe your output shaft? Beef that up and something else will fail. Maybe your clutch? Beef that up and maybe your tranny goes... who knows.

I almost wonder if the best strategy would be to beef everything up except for one component that is cheap and easily accessible (output shaft maybe?) That way if something is going to give you can make it the cheapest/easiest replacement

 

Hey!

How's your project progressing along? Did you p/u the car yesterday?

 

Diynoob... that about the smartest thing i've ever heard anyone say... i might try that.

 

Heat....

Heat kills a tranny, and quick. I'd suggest getting a tranny cooler. I've not done any research on this, but I'm fairly certain you can pick one up for <$400.

 

but thats only 1/2 the problem the other 1/2 is the torque converter is also a torque multiplier so it's really pretty simple if you put 400 lbft into a 2-1 stall torque ratio converter the input of the trans sees 800 lbft for a short time.
Going to the 3.42 will help keep the loads down but you bring it back up with the stall converter and then add heat besides.

I have the ATI kit with 3.42 and a stock converter and moniter the trans temps when I'm racing and find it stays quite normal.
I'm also using the tires as a fuse so not to break anything if thats possible with 460+ rwhp.

But sooner or later I see a trans upgrade in my future
So do it now if you can, it'll save you a bundle in the future because most likley you'll have to replace the converter when you grenade the A4.

 

I'm actually heading up to ECS tomorrow to get a retune (8 months later...)

They do great work and i am sure you will be more then pleased.

It's funny, i was supposed to get 4.11's installed at ECS and instead i ended up with a s/c....

 

LOL, sounds like you talked to Doug first thing when you got up there.

 

Yes.... DAMNED that Chris & Doug!!!! Of course I'll be cursing them under my breath all the while smiling from ear to ear with my new-found power.