NEW PRODUCT: DTE High Performance Differential Strut...

We are pleased to announce the release of a new C5 Corvette drivetrain component that significantly increases the strength of the differential and transmission assembly for high performance use. This product was designed, engineered and tested by DTE, in an effort to solve the problem of differential case fracture, transmission case breakage and driveline deflection during hard acceleration on the street, road coarse or drag strip.

The DTE Differential Strut is designed to be a true bolt-on drivetrain upgrade for any year C5 Corvette with a manual transmission and does not require modification to the vehicle of any kind to install. Each kit comes complete painted red or black for corrosion resistance and includes all the necessary brackets, fasteners, hardware and detailed photo enhanced instructions required for a hassle free installation. The entire kit is easily installed or removed while the driveline is in the car and is designed to be a true, bolt-on installation kit that can be installed in two hours or less using regular, commonly found hand tools. Finally, there is no driveline vibration/noise resonated into the passenger compartment/cabin and interior sound levels are unaffected from O.E.M.

Only the strongest materials and components are used in its manufacture and the principle of adding strength with out adding a lot of unnecessary weight was the engineering goal that was successfully achieved. We've identified the three most common causes for driveline failure and engineered this product to address and correct those negative driveline issues in a lightweight, compact package. The entire kit weighs only 26 lbs. and is engineered to spread the drivetrain stress loading over a greater area and to the strongest components in the Corvette driveline. Superior strength in this product by design was successfully achieved with out adding unnecessary weight to the vehicle.

Each transmission and differential bracket girdle are manufactured using precision-cut, 3/8" thick, 1018 cold-rolled steel for durability and an exact fit. The adjustable strut rods are manufactured using T-304 stainless steel and are 9/16" in diameter for strength, while still being lightweight. We also utilize HD, stainless steel-ball Hiem joints at both ends for ease of assembly and strut rod durability. All threaded mounting holes are tapped with a fine thread count to increase thread engagement and surface area for strength. As a final touch, all brackets are engraved with our own DTE logo.

There will be an A/T version released very soon for the A4 transmission and it will be built with the same attention to detail and engineering principles that the M/T version currently has. A Stage II version is in development at this time and more details will be released later.


Stage I Kit Design Features:
The Stage I high performance street kit is engineered to counter-act the destructive upward wrap-up action of the differential during hard acceleration that is equal to and opposite of, forward motion of the wheels. Adjustable strut rods connect the transmission to the differential by providing a pre-load against this natural wrap-up action, which often causes the differential case to fracture at the transmission-mounting flange. In some cases, the transmission output shaft will also be damaged or broken when the differential breaks away from the transmission.

This differential strut increases the overall strength and rigidity of the diff./trans. assembly as a whole and provides increased stability to the entire rear drivetrain. The steel brackets secured to the transmission bell-housing flange and around the differential case cover perimeter act as strengthening "girdles" that adds differential case and transmission bell housing flange rigidity for strength. These steel girdles spread the driveline shock loads over a greater surface area, therefore decreasing differential mounting flange cracks and transmission output shaft failures. The differential girdle incorporates a steel cross-strut rod that counteracts any possible deflection of the upper girdle by tying the two sides of the differential together, side-to-side. Each one of the four adjustable steel strut rods are secured to their respective girdle brackets by heavy duty, steel-ball Hiem joints at both ends and each strut rod is independently adjustable to set pre-load of the entire assembly at all four corners. Lastly, each strut rod has a hex machined into the exterior of the bar to allow for easy turning or adjustment of the rod pre-load.

Application:
1997-'04 C5 Corvette with M/T
May be used with 2 or 3-series carrier assy. using any gear ratio


Stage I HP Street/Strip Kit Includes:
3-piece differential girdle bracket set w/ fine-threaded strut rod mounting blocks pre-welded
2-piece transmission bell housing bracket set w/ fine-threaded strut rod mounting blocks pre-welded
4 T-304 stainless steel adjustable 9/16" O.D. main strut rods w/ fine-threaded female ends
4 5750lb. capacity/ea. stainless steel-ball, fine-threaded Hiem joints
1 1/2" O.D. stainless steel cross-strut rod w/ threaded female ends
Hardened fasteners, studs, washers and related hardware
Red and black painted coating, or can be left bare for custom color matching
Detailed instructions w/ installation photos
DTE decals
Lifetime warranty

Introductory Complete Kit Price: $369.00


Photos: (click the link on this page) http://www.dynotech-eng.com/dte_c5_diff.htm
http://www.dynotech-eng.com/product_r_d.htm

Availability:
The first 25 complete kits are in production now and will be ready for shipment at the end of this month; as all of the strut rods are complete and the brackets are soon to follow.

For those of you that would like a kit from the first run, you may call the office to place the order and you will not be billed until shipment date. (260)407-5455 x11
(Patent Pending)

Thank you gents and have a good week! :)


Best Regards,
Phil Rickard
President
Dynotech Engineering, Inc. http://www.dynotech-eng.com





[Modified by DynoTech Engineering, 7:13 PM 2/16/2004]

 

Phil, I'm in for a red one. I'll send you a money order next week.

George "Torxila" Gray

 

looks :cool: :cool: :cool: :cool: seems to be very high quality and a fair price :thumbs: :thumbs: :thumbs: :thumbs:

 

:iagree: :cool:

 

George-
No need to send payment just yet. We'll save one for you from this first run. :)

Regards,
Phil

 

Phil,

I'm in for one, black please

Mike

 

I am interested in one also. Also interested in your HO shaft. I assume you have tested this product....what kind of HP was the car you tested it on making?

 

I'm impressed, a very well engineered product. Congrats.

 

EatRice-
The 300M shaft or the differential strut??

If you're referring to the differential strut, then here's a response I posted on another board that is an answer to your question:
<snip>
We've not attached a strain gage device to measure torque loading on the drive line assy., because in order to measure actual yield of the differential case, one would have to twist the differential case until fracture, which is not feasible here for what we're doing.

What we have done however, is test this product on customers' cars that frequently visit the drag strip and subject their car to extreme drive line abuse by dropping the clutch at 6000 RPM on the launch pad...

During all last Summer, after repeated unsuccessful attempts to "break" the rear differential case/transmission with our strut installed while at the dragstip, we were confidant that we found the right combination to make these Corvette drive lines live under this severe abuse when drag slicks are used.

Most Corvette owners will not subject their car to the abuse that our test subjects did, over, and over, and over, weekend after weekend. If it can protect the drive line under their car's after all that punishment, it certainly has the ability to provide drive line protection for the general Corvette masses.

Just the simplicity of it's design w/ it's uniquely placed strut rods, equally counteracts the forces that causes drive line deflection and ultimately differential case fracture. The differential strut forces the differential assy. to work against itself, hence the protection.
<snip>

To answer your second question:
One of the two car's we tested this on was an N2o car w/ a .4 starting line activation delay that produced 627 RWHP/691 RWTQ. The other was a N/A, H/C car with power in the mid 440's/406's that had a starting line launch of 6100 RPM.

Regards,
DTE

 

May be a :crazy: question but..... Why would you not recommend this for an A4 car? Wouldn't a Vette with like 3.73's, 3600 stall t/c and drag slicks have something to benefit from here too? Just curious. :lurk:

BTW, thanks to your organization for being an innovative supplier to the Vette community. :cheers:

 

I am putting it on a A4 car that I launch pretty hard.

 

I am interested in this also. Can you give me a call when you get the batch in? Thanks, Kaley

 

Well what will be the difference in the stage 2?

 

Phil, put me down for a black one :thumbs: I'll call ya later

 

dads01dream-
We never stated that we didn't recommend this upgrade for the A4....... We just don't have the A4 kit completed just yet.

kumar75150-
As stated in our first post, details of the Stage II will be released later on.


Regards,
Phil
DTE

 

OOOOHHHH, thanks for clarifying that. From you original post, this sure looked like a terrific product, but I mistakenly assumed it was an "M6" only upgrade.

:cheers:

 

Looks very similar to one that was fabbed up by someone on this site last year after busting a rear.

I must say, it looks very nice. I'm definitely interested...

 

That was me. :) My car is still together after many high-RPM launches since putting one in. :D

 

I couldn't remember who specifically, thanks for chiming in.

 

Interesting. Since my A4 C5 is already in your shop, do you want to use me as a test for your A4 design? :D