Interesting thought on tranny capabilities...

[dannyb785]

ok, so apparently my tranny can withhold 360 hp before it starts to go out. Does that mean if my car has 400 peak horsepower that I'd need to think about changing it? Here's the reason for my question...


when you shift into whatever gear, the rpms are lower once you are engaging the clutch and therefore the horsepower is lower. Say my car peaks 400 hp @ 5200, and from 2nd gear to 3rd(shifting @ 5200), the rpms would drop to around 3500 or 4000. However, pretend that my hp @ 3500 rpms is only like, 330 hp(just guessing). Wouldnt that mean that the clutch/tranny is only actually handling 330 hp at the max? Or am I just not thinking right?

[shad0ws]

You really shouldn't be worrying about this because there are tons of people in the 400HP range with the stock trannies and they are still going strong.

[whitethunder46]

Never really understood how you can accurately tell how much a Tranny can hold. For instance, with a Performance Automatic Transmission, some say they hold up to 400HP. That seems very low for an aftermarket mostly built tranny.

[dannyb785]

I'm not worrying for my sake. If anything, what shadowsGT mentioned proves my theory true. So if your car has 400 hp, you have nothing to worry about since the max your clutch/tranny ever feels is about 350

[Icefreezen]

I like the theory as your tranny can handle as much as your engine which is 400 hp.......which has been proven true and just makes sense

[caballo]

It's not the HP, it the TQ.

which is the twisting force on the pieces of your tranny that cause it to fail. I haven't seen to many hp ratings on trannies. I've seen TQ ratings, though.

Although it would be very easy to convert the tq rating to a hp rating, problem with that is if you change where you make the hp in the powerband you change the peak torque. However if you go by peak tq rating then it doesn't matter where that peak is in the powerband.

Just my 2 pennies...

[WaterDR]

Problem is people throw out numbers all the time, but you don't know if it is bhp or rwhp.

stock trannies are fine to 500 or so hp. Keep in mind that slicks changes things quite a bit.

[two-niner]

WTF? The horsepower in the engine never changes. CABALLO is right on the money. IT's torque.torque. and the torque. The other stuff is called marketing.

[dannyb785]

Originally Posted by two-niner

WTF? The horsepower in the engine never changes. CABALLO is right on the money. IT's torque.torque. and the torque. The other stuff is called marketing.

ok wtfever. torque..my bad. My point wasnt focused on the hp rating. My point was that even if an engines torque maxes at 400 hp, you shifting and engaging the clutch provides power more around 350. so i was asking if thats why people with 400 hp can keep their stock trannies w/o problem

[02Stang]

Originally Posted by MT's#1Customer!

Problem is people throw out numbers all the time, but you don't know if it is bhp or rwhp.

stock trannies are fine to 500 or so hp. Keep in mind that slicks changes things quite a bit.

I don't think so bud, My tranny was fine before blower and now 4 months later I have no third gear. so 500hp before they go!!! why be cheap buy an upgrade like i am.

[dom]

500rwtq stock auto trans goes low 11s on slicks

[spike_africa]

it can hold 360ftlbs not Hp. And the 3650 has a mostly good background. Alot of people like it and think its good for a mild or not to crazy car. Some people like 02stang dont liek them and they died on them. At the some token i know of many guys on modular depot who are pushing close to or a bit over 400rwhp and using stock trannys for a good amount of time now. Me i would only replace once it dies.

[whitethunder46]

Quick question, about stock auto's.

If you installed a new valvebody and a stall convertor along with a tranny cooler. Would this help hold more HP or is there a lot more to it?

Say you went one step further and installed all new Alto Red Clutches, would this constitute a pretty good tranny re-build?

[dom]

valvetrain?

[whitethunder46]

Edit: Valvebody

[dom]

the only way youd need to upgrade clutches are if you want to run a transbrake u gotta add a reverse clutch. just get a valvebody, cooler, and a deep sump pan. a converter will be a stronger converter but it will create more heat.

[spike_africa]

The valve body,cooler,and deep pan will make it last longer and not slip. So in a sense yeah it will hold more power. The main thing which i cant stress enough to my freinds who drive auto's is to change there tranny fluide alot. If you drive your car hard change it every 25k or less miles. Even though the manual says you can go 60-80k on the fluide dont its the life blood of your tranny change it alot. Keeping it clean will make it last along time. Anyone who has delt with autos alot knows what i mean.

[dom]

i thought the manual says 30k. i do mine every 10

[MattJ]

horsepower sells cars. torque wins races.

a lot of people seem to forget that.

[spike_africa]

Originally Posted by dom

i thought the manual says 30k. i do mine every 10

I was going off what my f150 manual said. they didnt want you to change the fluide till 60-80k miles which is nuts. But yeah you really gotta change the tranny fluide in an auto alot to keep it alive, like dom does even though i think thats a bit soon but i would rather change it alot then change the tranny out alot.

[dom]

well 10k for me is different than 10k for most people. for a daily driver car you rack up 10k consisting of lots of easy driving and highway. 10k for me takes a long time as i do not drive my car a lot especially in the winter so my mileage consists of much more racing. in the colder months the only time i bring my car out is if i have a race .