Hope it all goes well. Have they given you any indication of what kind of power the transmission will be able to handle? My builder has said the gearbox is far to small to handle massive amounts of torque. He reckons the custom gearset will be 25-30% stronger than OEM but this will likely shift the weakest point to the transmission housing... My builder also mentioned that the OEM gears a packed close together so using wider gears with a longer pitch isn't really an option as there is insignificant room. Due to the size of the housing they are unable to increase the size of 5th gear so they have suggested a combination of changing the final drive ratio along with custom individual gears.

 

Thank you dmg210. I just received a communication from him a few days ago and he's finally re-commencing work on my set (so he says). We did discuss the maximum power/torque handling capability of the gearset and he said somewhere in the 650 hp/tq range. I asked him if I made more than 650 if it would handle it and his response was "you will not break it". You have to remember that going from helical cut to straight cut gears allows the load on the gear teeth to be spread across the entire width of the tooth rather than the teeth "rolling" across each other - putting all of the load on a very small portion of the gear teeth. In addition, the lower pitch of the straight cut gear teeth mean there is much more material in the root area to absorb/distribute the torque load.



He said he'd be ready to ship within the next couple of weeks, which means in about 6 months he should have it finished :biggrin: . I asked him to send me pictures, if I get them I'll post em up.



Of course getting the set completed is only the first part, I then have to hope that it fits properly in the transmission case and functions without issue. This is one of my biggest concerns. I'd hate to invest this kind of money and time to only end up with a gearset that doesn't function or fit as promised.



Can't wait to hear that whine!

 

That's going to be an interesting set of noises, between tire/road, wind, and the gears.

 

UPDATE



The gearset is completed! My family is visiting my brother (who lives in Australia) and they're picking up the completed work on Monday. It worked out perfectly, now I don't have to pay an astrinomical amount for shipping and there should be no worries about customs delays either! Hopefully it fits in the case without issue and everything works as it should. I'm still nervous about clearances etc...



He ended up going with a 3.12:1 ratio, which will give me about 160mph in 4th and over 200 in 5th (though the car would likely take off at that point as it was not aerodynamically designed to travel at that speed lol).



Once I have it in hand I'll post up some pics.

 

That's awesome news!



The ratio is perfect as well. If you truly decide to take that beast to its limits, you'll want all that gearing for the dragstrip, Texas Mile, and TX2K. (hoping you enter these lol)

 

I guess that means *now* is the time to inquire about the cost of a set of gears, since they already have the design

 

I think it'd be nice to have a set of stock ratio forged gears. Granted the ratios varied from certain years.

 

Awesome news :-) Hope it all goes back together ok. I thought my ratios were tall but wow you'll literally be flying!

 

If you have to ask you can't afford it..

 

Thanks everyone, I'm definitely excited to get this setup and in the car for testing. Maybe one day Jon lol, once the transmission is tested & confirmed to perform as expected I'll work on getting the Full Race manifold I've had my eye on in addition to a twin scroll Garrett GTX turbo (probably 3076 rather than the likely laggy 3582).



On the note of cost, now's the time to inquire as the exchange rate is really in our favor. $1 US is $1.33 AUD, so all in all it cost me approximately $5500 USD including shipping my gearset to him. The only worry I'd have if you want to order this without sending in your gears is that there may be minor differences in the trans cases from year to year? I don't even remember what car the transmission is out of (I went through so many). I'm sure the code on the case could provide some insight to this if needed.



I'm also a bit worried on clearance for the pinion gear at the 3.12 ratio, it's going to be mighty close to the case due to the larger diameter... I'll machine a few extra mm if needed but have started getting concerned about the case strength. I'm wondering if I should do something with it to improve its durability? Maybe have the exterior shot peened or even cryo treat the entire case? Or both? Damn I should have thought about this sooner lol.



Here are a couple photos he sent me: