Alright guys I'm building my 55 gassed style (with a arms) and have no ideas what time it will run, and I'm not going to say yeah it's gonna be a 9 second car. But I have about a 500 horse small block and want a 4 or 5 speed. I want it street and strip, and used to want it to be way more street but to be honest I want to race the carp out of it and have it be able to put up with my torture! So if anyone knows what trans to use I'd love to hear it. Even though I said I have about 500hp now I want to eventually build a low compression sbc and put a roots blower on. So like if I can find something I can rape and have about 800hp and still cruise and just drive, that would be bitchin!!!! Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
I couldn't figure out an affordable way to do it, so I have a full manual shift th400 with a switch pitch converter, and yeah, it actually ran a 9, and I've put thousands of miles on it in less than a year. I have under a thousand bucks in it, but I built the trans myself.
Not sure that you are going to find a manual transmission that fits this bill, for less than the price of the entire rest of the car.
Not a 5-speed, and pretty sure that at it is not going to handle 800hp, and whatever the accompanying torque is, although it would be streetable.
Ok well 800hp is just kind of what I would like to some time. It seems impossible but that's why I want it. I have heard muncie, g force, Borg warner, jerico, all kinds of trans. I mean now I have a cummins 6 speed with programmer and injectors dual disc and it's pretty crazy for a daily driver and it kinda upsets me that that truck has that much tq and power with a stock Mercedes trans
The toughest trans I ever owned and I still have it. Is a ford top loader from behind a FE. It the one with the large inpuit shaft. The crysler four speeds from behind 440,s are reputed to be stout. Ive tore up more Muncie 4 speed,s than I can count.
Agree with the Old Wolf. 1 3/8 Toploaders are monsters. Even those behind small blocks are plenty strong. The Jericho road race transmission is basically an updated Top Loader. I used both versions. I currently have a top loader in my avatar '53 Ford. Another option to run on the highway and have OD would be a Richmond 5 speed.
I am putting a 396 bored 60 over with a m20 in mine. ,I had a m22 in my other 55 and it held up well. back in the day those were the only good ones we had to chose from.
I'm an Old Fart and have put many miles on standard shift transmissions but if you indeed have as much power as you think then the only way to go is with an automatic trans. 400HP on the street demands your full attention and 800HP will have you learning new ways to drive on medians, esplanades, railroad tracks and other obstacles.
I guess I've put too many miles on my blown big blocks....I'm jaded....there's nothing special about driving a car like that. Just don't push the go pedal down unless you're pointed the right way, and the road is dry and relatively smooth. Not much to it.
If you plan on being in the 800 hp zone, you need to look at a Lenco planetary transmission. Expensive as hell, but no worries about breakage.
Well the Ford top loader is as stout as you will ever need but the Muncie Rock (M-22) crusher will no doubt hold up as well. My experience on transmissions is that under 1000 HP it has a lot to do with finesse to keep one together, and breaking is racing just as much as winning is. I am going to go out on a limb here and say that an 800 HP small block is not going to be a real streetable engine. Unless of course you are considering an LS to be a small block and then you are probably right close to not being as streetable as the magazines say that you are.
600 or so hp would be not too hard to do with a blown small block, and will be plenty fun to drive. I would expect you could get a manual trans to live behind it without getting too exotic. Interesting thing about Drag Week, the really fast cars are pretty much all running aftermarket TH400s now, they've got away from the Lencos. these are 2000 + hp cars that are actually streetable. Not many blowers among them, though.
Lencos are not a really street friendly transmission. I like 'em and even though they don't quite fit the "traditional mode" I would use one if I had it but they are not a really street friendly transmission. I like turbo 400s but I have always been a strange duck. I think that an 800 HP small block could be built, it would take a little more then just lowering your compression and bolting a blower on it. But Jim you already know that my idea of a blower motor has little to do with what most guys are running. I imagine with a little calculation you could even build one that would survive on the street but it would not be in 800 HP mode on the street. You would want it under driven on the street and over driven on the track, and I would think that you would want to be able to swap it to alcohol on the track, or set it up to methanol spray on the track. I wish I was wealthy enough to give it a whirl.
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