Is the stock transmission good for road racing?

[ceedawg]

I plan on getting a southbend clutch for my car. I just question whether the internals of my transmission will be up to par. Or if its necessary to upgrade it?

 

[snowborder714]

How much power/torque are you putting down? If a good bit, then you will probably want to consider some stronger internals.

 

[ceedawg]

How much power/torque are you putting down? If a good bit, then you will probably want to consider some stronger internals.

I was kinda afraid of that. I'm going to sell my BW300sx turbo for the new smaller BW 7670 so we are probably talking about 450 to 500
awhp.

 

[Scott McIntyre]

I stripped 3rd gear on the road course with my FP Big28 and a Shep Stage 4.

It couldn't have been power, so I'm attributing it to heat & metal fatigue. Now I've got transmission cooler and a temp gauge installed.

 

[ceedawg]

I stripped 3rd gear on the road course with my FP Big28 and a Shep Stage 4.

It couldn't have been power, so I'm attributing it to heat & metal fatigue. Now I've got transmission cooler and a temp gauge installed.

And that was with a shep stg 4 wow!
How did you hook up the tranny cooler?

 

[arrowhead]

And that was with a shep stg 4 wow!
How did you hook up the tranny cooler?

I also plan to use a tranny cooler and thought of different places to mount it but have not decided yet would like to see options.

 

[donniekak]

And that was with a shep stg 4 wow!
How did you hook up the tranny cooler?

Unless you get a ppg dogbox, you are running stock mitsu gears, no matter what stage it is.

 

[ceedawg]

Unless you get a ppg dogbox, you are running stock mitsu gears, no matter what stage it is.

That I know,but a dogbox aint happening!

 

[snowborder714]

You'll find pictures of Scott's transmission cooler setup in this thread.
Maritime DSM :: View topic - 2011 Pre-Season Prep

 

[Scott McIntyre]

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[slowAWDTSi]

Unless you get a ppg dogbox, you are running stock mitsu gears, no matter what stage it is.

+1

Only help you can get is a cooler setup.

 

[ceedawg]

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Where did you mount the pump and where on the tranny did you put the AN fittings?

 

[snowborder714]

Did you happen to read the thread I linked you to?


Pump

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Oil feed (into trans)

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Oil return (out of trans) plus two senders - temp gauge left & fan/pump thermostat right

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[sparky1987]

Mad props on the info man never even thought of a cooler on a manual trans.

 

[D_Eclipse9916]

I stripped 3rd gear on the road course with my FP Big28 and a Shep Stage 4.

It couldn't have been power, so I'm attributing it to heat & metal fatigue. Now I've got transmission cooler and a temp gauge installed.

How many miles were on the transmission? I did years of road course work with 310-400hp and never had any problems with my bone stock transmission; but that was a newer car 1998 and only had 60-80k miles during that period of 04-09.


Im just trying to dispel any facts that you HAVE to do it. What clutch was on the car? Agressive clutches will strip gears much faster than any power.

 

[arrowhead]

I think a cooler for tranny is a must for a road course, I dont like the placement of this cooler as it sits very low and an off road excursion can tear a lot of stuff being that low. If it has to be there some screening as protection should be used.

Is the impeller in the pump brass or rubber of some kind?

 

[Scott McIntyre]

How many miles were on the transmission?
What clutch was on the car? Agressive clutches will strip gears much faster than any power.

The Shep trans was 3rd hand, but only a few years old. Likely less than 10-15K miles on it.

The 2nd owner ran a ACT 2600, and I ran a CFDF. Dunno about the original owner.

Another factor might be that I swapped out the original 4 spider for my Cusco center diff, and set the preload as best I could using the shims I had on-hand. I don't remember the exact numbers, but it was on the loose side of factory specs.

I'm not trying to say that you absolutely must have a tranny cooler to track your DSM. There are lots of variables involved (power / ambient temperature / session length / frequency of events / track itself / etc.). But I sent detailed photos of my gear failure to both TRE & Shep, and they theorized the failure was caused by metal fatigue due to heat cycles experienced on the road course, and suggested installing a cooler could help extend the service life of my transmission.

Hence why I currently have a manual transmission cooler installed.

I think a cooler for tranny is a must for a road course, I dont like the placement of this cooler as it sits very low and an off road excursion can tear a lot of stuff being that low. If it has to be there some screening as protection should be used.

Is the impeller in the pump brass or rubber of some kind?

My cooler isn't that low. The engine and transmission sit much lower than the cooler itself, and if the front end were to bottom out the car would have to dig into the dirt quite a bit before the cooler would hit. If it ever did, I'll have much bigger things to worry about.

I have an identical engine cooler mounted the exact same way on the driver's side as well.

As for the pump impeller... I don't know. It's a Tilton #40-524.

 

[arrowhead]

I see where it is mounted higher than I though maybe it was the angle that you took the pic, I would still say that for longevity of the tranny a cooler is a most, maybe since I am in FL. and the heat is always present and we also run a lot of enduros 1.2.and 3 hrs long.

What temps did you read with the cooler on and off?

What size radiator are you using?

 

[Scott McIntyre]

What temps did you read with the cooler on and off?

What size radiator are you using?

That info is all in the thread Brian linked to above, but I'm running two identical B&M plate-type aluminum coolers (8 in. x 11 in. x 1 1/2 in) for both the trans and engine oil.

My trans temps would easily reach 240°F in 15-20 minute track sessions before the cooler. I can't really give a good after comparison, because I was having trouble with the thermostat that turns my pump & fan on. Plus I only made it to the track a few times all summer due to other issues.

One thing I do need (and intend) to add is proper ducting between the coolers and the openings in the front fascia.