well, ive come to the conclusion that i wanna swap to auto in order to utilize my cars power the best way possible. Now i realy like the powerglide 2spd but im also kinda in favor of the c4 do to its smaller size. I have very limited room and im not even sure if a th350 bellhousing will even fit considering my trans is about 14.5 wide and the th350 is 20in wide at the bellhousing.
Anyone know anyone that could help me in figuring out a trans adapter plate and proper converter/gearing and such for my power goals???
yes, he tried to sell me a kit for a c4 tranny swap for something rediculous like 3500bucs. Im not paying the bmw tax on something i can figure out or atleast attempt to figure out myself.
derrick, ill contact you sometime tommorow. Im at work now unless midnight isnt too late.
the GM bolt pattern on a turbo350, or any other SBC based trans is 16" wide and approx 9" from crank centerline to top bolt hole, which isnt used and can be cut of if needed
how much $$ we talkin for a c4 that will handle 8-900whp? only reason im leaning towards c4 is because i can probably get the adapter plate and shit easiest for it.
would you like to help me swap manual transmissions/ axles and whatever else decides to break from teh abuse of an manual trans? lol trust me its not fun and very inconsistant at the track. I can barely shift fast enough with 640whp let alone the power i plan on making with my built motor.
^^^actually ive seen guys go just as fast in a manual as an automatic in this hp range. and you can always have things hardened and strengthen things up. no sense in putting a different transmission in if your gonna leave the rest of the drivetrain in, itll get beat up anyways. its not so much the manual that causes breakage but traction is far worse then the shock.
anywho. run powerglide. full race setup can be extremely light and far lighter then the ford trans. make an adapter plate or have one made. run no convertor. look into tci for internal components. competition in nt may be able to help as well. id look into running this shifter: http://www.summitracing.com/parts/SBR-OSE-C/
my buddy’s dad runs the biondo co2 actuated shifter in their vette(as seen pulling wheelstands at lancaster) with a powerglide trans and thats doing well with their 1200hp sbc.
might as well swap to a 9inch in back, plenty of stuff out there for them, and will hold up to the power. id run full spool to reduce rotational weight, although it wont be too much as a built powerglide has hardly any rotational weight.
denny’s driveshafts does good work with a good warrenty. will take atleast a few weeks depending on time of year.
How much power and torque do you make and at what rpm and how much does the car weigh? A 'glide only works well with a car with a lot of torque/wt. First gear is 1.76 on the OEM HD input shaft type setup. You can get a higher 1st gear ratio, but besides being quite costly, this will also make the jump to high that much greater. In the 70’s I had a Chevelle with a 454 and a 'glide and the tall first gear was a real problem. I run a 'glide on my race car now, but that’s 540ci and ~2,000lbs.
Without knowing the details of you setup, it’s hard to say for sure but I am going to guess that a 3-speed would work a hell of a lot better. Standard TH-350 gears are 2.52/1.52/1.0. A 350 can be built to handle in the range of 850hp and is pretty inexpensive to boot. As far as getting it to mate with you motor, I dunno anything about Beemers, so sorry about that.
