Transmission swap
 

OK so I'm still on the fence about getting forged internals installed in my engine so that I can increase the boost from my turbo, and one of the things that is putting me off (other than the price) is the fact that I've seen a few people here mention the stock transmission not being very strong. It seems pointless spending all that time and money beefing up the engine if the transmission won't take much more power anyway.

But despite a lot of people complaining about the stock tranny, I haven't found any details of people swapping them or finding any other kind of solution for this... other than one thread about getting some custom made gears (which a few people didn't seem keen on) and one thread mentioning a Tremec magnum XL tranny swap should be possible but I don't think anyone actually went ahead and did it.

So anyone that's got experience of this - what options do I have? Are there any known transmissions that fit in our cars ok and will handle the higher power?

Also, is there anything else that needs strengthening or sorting out? I've already got a stronger clutch, drive shafts (or "axles" to you Americans) rated up to 600 bhp, uprated fuel injectors, oil cooler, and planning to get the Reimax oil pump gear if I go for the forged engine build. So what will be the next problem that stops us increasing the power (after the tranny) ?

Thanks
Chris

the tremec was done by accelerated performance. the problem with them is they don't like to be shifted at high rpm.

there is a PAR gearset available. well, kind of available at the moment. they had to change a few things because there was a slight issue during install. but that's out there.

you can do the v160, v161 conversion from full blown. basically a bulletproof trans (for the power the fa20 will make). trans itself is $6-7k new, $5k-ish used. so it adds up quick. usually around $11k all said and done

we are doing a GM auto trans conversion since we drag race/street drive. another bulletproof setup but i doubt many at all will want to switch to an auto like we do

Thanks for the response. When people say the tremec doesn't like to be shifted at high RPM, do you know how high they are talking? I've no plans to increase the limiter on my 86 so the max its ever going to be shifted at is like 7500 RPM.

I'll look in to the v160 and v161 option you mentioned too thanks.

6000rpm and above people complain about the tko transmissions being hard to get into gear. We had issues around 6-6500 on a t56 with an ls2 swap as well. 3-4 shift mostly.

The v160 is a great trans for a street car making good power. Would pretty much never fail on you and shifts great. Also fullblown has a complete swap already together for purchase

TH400?

we actually put the auto on hold because we acquired a custom bell housing from a buddy of ours for a tremec. we went straight to a faceplated tko600 so there wouldn't be any shifting issues like the stock tremec synchronized units. takes a little getting used to on the street but at high rpm it shifts perfect every time.

PAR engineering all the way. Sorry I am biased, however you can now talk to jacks transmissions as they are now officially the exclusive dealer for North America. The fitment issues were fixed, but we will see I guess.