How tough is tough

1QuikV6

Registered User
The whole reason i am dead set on finding a 5 speed SC is because Ive been told over and over that its the toughest tranny you can get in an SC as opposed to the AOD. But Ive found a few AODs I really like.....so what should I do? yea, Id love to have a 5 speed to get that much better of a driving experience, but right now an SC is an SC to me.
 
AODs can be built to handle as much power as you want to make. I'm planning to use a Lentech or an Art Carr AOD in my 347 turbo SC. I expect to be making over 600 rwhp and 700 rwtq and the transmission is the least of my worries.

AODs are not nearly as efficent as the 5 speed (especially w/non locking converter) but they are much easier to drive at the track and generally eliminate wheel hop.

David
 
Im just affraid to settle with an AOD... The thing ive hated about my LX is that its an auto. Its taken a lot of driving exitement out of it. About how much power can the stock AOD handle before i need to consider some bulletproofing? 300hp? 400hp? Or should torque factors play more of a role?
 
5 speeds rule in my opinion

I have 4 Autos and 2 - 5 speeds.
In my youth I was a bike street racer, had a 10 second Suzuki, almost killed myself a half dozen times on the street. Many weeks in critical condition, etc....
I have since moved onto cars and midlife crisis.

The one 5 speed is quick enough to out drag a 330i and just edged a 275hp camaro to 100mph......looses about few car lengths to a C5 to about 100mph. I have never had so much fun with a car. Have driven many performance cars, BMWs, vettes, had a 428 supercobrajet mustang, my wife has a 99 328 (boring), ....but this 5 speed is the love of my life.

The other 5 speed is a stocker and is very boring and to the point of frustration on the road that I have to try so hard to beat cars that I meet up with. That's the downfall of a stock or not so modified 5 speed.

A stock auto by comparison could be arguably much more fun.
With a stock or reasonably modified auto you can do easy burnouts from a stop light, which is fun, plus you can beat most cars while eating a ham sandwich. But once you get to higher horse power, you will probably find that you will have control problems in certain situations on the street, especially kicking down to 2nd around turns at high speed, etc. The lentech would be a big improvement in this regard because of the driver switchability in all gears.

The auto also has a lot of utility in playing with cars in 3rd gear (assume stock gearing) going to around 100mph. I have beaten supposedly formidable opponents (227 hp subarus and many others) using the SC stock auto in 3rd gear in that 70 to 110 mph range.

The only downside I see in the auto is the fact that you would be reving higher in 3rd for a greater percentage of the time as compared with the 5 speed in 4th. The 5 speed in 4th can do approximately the same damage on the street....but I would give the edge to the auto in that range.

Bottom line is many people here are into dragging....many not be into street racing like I am. I get my kicks racing 330is on back road and things like that. I also like driving superbikes off the road. That's the kind of fun you can have with even a reasonably modified 5 speed.
 
What I have decided is that I like the 5-speed alot better than my old AOD. ALOT less can go wrong with this transmission. I mean if your AOD didn't drive, there are so many variables inside that transmission that could cause any problem. My AOD had black fluid coming out of it, wtf did that come from?

The only problem I have is the wheel hop in the 5-speed, I have read that some guys blew up their M5R2's just from the massive wheel hop. When I do punch it in 1st I am more worried about snapping a shaft than beating the guy next to me. But again, theres alot less to break in an M5R2 than an AOD and rebuilding the M5R2 is alot cheaper if my memory is correct
 
pros and cons

Wheel hop is a big factor in my 89 5 speed also. If I can get rid of that problem I would have no worries with it. Like tony8470 said, Im afraid of snapping some parts from a launch. The manual is much more exciting to drive. My 90 aod is more like a cruiser (did several road trips to the midwest). Both cars have few mods. With my driving habits, I have rebuilt my aod twice after 120,000 miles. I have owned the 5 speed for about 6 months, no problems so far. JJ
 
205K miles on mine

The one 5 speed that's modified and I've driven hard since I've owned it ....now has 205K miles, it's on its second clutch and second slave unit, but other than that completely stock, and no problems. About 130K it was stock and then the last 75K miles was living around 275hp.

I have no mods to reduce the hop, but a friend went with the blow up bags and likes that. I'm used to slipping the clutch off the line....that first couple seconds makes all the difference...but I do get chirpy lower level hops usually through 1st gear when I race, but not enough to take much speed off.
 
....now has 205K miles

Ha Ha, and I thought mine having 129k miles was high mileage! :p

Im pretty much settled on a 5 speed..its what I want..bottom line... Wheel hop? We'll see about that...

The one 5 speed is quick enough to out drag a 330i and just edged a 275hp camaro to 100mph

Is that all? you should at least be able to make it with a 1st Gen M3, or so i would think. If i get whipped by a 330i then Im going to be very upset... Lets see one edge out my GT, fat chance he'll do that.
 
That Mustang sounds nice....

but I believe the SC is going to be more reassuring at high speed....that's where this car really excels.

I've had mine to 4200 in 5th which calculated to about 165mph chasing down a superbike that was probably doing 140 to 150mph. The entire run took about 2 miles.

It started to get a bit turbulent around the side windows...but it still felt rock solid....and I was still accelerating.

(Yes I know superbikes can do 170mph or whatever, but I've raced bikes on the street and you need some brass balls to do those kind of speeds on a bike on the street.)

That was unnerving enough for the poor guy (who may have thought I had to be a cop), but then I proceeded to run him into the ground for about 5 miles on back roads. So much for "superbikes".
 
Back
Top