My stubborn (and yes, stupid) buddy went and spent $6,000 on a 420HP 350 for his 1984 Camaro, then went and bolted it to his stock 700R4 tranny and 10 bolt rear end. I tried to tell him that he needs to upgrade his whole drivetrain to handle that kind of power, but he insisted that "the ****ing stock parts will hold, dammit!"
What I would like to know is what are some warning signs I can look for that signal an imminent catastrophe in his rear end and tranny? I'm pretty sure it's only a matter of time before they blow. And in case he's dumb enough not to care when I tell him of these warning signs, what kind of carnage can I expect when his tranny or rear end finally does blow? Will there be shrapnel in his nuts? Maybe I can scare some sense into him... (yeah, right)
I'm going to have to get his day pass from the loonie bin revoked
depends a lot on the tires he uses. If he wants a good hook he's going to have problems. A driveshaft loop is cheap, easy to install and is probably the best insurance for a guy like him-
If your buddy isn't going to upgrade the drivetrain then he will probably stick with the original tires and want to burn them up. As long as they don't hook up and spin you will be relatively safe. But if they ever catch hold the rest of the drivetrain will let go. You don't want to be around. I wouldn't want to be riding with him when that happens. You already know what will happen but he probably won't see any warning signs until it is too late.
LOL, can you believe he has 12" meats on that car? :drunk: He gets crazy wheelhop when he pins it because he has no subframe connectors or suspension upgrades. I'll bet it won't be long before he finds a way to twist the chassis, after all it has T-tops also
I think if there's some kind of blooper reel that shows why certain people should not be hotrodders, this guy's deathtrap car would take first prize :thumbup:
I'll have to watch out for the tranny slippage as an early warning, although I made it clear to him already that he's not allowed to step on it with me in the car or I'll KICK HIS A S S !. I'll definitely suggest the driveshaft loop to him - no better yet, I'll buy the damn thing for him and install it myself so the jack@ss can't refuse!
Sometimes I wonder why I bother to hang out with this guy, LOL. The thing is, he'd probably be dead or in the hospital if not for the many times I've watched out for him and saved him from his own stupidity. What are friends for, eh?
The ole "My buddy"...I heard that alot in the military from guys who did something and did not want to confess to it personally. I had a buddy who once drove a 69 VW bugg off a 40 ft cliff and lived to tell bout it...wait, that was me.
Well, in this case it is my buddy, my car is shown in my avatar (1985 T/A) and I chose to build it up the RIGHT way :mwink: I spent thousands on suspension upgrades, SFC's, strengthening the tranny, and rebuilding the rear before the original 305 ever came out. Everyone knew I was putting money into my car but they wondered why it wasn't getting any faster. I told them I liked my butt in one piece and I wanted a stable platform to put some power into, not the other way around.
Thanks for the link to the rear girdle, I may need to get him one of those as well. My buddy better pony up some free beer for saving his hide once again :thumbup:
If that car wheels hops bad that will kill the parts quicker then the HP will !!!!!
As far as the trans and rear..... I have been doing this deal for over 20 years and it's anybodys guess what will break... I had a customer that used to bring me broken muncie parts. I would buy all the transmissions he broke. One time he switched to a Saginaw because he was broke. It came out of a junk yard.... I told him the transmission would not last the weekend... Funny thing is i still see that car driving around and i he has not brought me any broken muncies??????
You can't underestimate the saginaw's. I buy them with any lines count and cut the counter shaft out of em. Then cut first gear out and trim excess fat off second and from anything else rotating. We run them in ovaltrack cars with 600hp plus. Wheel spin helps make em live but most cars these days are hook up and hammer down. Seldom do we ever break one. If we do it's usaully bellhousing or rear cases because we don't use a trans mount.
all that is going to happen to the trans is that he will wear out all the bands like i did ... nothing explosive unless he turns it like 10000(darn) and i woundt worry about the rear end cuz the tranny will let go way before the 10 bolt
Thanks for the info, folks. I may have to get him to read this thread in a last ditch effort to change his mind, although I doubt he would appreciate some of the names I've called him
Well, this is a mid 12's car with factory 10 bolt TCI 3500 stall in a A4 tranny. In this picture also the rear is wearing BFG Drag radials. Motor specs. LS-1 with .563 .563 224 224 cam, Ti retainers, Comp springs and thats about it. His motor is probably 420 hp sitting on a dyno anyway.
Let me add I dont think he has the best combo but 10 bolts are stronger than people give credit. If your friend had the money Im sure he would swap in a 12 bolt in his f-body and a beefier tranny. Just my .02
I can tell you when I first noticed a problem in my 57. I was at the line reving waiting for the green. It lit and I popped the clutch. I really took notice when the clutch blew and parts of it came through the floor boards and lodged in my upper thigh. Now that was really a learning experience. Out of the hospital with days to go for the next race. Time would tell on me no scattershield. No racing hard lesson but it taught me to play by the rules. bill ain:
Well, the rear I'm not quite as concerned about, although it's still taking a huge chance. They switched from the 7.5" to the 7.625" for the 4th gen cars, and I'm sure since the later F-bodies put out 325HP the 7.625" rear is designed for much more power than the old 7.5" (came with 150HP stock ). The biggest thing I'm concerned about is his tranny, because the pre-1987 700R4's are much weaker and more poorly constructed. GM had a lot of warranty issues with the first 700R4's, so they needed to re-engineer them after a few years. When I took in my original tranny from my '85 T/A in to get rebuilt and beefed up, I was told that the pre-1987 versions are not desirable for any kind of build-up. Seeing as how his car has about 190,000km (about 120,000 miles) on that 1984 tranny, I don't understand how he thinks it will live with over 400HP in front of it - it's a shrapnel bomb waiting to go off.
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