Been looking at one of these, probably this one, it's about 2,400: POWER GLIDE TRANSMISSION BRACKET LEVEL 3 -

Says it's good for 1,000 HP. A good converter for this thing is like 1,200 bucks...

Not sure how I would get it bolted up, whether it would be a bellhousing adapter, or cut/weld a mazda bellhousing onto this trans. Prefer a bolt in solution of course.

Maybe a GM TH400 or TH350, but I think at this point if I'm going to do a GM trans it's going to be a glide and it's going to be very strong so that once this is done, no matter what hp I make this trans will never die. I don't think a BP will ever be capable of 4 digit power in a street car.

Waiting for Aidan to say I called.

 

Does the QuickTime bell housing bolt up? I'd want a steel bell housing for what you are doing. So a welded bp housing would be out.

 

Can you fit a gear vendors under/overdrive behind an auto. Would turn that powerglide into a 4 speed.

 

I don't think so, looks like that is designed for a few diff manual transmissions. The bolt pattern is different, and powerglides don't have a removable bell housing, though there are companies that make aftermarket cases for them that are 2 piece design/removable bell housing.

I was thinking either an adapter, or weld it and put a SFI certified shield over it (that's what people running stock cases on a glide do).

 

Glide is a 2 speed, so that would make it a 3 speed right? I've never heard of them, just googled, can't find a price for one yet.

 

They go behind the trans and can "split" any gear. So 1-1.5-2-2.5.

 

Yeah apparently those things cost more than the transmission, like 2,600+, so not in my budget.

 

I'd just go with a jerico or one of the other indestructible 4 speeds and a QT bellhousing if you aren't wanting an overdrive.

 

An auto will be faster though.

 

An auto will be more predictable and consistent, certainly.

--Ian

 

A lot faster, and more consistent and smoother on the drivetrain (so less breaking axles/diff/subframe). And very strong for the money. The powerglide I think I'm gonna buy is about 2,400 shipped and rated for 1,000hp. I should never be able to break that no matter what I throw at it. And once I have one, if anything in the glide did break, it's about the cheapest trans to build/repair in the world.

 

How will a 2 speed be on the street? Seems not fun.

 

Never drove a car with a 2 speed, don't know. I'm not satisfied with the current auto as it's won't take the power, and won't take the RPMs either (having to shift at 7K sucks when my motor makes power to 8,500)

A TH400 is 3 gears like my current trans (3rd is 1:1) but no overdrive, but those don't like to spin high RPM, and it cost about 5-6K to get one of those built to handle high RPMs reliably.

A powerglide will handle more power, and high RPMs are no problem (people spin built glides to 10k all the time reliably) for less than half that.

It's a compromise on street manners for on-track go fast and reliability. A glide with a high stall will be the fastest setup for my car I think, and won't break. But 2 gears kind of sucks, mostly from not having overdrive more so than anything. The current auto shifts from 1st to 2nd around 10 mph anyway, where 1st is 2.45 and second is 1.45 in a miata auto, 1st is 1.80 in the glide I'm looking at. So it's not that much different, and a higher stall will help with the take off as well. I think no overdrive and no lockup converter will be the worst thing on the street, but I'm willing to accept that for a bullet proof fast setup at the drag strip.

 

Keep in mind those high stall converters add A LOT of heat to the the tranny fluid so you will need to address that somehow.

 

I got a trans cooler 1/2 the size of my radiator, so that should be ok. I did hear they make a ton of heat though. I will put a temp sensor on the pan to keep an eye on it.

 

What are the ratios in the glide? Will it benifit you to swap out to a 4.3 or higher gear ratio.

 

And the high stall converters waste a lot of energy by turning HP into heat. A clutch, on the other hand... lol.

 

The one I'm looking at is a 1.80 and 1.00 ratios.

As for the diff, I dunno. It would probably be faster with a 4.30, but that makes highway stuff worse of course. With a 8,500 RPM redline it would do about 140 or so assuming 500 RPM worth of slip in converter.

 

I know a few cars came factory with an auxillary over drive. Maybe look into one of those? The crazzy volvo 242 Turbo I got to drive had one. 4 speed manual with electric overdrive. He's been running 23-25psi for a while now with no issue...

 

I will look into it. For now just going to run with no overdrive.

I called FTI Performance today twice, and I think I'm going to buy there level 4 powerglide. It has a custom SFI certified case, and they said it would hold 1,200hp for years reliably, capable of 1,500hp. Ever single part is new, no reused anything. Main reason for this is it has a 2 piece case, so I can fab a custom bellhousing and bolt it right onto the front of the glide. Internally the thing is a monster, billet everything, super strong everything, straight cut planetary set with SIX planets... Going to be expensive, no surprise there but this will finally fix what has held this car back for years. After that I'll probably break the mazdaspeed diff and do a Ford 8.8 swap like the V8 guys do, then it should be bombproof and I can run all the power without stuff breaking.