Wow, keep us updated! :thumbsup:
The bell is cut off the trans and a J.W. adapter bell is bolted on. You'll need a crossmember, custom drive shaft, flex-plate that bolts to a SBF and accepts a chevy converter (keeps you from having a bastard chevy splined converter with a ford bolt pattern made), trans blanket (unless you intend on modifying the floor to accept a shield), custom or flexible dipstick as there is limited room, and shifter. If you don't have cooler you'll need that, lines, and fittings as well.
Is this the norm now,are people getting away from Ford tranny's,reason I ask is that I want to crossover to an automatic here sometime soon and I have never heard of using a chevy trans.Whats being used,TH400,TH350,powerglide?Thanks
I guess it really depends on what you are going to do with the car, as well as any preference you may already have. I am new to automatics myself, but I learn quick. It depends on the power you will be making, and the money you have to throw at it as there are a multitude of options available these days in terms of upgrades.
I looked into getting a C4 and in general I was told if you are looking for reliability, they are good for 650 HP. Beyond that its a crapshoot. At the time I was already within 25-35 HP of that and frankly building myself into a corner is not what I like doing.
Then I started looking at the th400 and all the available upgrades and companies that make them. The th400 is WAY stronger as is than a C4, so I could get into a nice th400 for the same or less money than a C4 that was set on kill. Then with all the info I was dead set on getting a 400.
Next came the 88mm turbo setup.......this changed things.
Now I was looking at glides and th400's to compare and contrast them. Each have their benefits. A th400 will be quicker and faster than a glide but the glide has a softer leave due to the 1st gear ratio being 1.76 or for what I was looking at 1.80. The th400 having a 2.48 will have a quicker 60ft potential but consequently hits the tires harder. The glide should be built in an aftermarket case for strength, but then there are several different cases to choose from, and depending on who you talk to one is better than the other, but which one? For my stuff, I intend on street driving it a little here and there, so I wanted more gears. The 88mm turbo will spool easier with th400 so this is another benefit. Just for examples sake, the glide I priced out with a straight cut 1.80 gear set, built in a reid case, bell, and flex plate, set on kill with all the bells and whistles, was going to cost me ~$4700. But this would be the last transmission I would have to buy. Now the th400 I am getting is going to cost me less than half that amount, but it will only handle 1500 HP or so. If at a later date I decide to go faster / make more power, I can upgrade the gear set to a 2.10 or a 1.93 1st gear, and spend the additional $2-3000 at that point. These reduced ratio gear sets will also also will reduce the hit on the tire, but still having 3 gears rather than the 2 you get with the glide. So as you can tell there are tons of ways to do this, but it really depends on exactly what you plan to do with the car.
As for a Ford trans in a race or real high HP application.........Look around. People are not using them for some reason, and frankly I am not into experimenting with money right now.
I ran the TH400 with a 76mm turbo and it worked really well. I spent way less than you're talking about though, got all the stuff used. I think a good TH400 can be had really cheap,I think I heard that if you find the right ones, like out of Ambulances and box trucks, they have straight gears from the factory. I used the JW bell also. I actually put the 'glide in the car with that same setup because I got a really good deal on a used one that Joel built, it spooled and left just as hard as the 400, I think turbos really like the glide because of the way it loads the car. I'm not sure how fast you're planning on going, the car at the time was going 155mph @ 3200#.
How expensive the 'glide is probably depends on your goals. I haven't been able to break mine yet and it has the stock gears in it (1.76) and a stock case with a JW bell.
To be honest I really have not set a long-term goal for how fast I want to go as of yet, but I know with this set up I will be able to run to the max limitation of my chassis (8.50). Beyond that I really have not decided yet. It could get pretty expensive real quick, so I need to decide if i want to make it a permanent track only car. From what the turbo company and other racers tell me, the setup should be good for ~170 MPH if I change to an air-to-water intercooler.
I agree the glide can get out of hand quick in term of price depending on what you want to do with it. The guy that is building my th400 recommended against puting a stock case glide behind this setup, and he has a ton of cars going a heck of a lot faster than my turd will ever go, so I listen to the man. He has seen too many cracked cases from the same power levels this car will have and he knows I am not in the mood for more broken parts..LOL.
You will love the turbo. Tons of fun. What kind of 88 did you get? You can likely go that fast even with an air/air cooler.
Wow sounds liek quite the combo! BTW that's a nice carb you got for sale! Gonna order my Prosystem carb soon. Did you have any problems with it?
Steve,
With respect the carb hat... You may already know this, but the inside bend radius is what matters on that thing, the outside bend doesn't mean dick. If designed properly, they should be paying attention to this but are looking the the centerline bend radius. You would like the centerline to be min 1.5 times the diameter, and preferrably 2x the diameter. Most of the time this doesn't happen due to packaging issues. The outside of the casting looks very sharp, but I suspect this is not an indicator of what is happening on the airflow side of the part. Hopefully not. When you do the math, you see the problem with packaging. A 3" diameter pipe would like a 4.5min to 6" centerline bend radius to attempt to keep the flow somewhat laminar (for a 90 degree bend). You had fluid dynamics, you probably know more about it that I do.
Thanks. Patrick is the man! I have had 4 of his carbs and they have all been spot on. What size carb are you looking for? Better yet PM me the details.
Here are a few pics of the carb hat mock-up. We thought we were going to have to cut a hole in the hood but as of now it doesn't seem to be the case. The hat looks like it will clear just fine. Not sure if we are going to bring the cold side in from the front or the side, but it looks like either will work.
http://quicklx.stangnet.com/images/Carb Hat Mock-up/EV hat mockup 003.jpg
http://quicklx.stangnet.com/images/Carb Hat Mock-up/EV hat mockup 005.jpg
http://quicklx.stangnet.com/images/Carb Hat Mock-up/EV hat mockup 007.jpg
Sorry Matt, I had to use your carb for mock-up![]()
Motor plate and mid plate and lower it even more????
How did you calculate the location...was the the block on there, didn't look like it.
That is going to be BADDD!
I thought about doing a motor & mid plate but that kinda of makes what we are doing difficult (not for us, but more so the purpose of the project).
The block is there, just can't see it in these pics. Where the engine is currently is about as low as it can go with the pan we have. I'm just glad I don't have to cut the hood.
They are going to set the turbo up to spool very easily for street use this year and then next year I will send it back to them and it will get some tweaks, that will make it more of a track only setup.