Well, it'* like the title says, how much power from the engine can a stock L36 transmission take without biting the dust?

100 ft-lb of torque.






just kidding.

depends. some here have died stock, others have held up to more abuse...

<edit> i don't think i've seen 95naSTA have a tranny swap yet, and he'* prolly our fastest L36 around, so hopefully he'll chime in if he has any dyno info to share...

It all depends on how much you beat on it. However, when you start doing mods that require you to tear apart your engine, then you should be careful.

I've got the older 4t60-e which has it'* differences from the 4t65-e. My tranny is only 35k old though (dealer rebuild).
I know buck531 (L36 lumina) over at clubgp put down 233hp/251 tq with a stock tranny and intense GEN1 LSD with higher 90k+ mileage. It didn't last much longer than that dyno though.
And TimberWarp (gpgt) has been running a csc kit on his stock tranny/diff for a while now.
Those setups are both geared to higher end power unlike the m90 with it'* monster low end torque. So they are a little more friendly.
I've read over and over that the differential on the 4t65-e is the major weak link. Also, the internals are said to be very similiar between the -e and -hd. Swap the 4t65-e diff for the 4t65-hd one and you should be able to handle much more power.

hopefully our tranny expert will chime in here with the differences.

I'd like to know that, too.

I have a 96 bonnie se with a 99 l67 swap and it finally started taking out the stock tranny .
I can still drive it for about 300 miles or so with no trouble then sometime i have issues just driving in the city for about 30 miles . It starts with over drive going out then eventually 4 and 3 . then after the call cools for about 30 mins its gtg . Not to sure what the issue is but the tranny fluid did get burn alittle :( and it leaks some out of the driver side . But i want to do the swap before it finally goes . I want to atleast do the 4T60-e hd swap and MAYBE the 4t65 hd depending everything that is involved with it .
Also is it bad idea to run with the supercharger by pass closed at all time . Sadly it has improved my gas mileage and the low to mid throttle torque is awesome but not to sure if it will aid in premature failure of anything