I plan on doing mods on my supercharged 3800 in an 00 SSEi. I am just wondering how much the transaxle can take before something spendy breaks. I thought about buying a INTENSE Racing Race Ready tranny, but i dont have an extra 2-3 grand laying around :( . Is there anything cheaper i can do to beef it up that would be suitable? My goal is around 350 whp when im done. Any suggestions would be great!

I actually talked to Todd at Intense about the minimum mods needed if money is an issue, but you want to not implode the trans with a month...and he says:

"I would recommend an input shaft, 4th gear clutch shaft, 3rd gear sprag kit and a shift kit as minimums for any 3800 making or going to make good power. I would also recommend a higher stall torque converter maybe a 3000 or 3250. An LSD is not necessary for what you want to do although it may help cut down torque steer on the street."

I really don't need the LSD because my drag days are past their prime, or at least I don't plan on going 50 times a week.

Hope this helps.

How many miles are on your transmission now? How bad do you abuse your transmission currently? Is your transmission acting up in any way at the moment? Have the fluid & filter changes happened at regular intervals?

I lightly beat on my car for 2 1/2 years & 50k going from stock to the mods listed in my sig. And it took quite a bit of abuse before my torque converter was on its last leg around 175k.

You don't need to drop mega bucks on your transmission right away. But how long it lasts depends solely on how you maintain it and treat it. A shift kit might be a nice investment at the moment to help prolong the life of your clutches in the long run IMO.

Ed

if you want 350hp, your going to need a trans eventually

Thanks!......does a shift kit add strength or just improve shifts, or both?

well maybe a little bit of both......it cuts down on the wear of the clutches

It doesn't add strength, it just reduces the time the clutches in your transmission are slipping ( & wearing) during a shift. It puts more stress on the hardparts in your transmission though.

Ed

Your going to need it to to get over 250WHP


Rogue had...many thouand dollars in mods and made 347WHP on the dyno back in june

http://www.bonnevilleclub.com/forum/...c.php?t=56361&

My guess is $8,000 including labor(including trans) to run 350WHP safely?

I'm thinking you would need cam + heads + IC + different power maker + lots of labor if you are not capable

Assuming he does it with packages, rather than one mod at a time, $8K sounds reasonable. However, ancilary mods, like guages, tires, tuner software, etc., could take the price up a bit.

Frankly, if 350hp is ahard and fast goal, the race ready trans WILL save you a chunk in the long run over fixing/upgrading as you go.
Do your basic starter mods, then save your pennies for a trans/cam package fund, is my advice.

I am beginning to agree that 350hp is a far off goal. I have the labor covered, my dad is a mechanic, but still, thats alot of cash. So I plan on starting out small with an Intense Racing Level 2 perf. pack (adds 60 chp and 50 whp) plus SLP headers and some other exhaust mods. My car has 55,000 miles on it, i am the second owner, and sometimes beat on it. With these mods, what would i need to do to my transaxle or anything else to easily handle an occasional beating?