Do I need a billet front shaft/drum

[GregP]

I've been researching 200-4R options and am trying to determine if I "really" need the billet input shaft/front drum setups or not. I've talked with a couple of shops and read some of the available information from several more and havn't convinced myself I've got a consistent picture.

The car should weigh under 2800 lbs (I think 2500 is possible). Rear is 4.86:1 with 15.50 x 29.5" tall tires. Power estime is 550 HP and 560 torque (it was dyno'd at 600HP but I'm going to take out some compression and cam to make it more streetable). The car is basically going to be used as a "street rod", which will likely get raced once or twice a year. I'm not really sure that I'll get a set of slicks to race it, may just run on the street tires (Hoosiers) since it's just for fun.

So, do I need to step up to the more expensive trans options with the billet front shaft/drum pieces??

Thanks - Greg

 

[HOTTOGO]

"need" is a relative term, do want one should be the ?. Your trans will work just fine with stock fwd. drum, until it breaks, will it break is anybodies guess. They break in grandma's old's as well as high powered cars. There is no way to guess if and when it will break, that's were the billet comes in, you have peace of mind that it will not break ever!!! So if you want to guess or have peace of mind that is your decision.

 

[GregP]

Originally posted by HOTTOGO
[B will it break is anybodies guess [/B]

Actually I was hoping that "someone" could guess the probability of one breaking.

 

[HOTTOGO]

OK, I'll guess........ I say you have a 50/50 chance......... hows that.. LOL! Just kidding.... well sorta, the odds of someone knowing if and when it will break are 50/50. I've seen stock broken from low power to high power, but never seen a billet one break and there's alot of them out there, believe me! Here's what the Guru himself has to say:

*FORWARD DRUM:
Here is where you get the most debate. Some have broken in the 14 second cars others live in the nines. All I can say is the people of India (where the metals came from for GM) must be some very inconsistent people. 1800 series hi carbon steel is what they were made of. Very close tensile and yield strengths (BAD). Fatigue also plays a factor. Someday hold one up and look at the spline area. All the power runs through that piece. Detonation and traction are what load and unload. When it fails, it is very fast and very violent. Now processes have been tried, hardening, annealing, softening, tigging and cryogentics. All to which have been to no avail. PTS came up with a Billet Drum Shaft and a way to fuse it to the drum and reinforcing the drum during this process. During testing no other "process" passed the 500 ft LB rating. The billet ones went to 1350 ft lbs, and Boeing and a subcontractor to them, did these tests. So numbers can be presented.

Hope this helps.

 

[chris718]

GREG judging from your combination you car will not accelerate properly w/ the weight you have a 2004r ,and a 4.89 rear .too much starting line ratio and i dont care how good the car hooks or how wide the tire size is .this amount of reduction will severely reduce reliability and acceleratoin of the car .you CAN however change the rear ratio or use our 2.50 first gear ratio but i think our aod trans w/a 2.40 first gear and overdrive is the ticket .,yes it fits a chevy or buick motor and ILL BETB MY LIFE THERE AINT A 2004R IN THE COUNTRY INCLUDING MY STAGE 2 THAT WILL OUTLAST OR OUTPERFORM IT IN THIS APPLICATION.www.ckperformance.com

 

[GregP]

Chris - Ok, so drop me a proposal for a 200-4R setup AND for the AOD (I'd also need dimensions for the AOD to make sure it would fit, things are very tight space wise).

-Greg