ECOTEC with live axle Ford 9"

[Bysch]

Been doing a lot of research lately into what transmission to put behind my ecotec live axle trophylite/bajalite type RACE vehicle. So far I have found a guy who races class 3000 in his "mini truggy" who runs a toyota (r154 I believe) transmission. I have thought about a gforce or tremec but that will probably defeat the purpose of not building a transaxle vehicle because the tranny will probably cost the same. The only other option is the TH350 that the trophy and baja lites run but it doesn't exactly appeal to me for power loss and weight (cooler, lines, fluid etc.)

Anybody come across or have any cool ideas for gear boxes to put behind this little motor??

Is the TH350 power loss really THAT much worse than a manual transmission? I figure that the weight and only 3 gears would be enough of a reason not to go that route but maybe it is just easier in the long run?

Thoughts?

Thanks

[SPONSOR]

Membership in the largest desert racing community has its advantages - Participate in Forum Discussions - Send and Receive Private Messages - Maintain Public Photo Albums - Access to Groups - User Profile in our Social Network - Increased Access to more Sub Forums - Reduced Online Advertisements Join our community today

[racer56]

Run a ford c4 trans, it has the least horsepower loss of all three speed auto's and is relatively light.

[Bysch]

Interesting, never even gave that one a thought, researching that road right now.

[Bysch]

Last night I found some information on guys using ecotecs in RWD applications and utilizing the Solstice/Sky Aisin AX-15 5 speed transmission as well as a site that makes a bellhousing to mate the ecotec to a T5. Some of these guys are running blown or turboed ecotecs with 350+HP and the trannys are living, but the question becomes, will they hold up off-road because of all the different types of stresses the gearboxes see.

Anybody have experience with a ecotec swap in an off road car using either of these trannies or something similar?

[racer56]

They will not hold up to offroad. Buy a bellhousing from quads4rods and run a c4 auto from culhane.

http://quad4rods.com/