Originally Posted by maxdustington
Originally Posted by Patman
I went through 7 (yes, 7!) transmissions in my 87 Mustang GT because of powershifting. But I also had a Paxton Supercharger on it and was launching it at the dragstrip at 6000 rpm on slicks. So it lived a pretty hard life. The stupid part was that after the first transmission went I should have just forked over the $2500 to buy a Tremec 5 speed, which was much stronger than the stock T5 trans. I did not spend a lot of money each time the trans would break though, I would pick them up used for about $300 or $400 and I had a friend who would install it for me for next to nothing (it's like a one hour job, tops)
But I kept powershifting because it would result in about a 2 tenths difference in the quarter mile. Plus it was fun
The non-WC T5 was really weak, they could be broken by a stock 305 TBI. How did your rear end take those 6k launches?
Aye, that's the difference. You could break a T-5 (even a WC) in a Fox, but the stock 8.8, unlike the GM offering, was a solid performer. With 31-spline axles they are incredibly robust. My buddy's dad has an S10 with a pretty warmed-over 350 in it. Broke one diff, bent the axle tubes on another dragging it at Shannonville and so we swapped in an 8.8 from an Explorer (31-spline axles), which has been fine since.
I broke my T-5 at Shannonville, blew the rear off another one in town. I had a buddy with a 525RWHP Fox with a Spec Stage 3 in the bell and his stock T-5. It stayed together, even dragging it, by granny shifting. Eventually it was swapped out for a Lentec AOD because the Spec was an on/off switch and horrible to drive.