That looks awesome all shotpeened. Nice to see the level of attention, thanks for keeping us involved in the process.

 

Open diff trans seem to always last longer. I see it over and over again people saying you don't need LSD because both tires spin in strait line blah blah blah. If they could actually monitor both left and right wheel speeds, your would see a difference in speed between the two in some scenarios. This is probably the reason they last longer because the diff is ingesting some of the stress rather than trying to force all of it to the axles and consequently wasting power. Of course, available traction/tires play a huge role here as you were pointing out.

No problem. That was actually all done with a dremel wand and an extreme amount of patience to remove as little material as possible.

 

Great news! The brace is finished! Picking it up tomorrow. Here's a teaser picture from the machinist.

 

oh I agree, hence why the car was ordered as a g85 car.
unfortunately all the lsd transmissions I have laying around are blown up missing 3rd gear (4 of them lol)
so open diff it is.
probably just going to f23 swap it and call it a day soon

 

We're any of those F35s rebuilt and spec'd? Or were they junkyard trans? Also what gear ratios were they?

 

PM me what you would charge for this in a 4.05 lsd (I dont have the transmission just looking for ballpark budget numbers) and I'd probably drive to you to either pick it up or do the swap so I could provide a 3.82 lsd as a core

 

1 was a powell 4.45 rest were just stockers, never touched. other than swapped into the car.
powell 1 made it a year in my buddies car @530whp broke on a 3rd gear roll race (same with the others)

 

Interesting approach.

 

I will have to get in touch with you after I'm done crunching the numbers. There are also quite a few options I can give with the build. Core integrity is another variable as well.

Stockers as in 3.82s or 4.05s? Just curious. For an all out f35 build for your car I wouldn't use a crush sleeve between 3rd and 4th output gears to set final preload. I would instead machine a custom spacer specific to your gearset/case/bearing fitment. It's a very time consuming process since the gearbox needs to be nearly fully assembled to find the exact size of spacer needed. Assemble, measure, disassemble, shim, and repeat the process until the correct preload is found, then cut the custom spacer. The result is a more rigid center section of the output shaft with preload specs that will only change with bearing wear. Will it keep you from stripping 3rd? Hard to say.

Correct me if I'm wrong but doesn't the F23 have a ridiculously short 1st gear?

 

F23 has shorter gears all around but its 3 shaft vs 2 shaft. Could use a 3.63fd

 

No worries on the time, I'm not in a big rush just looking ahead at which route would be better.

 

a 4:45 2 4:05 and 1 3.82.
and I"m done using the f35's. really hate that 1 2 shift (what a hell of a drop off in ratio) f23 has an actual useable 1st gear and with the lower final drive can really get a load on the motor which turbo cars obviously love.
the 4:45 was a powell spec one. trans was great just couldn't take the almost 500wtq. I know the f23 is technically weaker, but at @$150 a pop, much cheaper to keep replacing.

 

that is the plan right there.

 

Yea the 1-2 shift isn't ideal but with 445 it's much better. I can't say I blame you for being done with f35 especially after experiencing failure of Powell 445 along with the others. When you break your first f23, let me know. I may be interested to check it out and see what can be done with that trans too. It doesn't look like there is much I can do with the structure of the case but I've only seen pictures. Haven't had one apart before. I'll be hard pressed to switch to f23 but I'm not making huge power. None of the ecotec trans can transfer the power as efficiently as the f35 IMO

 

Why would you say the f35 is more efficient? Im a firm believer that the f23 is a much stronger trans with better overall design.

 

that 1-2 shift is what kills this car with a big turbo, even with the 4:45 gears it still sucks. Rpm drop is just too much.
and f23's you can actually work on with hand tools... can take it apart in about 10 minutes without cursing and throwing things lol.

not even worried about them blowing up, they're cheap as hell.
have 2 running in 500+whp cars locally I swapped and they are both holding up fine. 1 has a bunch of passes at the track on it already and about 15 dyno pulls and countless street pulls and it still is good as new.

 

I was speaking in relation to power transfer only, from input shaft to axles.

 

I understamd but what is your reasoning? That it has less rotating shafts?

 

Less rotating mass in general, less drag, fewer bearings. Difference is likely slim between the two but still present.

 

What about going to an F40? I don't know much about them other than ZZP offers them.

 

too expensive... whole reason of the f23 swap is CHEAP CHEAP CHEAP.
like $500 total investment (shifter cables, mounts, axles and trans) then $150-$250 to replace the trans when it eventually grenades

 

More than that is involved in the LNF tho.

 

Speaking of rotating mass, the f40 is a pig in that area. This was taken after I installed a quaife LSD inside one those beasts. Look at the size of the ring gear alone.

 

Gotta have more material to make it stronger tho

 

thats why LSJ > LNF lmao