I'm picking up a S5 N/A that was converted to Turbo (engine dropped in, new BNR stage 2 turbo, front mount, standalone, etc...) and was wondering how durable this sucker is going to be. The guy before me blew his N/A trans at the track (I suppose he was hammering it), and I bought it.

So, the thing is, few questions:

It's running supposedly 290 rwhp with the standalone and all the other stuff.
It's got a broken N/A trans in it right now.
Supposedly I presume the N/A driveshaft has held up ok.
He smoked the original N/A differential and put in an '88 GXL LSD which he says is holding up fine.
Axles I suppose are doing fine also.

I was thinking of just picking up a TurboII trans, driveshaft, diff, and axles and swapping them all in. Problem is, the engine has a TurboII counterweight on it with a lightweight steel flywheel and clutch/pp made for an N/A. So I'd have to spend another $500 picking those suckers up. (in addition to a TurboII starter and anything else I may have missed)

I wanted to just pick up an N/A transmisison and go with it. I don't plan on hammering on it, but I sure won't be holding back from full throttle, it'll definitely get full throttle, but probably not any clutch dumps (although fast shifts from 1-2, 2-3, 3-4, and 4-5 maybe).

How do you guys think the N/A trans will hold up?

 

I remember reading in the many many posts about this being covered that if you don't hammer on it, it will last a while when going beyond 200hp. If your gracefull with the tranny, one guy did that and it lasted about 2 years before it blew. Old age, or too much horse with his turbo setup, we don't really know. Everyone leans towards that it was too much hp tho.

 

i think sonicrat said he launches at 5,000 rpm on street tires and has no trouble but i dont know... thats a question i to wonder..

 

Street tires (Not Falkens/etc), you usually just burn the **** out of them with very little stress on the drivetrain. I usually feather it from around the 4k mark or slightly higher. With 290rwhp you're very likely to break something if you abuse it (high RPM drops, hard acceleration changes/etc).

 

The magic number I've heard tossed around is 200HP - go beyond that, the transmission will break. It may last for a long time, but it *will* eventually break by sheering the input teeth off the countershaft gear (Kevin had some pics of this failure mode... rather impressive).

-=Russ=-

 

No matter how you slice it, the tranny will be your weak link. Usually the damage occurs when trying to speed shift or even "inahurry" shifting. Be nice to it and it will be nice to your wallet. With a turbo you get torque and that's what will kill it while in gear. I've seen some pretty high HP(300+) put through them but not for very long if driven hard.

 

is this the car on EBAY, that he stated he already ate 2 or 3 NA trannies up?

 

i have used it for a while with a 4 puck clutch...
i think as long as the transmission is in a good condition to start with, it could last a while...
but it could also fail anytime...

if you can pick up the transmission for around $50 bucks, buy them... keep one as a spare... there are plenty of them and they are cheap enough!

beat the crap out of it, take an hour to swap the transmission when it breaks...

also, the clutch/press plate aint bad...

S5 turbo, right? if its S4 turbo, i could sell ya a good flywheel... fd flywheel is liek 50 and it will work wiht the s5 engine... used pressure plate around 25, and then a new clutch disc from ebay for about 90... not that bad...

 

Thats exactly what happened with the pictures that I saw with that one guy with 2 years. He was the owner of a website for sevens I believe, hell if I can find the post..

 

yeah I imagine there's N/A trannies all over the stinkin' place. I'll stack 'em like cordwood in my garage. Couldn't be too much to buy one.

 

A lot depends on the clutch being used...an organic disc isn't as hard on the trans as a puck/metal disc. Still, an NA trans won't hold much more than modded NA output...I ran a GOOD CONDITION na trans on a mildly modded turbo setup for a bit over a year and it eventually gave out on me, on the interstate of all places. Lost all gears except 4th. I'd run the NA setup (if one exists in good condition) until it dies, then I'd do the rest of the swap.