4t60e horsepower limits

[gp90se]

whats the max hp these things will take for any amount of time. Ive seen plenty of 3.4s stock eat them, wonding what mine will do to it?

 

side question, anyone here put a juice kit into their cars, just want some pic of how everything mounts.

[solid_raiden223]

Ive seen them on 350 fiearos... so... who knows..

[timg]

Mine started slipping at stock levels and blew at over 250 whp. Now, I'm running more boost and it's beginning to slip again.

 

Tim

[z34_nut]

I ran it to the bitter end at 232,000 miles on my last z34.

[AWeb80]

I almost wonder if its not the HP thats the main factor, its the 3.4 spinning it to 6500-7K that grenades the tranny....of course that is just a guess...cause some do grenade on a 140 HP 3.1....and some last forever like Kyle's.

[timg]

Mine blew when it was trying to shift into second at the redline (122k miles + turbo). I think RPM is critical to their life. It started slipping @ 75k miles when I was NA after adding an intake and exhaust (~180 whp at redline)

 

Tim

[AWeb80]

so, U then agree with me Tim

[digitaloutsider]

5-10 HP?

[Brian P]

129,700 I lost fluid pressure, well most of it anyway. Got severe pump whine as well. I used to let it shift high when I had the "3400" intake manifolds and heads on the 3100, but never desired to shift that high with the 3400 engine. When I got the car, the fluid was brown but not real burnt (did 2-3 fluid changes since). But for an original tranny at 130,000, what can I say.

[sonyman87]

in not for sure if its the high rpms that kill the 4t60e i drive hard all the time and my car visits redline on a daily basis. as far as horsepower goes.. i know it can handle about 210whp but it dosnt do it for long without noticable tanny malfunction. delayed shifts, and nutral feels like the parking break is still engaged.

[gp90se]

I am reluctant to go getrag hunting anytime soon, I really would like to keep it an auto. I figure a rebuild will be needed within the first year of driving it and I have yet to find a true performance rebuild kit for these things. So if the RPMs stay down (out of the torque/HP band) it should last a little while.

 

Thanks

[THe_DeTAiL3R]

It's a piece of garbage when it can't handle a 160hp 3100. The 4T60 in my 2.8 was fine though. 130hp

[mfewtrail]

I am reluctant to go getrag hunting anytime soon, I really would like to keep it an auto. I figure a rebuild will be needed within the first year of driving it and I have yet to find a true performance rebuild kit for these things. So if the RPMs stay down (out of the torque/HP band) it should last a little while.

 

Thanks

 

ZZP goes through a company that can do almost anything you want to a 4T60-E. They currently have one in a L36 + supercharger(M90) car that's running like 12.0-12.1's in the 1/4 mile(I'm sure it's shifting at their usual shift points at that level = 6,000rpms or so).

 

The company they go through is Certified Automatic in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

 

Certified Automatic Trans Svc

(616) 459-0935

842 Fulton St W

Grand Rapids, MI 49504

 

I would contact each one seperately and get some price quotes.

[gp90se]

sounds good, thanks for the links!

[19Cutlass94]

I e-mailed ZZP a while back because Im going to do something of the sort in the future, and if you supply the core, them building a 4T60-E ti withstand 400-500HP, this is what he said,

 

Yes, it would be a custom job with some custom parts. But we can do it. For that kind of HP it would cost $3600 and be ready to handle that kind of power continuous. That would be with you supplying the core.

 

So when he says continuous, I guess he means that kind of HP at redline all the time.

 

 

But a stock 4T60-E (with a 3.1, 3100) is only rated at like what, 215HP+225ft. torque? (I think those number might be a little much)

[bartonmd]

There are 3 things that kill a transmission: Heat, weight, and power... In that order.

 

In fact, it's not high rpm running that kills a transmission, in fact, running at high rpm/not WOT is actually better for a tranny than lugging it down low. Not only do your clutches have more pressure on them at high rpm, but, because teh output pump is turning faster, you're also getting more lubrication... Not only that, but you're pumping more fluid through the cooler...

 

Providing you aren't slipping to begin with, the BIGGEST thing you can do is add an aux-tranny cooler... For every 10 degrees cooler you can keep your transmission, it doubles its life expectancy.

 

You can't really do much about the weight, that's more of a function of what car you're running... this is why Fiero and J-body guys can put more power through the same tranny without it blowing up.

 

Power and weight kindof work together, as stated above. For comparison sake, you could run a 1500lb car with 600hp and the tranny could be fine for ever but you put that same tranny in a 3500lb car, and put 300hp through it, and it'd go boom... This all goes back to heat though...

 

Just FWIW, something to think about...

 

Mike

[gp90se]

I already have a good size aux tranny cooler, adding a 3.4 to a 3.1 car wasnt the best thing to do to save weight, but o well.

 

I would like to see an honest 330 horse at the wheels with juice next spring, so I think power will be the hardest thing to deal with out of the 3 you listed. we shall see how long the 3.4 holds up before juice.

[z34_nut]

When I rebuilt my auto tranny, it cost me 2,200. This was a COMPLETE heavy duty re-build. Strengthened clutch cages, heavy duty clutches, bands, chain, better tranny cooler, great bearings, everything. I would have been able to handle 350hp if I wanted it to, but the body rot haulted that plan.

[19Cutlass94]

z34_nut, you rebuild that tranny yourself right? Where did you get the better parts?

[manitcor]

Germ on MM has a turbo 3400 hybrid making close to 300hp, hes been through about 4 stock trannys in the course of 18 months.

 

My setup is making an estimated 225hp crank on a trans with 60k miles and since its recelntly been tuned to finally make the power its supposed to the t60 is quickly on its way out.

 

Im having Dynotech Perfromance rebuild a t60 as we speak with the following

 

HD torque converer 2800-3100 stall

HD clutches and bands

HD Roller chain

Modified valve body

Shift kit

EP dual spring pre-loaded HD LSD

All new parts

 

this should hold 350+

 

it will be a while before im up around 350 but it should def hold the 215-225 im making now and the 255+ ill be making with the upgraded topend

[gp90se]

mind if I ask what its running ya $ wise

[manitcor]

pretty much the same as an intense trans with the same parts + installtion all in all about $2500

[THe_DeTAiL3R]

I REALLY REALLY hope my trans holds on until I get money to do a 97+ 3.8/65e swap! I'll get that sucker rebuilt [4T65e] to handle lots of power, if my current trans goes I'll drop a junkyard trans in it.

 

I was wondering, if you add 2 tranny oil-coolers, or just one REALLY big one (from a truck or something) can you ever go TOO big?

[Jcrow]

I was just thinking that. If you put 2 coolers in parallel you would get higher flow, or you could put 2 coolers in series and have colder fluid.

 

question - Do you guys run the transmission fluid through the radiator and then to the cooler or skip the radiator and only run the cooler?

[gp90se]

I ran my 4t60 with just the aux cooler, when driving it was fine but sitting in traffic I know it was getting to hot. Theres 2 thoughts on aux cooler with a rad cooler.

 

1) you want the fluid to stay as cool as ya can, so cooling it after the rad cooler will be more efficent

 

2) to get the fluid 2 warm up when starting the car in the morning, you want it to go thru the rad last to get it 2 operating temp.

 

I will be running my aux cooler after the rad cooler.