by spencerforhire » Wed Jan 07, 2015 7:18 am
Smiley just about summed it up, but to be technically correct, it's torque that breaks transmissions, not HP. If you look at new transmissions for sale like Tremec, the listings are all by torque capacity, not HP. The single biggest factor with the Saginaw is the first gear ratio; the 4-cyl versions are geared much lower and therefore aren't rated to handle any amount of torque. The V8 ones, usually found in the Nova or Camaro, are still only good for about 300ft/lbs, but I still managed to break one with a 275hp 327. But I had a steep first gear one from a 74 Vega live behind a built 400 SBC; it no doubt had in excess of 400ft/lb, but I never had slicks on it, so there was never enough traction to hurt it.
If you don't have a beefy motor, steep rear end gears and good traction(and you do have sensible driving habits!), even the 4-cyl ones will survive, and they're a whole lot more fun to drive with that short first gear.
The "fleet"-
72 Vega HB Drag Car -383/'Glide/9"(9.35@146.19)(5.94@117.28 1/8th)
77 Vega Estate wagon- project(someday)will have TPI305/T-5, S-10 spindles/axles
76 Vega GT- 400/4spd/9" retired from active duty(rusty)
06 Silverado 2WD ex.cab daily
03 Silverado 2WD ex.cab (retired)
06 Haulin' 20ft enclosed car transporter
06 GMC Canyon Shop truck
07 Colorado project( 5.3 4L60e swap)
99 Saturn SL1- wife's car
01 Saturn SC2- son's project
07 Saturn Ion Redline project
and 4 more Saturn "parts cars"
Note- the very act of listing all of these has made me realize I have some kind of problem.....
Visit http://www.spencerforhire.ca