Want an All(most) American Transaxle?

[Jac Mac]

Yes your correct, the carrier at the point where the ring gear mounts is approx 5" dia, the solution would be to find a carrier with offset spiders/diff unit to keep things to a minimum height. That introduces unequal axle/output shaft lengths, which in turn can cause some problems when you have a lot of torque/traction...dont ask me how I know that...causing me a few more grey hairs at the moment.
If your intent is to consider building an 'All American Transaxle' I would advise a look around further on this site before diving in at the deep end, on one thread there is a hint of speculation about continued production of one transaxle brand & the likely introduction of another which appears to have features to those outlined earlier in this thread.

BTW, you being Canadian will have similar handicaps to me... we aint from the USA...

 

[Arn]

You said it, brother!

 

[Leon]

Hey Jac Mac, Have you made any more progress, I haven't seen anything on this thread for some time, I have done a little with mine, I got another G/box with better ratio's and have re thought the Diff section and will proably re do the housing.
Nothing to post as yet but its not forgotten. Cheers Leon.

 

[Jac Mac]

Hey Jac Mac, Have you made any more progress, I haven't seen anything on this thread for some time, I have done a little with mine, I got another G/box with better ratio's and have re thought the Diff section and will proably re do the housing.
Nothing to post as yet but its not forgotten. Cheers Leon.

Hi Leon,
Yes a lot but a little Have got 'my' version of the T44 locked down with regard to patterns & final component list, this thing should make all of those others look like wet tea bags by comparison, could have made it 'exactly' like a T44, but that would have involved taking a chance on some items that might not have been quite up to the task with the HP/Torque figures now possible from some of these big cube FE's [ Not that I am ever likely to afford one] , but I hate doing patch-up work at the track!
Have not got my act together with regard to casting any parts as yet. Have been concentrating on getting the buck for the Daytona finished, plus like you doing patterns for the wheels of the Daytona & MKIV Turbines. That together with having to have a rethink on the TVR Diff after this seasons efforts is keeping the grey matter active, but at least with it happening to that car now it helped me make my mind up with regard to the final combo of parts in the T44..
Will PM you my 'new' email address, changed provider etc a while back...

 

[Arn]

I have been rethinking my own plan of attack for the problem of insufficient diff carrier to input shaft clearance. What if I made a set of custom quick change gears of a larger diameter to gain the extra clearance? Assuming the carrier is 5" in diameter, the center to center distance of the input and pinion shafts would have to be 4.5" (at least) It would be a shame not to be able to just buy available QC gears in almost any ratio a person would want. I'm also not sure how the extra 1" would affect CV joint angles. And I would not be able to use the richmond trans. The plan is to use a t5 (since i have one sitting around) with beefed up internals inside a custom machined case and the 8.8 ford carrier. Still just a plan on paper, but i have a driving need to see if I can actually do this. Does anyone have any comments?

 

[Gord Zonailo]

Jac, excellent thoughts on your proposed transaxle! I have a Doug Nash 5 speed that I ran in NHRA Competition Eliminator in 4 and 5 speed configurations (depending on class that I ran). It is the best transmission that I have ever used for absolute toughness, durability and ease of servicing to change gear ratio's etc. I ran a 3200 lb car with up to 14 " wide slicks and a stroked highly modified Boss 302 based engine launching at up to 11,500RPM and in a few 100 passes never had one issue with the Nash trans. The Ford toploaders were also pretty good with a large input shaft and pro-shift modifications. The small input shaft ones would twist or break the input!

The Ford 9" with the right parts was also near unbreakable. The best of any factory based rear axles to this day. The Ford 8.8's can be modified to be almost as strong but in a solid rear axle car the 9" removable carrier design is a big advantage. Your ideas on the quick change unit for the transaxle are also great.

I am interested in the Transaxle for my GT40 track car if the modified/upgraded ZFQ does not stand up!

Gord

 

[DeLynn]

Jac, excellent thoughts on your proposed transaxle! I have a Doug Nash 5 speed that I ran in NHRA Competition Eliminator in 4 and 5 speed configurations (depending on class that I ran). It is the best transmission that I have ever used for absolute toughness, durability and ease of servicing to change gear ratio's etc. I ran a 3200 lb car with up to 14 " wide slicks and a stroked highly modified Boss 302 based engine launching at up to 11,500RPM and in a few 100 passes never had one issue with the Nash trans."

I am interested in the Transaxle for my GT40 track car if the modified/upgraded ZFQ does not stand up!

Gord

BINGO....

The Nash made a great Transaxle..


:idea:

 

[Jac Mac]

Jac, excellent thoughts on your proposed transaxle! I have a Doug Nash 5 speed that I ran in NHRA Competition Eliminator in 4 and 5 speed configurations (depending on class that I ran). It is the best transmission that I have ever used for absolute toughness, durability and ease of servicing to change gear ratio's etc. I ran a 3200 lb car with up to 14 " wide slicks and a stroked highly modified Boss 302 based engine launching at up to 11,500RPM and in a few 100 passes never had one issue with the Nash trans. The Ford toploaders were also pretty good with a large input shaft and pro-shift modifications. The small input shaft ones would twist or break the input!

The Ford 9" with the right parts was also near unbreakable. The best of any factory based rear axles to this day. The Ford 8.8's can be modified to be almost as strong but in a solid rear axle car the 9" removable carrier design is a big advantage. Your ideas on the quick change unit for the transaxle are also great.

I am interested in the Transaxle for my GT40 track car if the modified/upgraded ZFQ does not stand up!

Gord

Was looking for a couple of pic's that Randy had posted & must have missed this, Gord agree & have experienced much of what you mention above, one thing I can add, the Ford 31 spline setup is very marginal when used in a short output shaft situation as reqd in a Transaxle, found that out to my own pain this year in the TVR, this year if I get my act together it will have some 300m shafts which should contain the problem, although every time we give the driver [Canadian ] an improvement in one area he seems to find other areas that he can apply the advantage to...not always to the cars benefit...:sad:.

I should mention again that I am not building a transaxle along the lines of this thread, my intent is & has always been to have a Replica of a T44 as used in the MKII & MKIV, this is very close now on paper & in theory, but not in practice as I have a heap of other customer stuff still in front of me & nothing that even looks like a car to fit it to..

However, in one of the post above you will see a pic of a transaxle that ticks most if not all of the box's in this regard & I believe is in the final stages of development, with Transaxles seeming to generate a lot of controversy on some other forums I hope this one makes its way to market, some of the stuff that I have read on another Forum makes me wonder if anybody really even wants an American Transaxle...

 

[John R]

was searching for something else entirely and tripped over this old thread. Thought it might be of interest to note that Chevy engineers slapped together a transaxle for a V8 powered show/concept car based on the Corvair body in 1965.

https://www.macsmotorcitygarage.com/chevrolets-experimental-v8-corvair/

 

[Randy V]

was searching for something else entirely and tripped over this old thread. Thought it might be of interest to note that Chevy engineers slapped together a transaxle for a V8 powered show/concept car based on the Corvair body in 1965.

https://www.macsmotorcitygarage.com/chevrolets-experimental-v8-corvair/


View attachment 140092

Interesting!
They must’ve cut a new ring and pinion for that differential or they were putting power to the coast side of the gears - might be fine for the short term and lower power levels.
The same issue was had when inverting the Corvair gear box to work in a mid-engine configuration.