Breaking 3550's?

[SteedaChaos]

Well when i got the blower installed and tuned the other day, i knew i'd be putting out above the capacity of my 2 old style 3550's but didn't know the combo would hit as high as it did at 430rwhp, 454rwtq w/ clutch slip. going back later w/ a meth. kit and get back that 450-60rwhp she put out on a leaner A/F (11.1ish atm) w/ 470-500rwtq.

I'm pretty sure w/ hard launches on a holding clutch i'll eventually break the 10-spline in-put shaft. Really curious though has anyone heard/seen/experienced the 3550's just flat-out breaking on the hwy like T-5's are notorious for? W/ my out-put curious if i'll experience blowing 3rd/4th/5th gears like i have w/ the T-5's.

My stats
Standard II (TCET1376)

375tq rating

5,500 GVW (mine's 3,140lb)

3.27 1st

1.98 2nd

1.34 3rd

1.00 4th

0.82 5th

N/A

3.00

[coupe]

It will be more resillient than a T5. I've heard some pretty good feedback on the 3550. It's robust. Hard-hooking clutch and tires will hurt it eventually though.

[SteedaChaos]

Yea possibly the gears theirselves are extremely strong, and the only real weak link is the in-put shaft itself. W/ the T-5's i've blown 5th(2x) 4th(2x) and 3rd(1x), just pondering if out on the open roads wringing her out if i'll blow the 3550's gears.

[1Quik85GT]

Yea you will explode that lil 10spline in a heart beat.... Get a 26 spline tranny

[SteedaChaos]

Yea i'm aware of the in-put shaft. Of all these years since the mid 90's of knowing the 3550's, something that i've not heard of is someone blowing the GEARS . I'm curious an interested in hearing about blown gears and the story behind the results.

This old #1 3550 i'll keep as is, i'll convert my #2 to 26-spline if deemed to be neccesary. My full-on drag racing (w/ slicks) will be very lil to non-existent after this week-end. I'll just enjoy street-trim racing and 5th gear top-end runs.

[qkjuicedpony]

been 6's in the 1/8th on a 10 spline 3550

[Italian LX]

been 6's in the 1/8th on a 10 spline 3550
Just because you have been there, doesn't mean it ain't going to break eventually. Hell, I've seen people go 6's with a T-5 too. :rolleyes:

[Blown 5.0]

Personally i have not seen or heard of but one broke, A kid at Blue mountain tried to leave with wrinkle walls and 200 spray with the motor on the rev box. Snapped the OUTPUT shaft no other damage i saw. Only one of our cars has the 3550 but has had no problems as of yet.

[qkjuicedpony]

Just because you have been there, doesn't mean it ain't going to break eventually. Hell, I've seen people go 6's with a T-5 too. :rolleyes:
as have i...it's all part of being lucky at times..eventually everything will break

[SteedaChaos]

Personally i have not seen or heard of but one broke, A kid at Blue mountain tried to leave with wrinkle walls and 200 spray with the motor on the rev box. Snapped the OUTPUT shaft no other damage i saw. Only one of our cars has the 3550 but has had no problems as of yet.

Wow popped the OUT-put shaft that's brutal there. The first time i broke open me #1 3550 to freshen it up i was impressed and gleeful w/ the size of the main/out-put shaft.

[Dale McPeters]

If it is like the 3550 that I have just convert it to a 26 spline input
and a 31 spline output and you should not have to many problems.
The tailshaft housing will need to be bored out also.
Bob at Hanlon motorsports has these parts at a reasonable price.

[LeeH]

Believe it or not the majority of 3550 failures are due to the mainshaft either twisting or breaking in or near the splines in the tail housing.

Hey Dale how about building a blow through turbo set up on the Capri? ;)

[Dale McPeters]

Hey Dale how about building a blow through turbo set up on the Capri? ;)

Dust off that old rusty turbo......:jester:

[LeeH]

Dust off that old rusty turbo......:jester:


Hehehehe:chug:

[nxcoupe]

I have broken a 3550 input shaft once. Spec Stage 3(David has it somewhere at Spec, it was still stuck in the disk when I sent it to him). I was running 9.90's with 300 shot on a 306, 28 X 10 slicks. I was going into 3rd when the input broke. I never broke a gear in my 3550, after two seasons running 9's and 10.0's. I don't think that qualifies as luck. I replaced it with a TKO input(I have an extra that is new if you are interested), as all the gears in an old TKO and 3550 are the same.
I went 9.70's with the TKO input and the 3550 internals. It was a reliable trans that worked for two years no problems, hundreds of passes. A great idea would be for you to use a Swarr Girdle, they are 129, work wonders for the thing to keep the input and countershaft from pushing apart and I attribute this to my two years of no problems.