Good post on forced induction cars and what they run and what tranny they use. Notice how much faster the auto cars are despite having less hp than the manual cars. This post stems from another post where a member here asked if he could run 10's with an M6 and 600rwhp.

http://www.ls1tech.com/forums/showthread.php?t=591129

 

Very interesting post. M6 cars are defintely more fun though.

 

Makes me feel alot better that Im switching out my M6 for th400 for my drag setup.

 

i enjoy cruising at 1500 rpms on the freeway too much to switch

 

I enjoy being able to have a coke or use my phone in town too much to switch

 

Well, I think it depends on the setup. 4-speed autos have a more spread out gear transition than a 6-speed does, therefore where you want the powerband is gonna be a little different. When my car shifted as an auto @ WOT, it'd drop from 6000 RPM to 3500 RPM for the next gear. Now that my car is a manual, when I shift at 6000 RPM, my tach needle drops only to about 4500 RPM. Of course, driver skill and the transmission has a lot to do with it too. What I mean by transmission is what internal components it has. G-Force makes a T-56 replacement that not only improves the strength of the unit, but also allows the driver to shift quicker and smoother. Of course, it comes with a $5700 price tag (unless you put it together yourself), so I guess it all boils down to what your goals are for the car. I've had both, and I have to say that it's waaay more fun as a manual, and since I bought this car for enjoyment (and not for competition), it wasn't a hard decision to make for me...

 

Just because you can't drive, shift, and talk at the same time doesn't mean the rest of us can't. I do it all the time!

 

Thats what it all boils down to really, I'm kinda on the fence about it. I've been considering a 6 speed swap myself, but I'm also afraid that as soon as I spend 2500.00 to switch to the six speed (gonna have to have a street twin) that I'm also gonna have to spend another 2 grand to replace the 10 bolt that I've been babying with the auto

 

That was an interesting read. I didn't see any air-shifted Lenco or Jericho trannys though.

Another thing that you all have probably already considered is that those M6's are usually pretty stock, and "easily" driveable on the street. Now I've never driven a car with a 2-speed powerglide or TH-400 with a 4000+ stall, but how "streetable" are they?

Jeremy

 

There's no need to be jealous, 6-speed guys. Autos are generally quicker with forced induction. It's merely a fact. The whole "It depends on the driver" argument is ridiculous.

Case and point, my buddy just swapped his World Class 600 out of his 76mm turboed 351 Mustang and replaced it for a manual valvebody th400. The car picked up over half a second despite putting less power to the wheels. The guy can drive a stick, too. This is a guy who swore up and down he would never switch to an auto. After he saw all the fast turbo cars runnning autos he made the switch.

You know, I'm reminded of something I saw on a Honda board once. They were throwing around their little excuses about why they drive a Honda instead of a fast car. The most popular response was that their Hondas were "more fun to drive".

Enjoy your Hondas, 6-speeders.

-Chris

 

I've never heard a Honda guy claim that his car was more fun to drive.

1/4 mile ET is not the only thing that is important to me.

 

Lets not make this thread a pissing match here. I posted these results to show that it is difficult to get deep into the 10's, even with more hp then the auto guys. This stemmed from the other post in this section where someone wanted to know if with 600rwhp ad an M6 they could run 10's. I said yes, but it wouldnt be easy. People assume 600rwhp is an easy 10 sec. slip, but that sthe case with an auto. With a manual, anything can happen.

 

Its all in how you use it, I personally didnt build my car for the drag strip, ilive 2 blocks from woodward ave here in detroit and built the car to go whoop mustang asses around town, Ive got 3k miles on my motor setup and have yet to take it to a strip, but I have taken it from detroit to chicago twice, which with a th400 and 3500 stall probably wouldnt be possible...enjoy your dragstrips automatics

 

Yeah, but an automatic transmission essentially elminates driver error (unless you're a complete moron behind the wheel), which kinda takes the fun out of racing, if you ask me. Why? Because it all boils down to MONEY, rather than DRIVER SKILL. Whoever has the deepest pockets will ultimately have the faster car. Yeah, it's all about suspension, power, traction, and a number of other factors- but fact is, all of those things COST MONEY. Whoever has the most money will have the best parts, and ultimately, the faster car.

Also, it depends on what you're referring to when you say "quicker". Quicker on the dragstrip? Sure. Quicker on a twisty road course? I think not. The only professional racing federation I can think of is drag racing (NHRA/IRHA/etc.). Everyone else uses manual transmissions, or if it's an option, a manual transmission is typically the transmission of choice.

My Camaro was originally an automatic, so I know what it's like to drive both. It wasn't the deciding factor, but once I outgrew the boring "blah" of strictly straightline acceleration, I was glad I switched to a 6-speed. You can keep your automatic, but frankly, I think it's silly to make a drag-only car out of a production vehicle. Build it from scratch, use a tubular chassis, and choose all your parts from the get-go. It'd be cheaper, but hey, if you want to spend more to turn a street car into a dragstrip car, that's your own prerogative.

 

It is fact that auto's are better for 1/4 mile racing, and I would also say that manuals rule the autocross world. As stated before in this thread, it depends on what you want from the car as to which one you need. If you look at most of the exotic cars (Lamborghini, Ferrari, Porche, McLaren) you'll notice that almost every one of them has a manual transmission. I really want to build a poor mans Ferrari out of mine, which is why I'm considering an M6 conversion, but still, every time people start talking and comparing cars it allways comes down to the all important 1/4 time. You can have a 300,000.00 exotic that does 200 plus MPH, puts down more than a G on the skid pad, stops on a dime, and runs 12's in the quarter and everyone will still talk smack about the 30,000.00 gutted Camaro with bad street manners that put it to shame because it was a second quicker in the 1/4. I want to build a really good all around sports car, but it's hard to let go of the 1/4 mile bragging rights. When someone asks you what it runs they dont wanna know about lap times or slalom course times or braking distance or any of that stuff, they're asking what it does in the 1/4 mile, and to most thats the only category looked at when comparing cars.