F-Body Demon

iTrader: (1)

well guys im proud to say my 1985 Trans Am 406 SBC is almost done. And with the engine doing a desktop dyno of close to 600 hp (and 200 more on the button ) I kinda got a little concerned with a couple of things in my setup.

First thing is the Tranny. Its STOCK 85 700R4 with a 3200 anti-balloon stall converter. Thats it. Ive been told it will come apart by some and that it will rock and roll by others. I was planning to hit the spray at 4500 in 2nd.

Second is the rear end. Undoubtedly this has all cost me alot of money. Leaving me with a stock 9 bolt with 2.74s in 'er. I have heard the 9 bolt is a good rear end. Is it going to hold if I can controll wheel hop? I already have an adjustable torque arm and SFCs.

Lastly is my chassis as a whole. Its a T-Top car with SFCs. Am I going to turn her into a pretsle when I hook and go?

Now I know I need a better tranny and rear end but im shipping out in late July so I dont have alot of extra money or time and I want to put this car down the strip at least once before I have to put it up for 4 years ya know. So any advice on solving my problems that remain here would be appreciated.

AlkyIROC

First of all I wouldn't believe DD until you get in on the track to see what it can really do. It's real easy to get false information from DD. There are too many other factors that DD can't account for. DD assumes the engine is 100% perfectly set up and all the information like head flow numbers are accurate. You can play with things like jetting and timing to change the engine's hp and DD won't know that.

My t-top car has never had a problem. Just after the day I bought it, it's had SFC. 2 years later when I hit 12.0, I installed a 6 point roll bar. A few years after that I needed a full cage. If you really think your engine will be able to produce 600 NA hp out of a 406 SBC, you're going to need at least a 6 point roll bar along with those SFC.

Whenever you spend thousands of dollars on a high hp engine, you also need to spend thousands more on the rest of the driveline. Chances are the 700R4 isn't going to last. There are many options from a big and heavy 4L80E to a very lightweight powerglide. Depending of the car's purpose, a TH400 is normally a good choice. I doubt even your 9 bolt will survive for any length of time and the gearing is way off. Start planing on installing a 12 bolt or a 9".