When I get my TH400 rebuilt, I am toying with the idea of installing a transbrake. Any experiences with before and after comparisons? How much improvement is it worth? I have a "street/strip" car, but am a performance junkie. I have a 2900 rpm 10" Art Carr converter that flashes to about 4100 rpm, but the footbrakes only hold to 2400 without creeping.
From discussing tran brakes with other folks (not corvette specific) the trans brake will lead to an ET gain of somewhere from .2 to .5 because of the higher launch rpm
From discussing tran brakes with other folks (not corvette specific) the trans brake will lead to an ET gain of somewhere from .2 to .5 because of the higher launch rpm
..........and more broken parts. Be careful what you wish for. Adding a trans brake will tempt you to push the launch RPM higher and you'll start breaking parts. Trans brake may also improve your reaction times.
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2005 Vette Doctors / Neverlift Pro 8 Shootout Champion
2006 Vette Doctors / Neverlift Pro 8 Shootout Runner-up
RIP Leo Barnaby III, Mike Conway......See you on the other side, boys.
A trans-brake will 'shock' the tires and suspension much-harder than a traditional foot-brake launch:
unless you have enough tire to hook consistently, bullet-proof IRS parts that can survive this application, and a chassis that 'works' (plants the tires/weight-transfer, etc. ), it may do more damage than good.....
just my $.02-worth.....
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Cross-Fire No'-Mo'
27,900-mile 1982 Coupe, original L-83 long-block with 650 Holley carb, dual-plane intake, 1.6:1 roller-rockers & 3.73 gears
I don't reduce my ET a whole lot using the trans brake. The car does react quicker off the line. Footbraking I can launch at 2300, on the tbrake the car launche at 4000. It is very hard on parts. Its just like dumping the clutch bam. The trans brake works by putting the car into first and reverse at the same time. This builds tons of heat very quickly. Hard on the trans, converter, and the entire drive train.
In most bracket classes the trans brake is not legel. I have my button physicall remove from the car when running foot brake classes. I use the brake for the index races on a pro tree.
Thanks, all, for your input. There seems to be pluses and minuses here......I'm having traction problems now and don't want to increase them, and I like the idea of not breaking parts. For now, I think I'll let the "flash" of the converter do its thing.
Location: Pettis Performance 565 with two stages of Nitrous Supply nitrous 1.082, 4.61 at 155, 7.17 at 192
Quote:
Originally Posted by Glensgages
A trans-brake will 'shock' the tires and suspension much-harder than a traditional foot-brake launch:
unless you have enough tire to hook consistently, bullet-proof IRS parts that can survive this application, and a chassis that 'works' (plants the tires/weight-transfer, etc. ), it may do more damage than good.....
just my $.02-worth.....
True, a transbrake does not always mean lower et's, everything has to "work" together.
If have two cars with trans brakes and one thing I have found is that on the trans brake I am able to get a higher RPM from my torque converer than I can on the foot brake...and it also locks my car into place so I won't roll through the beams. If you set your car to leave on an rpm chip wired into your transbrake button you won't gear near the heat because you won't be reving your engine as high while sitting waiting on the tree. You can play with different rpm chips to determine what rpm is best.
As for breaking stuff...you can quickly find your weakest link in your drive train if you are launching your car hard on a trans brake. You can also make your 60 foot times come down a bit because you are shocking your suspension. I am getting high 1.20 sixty foot times with a street driven s-10 with Hoosier quick time pros with a fairly tight 10 inch coan street converter and a trans brake. Best of luck to you!
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Transbrake,...Lower E.T.'s ?
