Strengthening an auto trans?, Is this possible? Just wanna weigh out my options Options

[UndecidedPC9397]

I heard from a friend of mine from my old work you can install titanium gearing into an auto trans, but sounded clugy but interested me so wanted some feedback on this, thanks.

[njccmd2002]

just out of curiosity, why spend $$$ on a weak tranny, for a weak engine. Unless you are putting a 3sgte and using auto, makes no sense to make the tranny stronger.

they are a dime a dozen, that if they break, you put a new one. my .02

[mandrek]

just out of curiosity, why spend $$$ on a weak tranny, for a weak engine. Unless you are putting a 3sgte and using auto, makes no sense to make the tranny stronger.

they are a dime a dozen, that if they break, you put a new one. my .02

good point. but how "cheap" the A-246E is in fact one of the reasons why it makes it a good idea to do some of these upgrades..

the "weak tranny" as far as i know is fairly robust, and looks to be able to take but only a bit to make it be able to safely manage boosted, or raced 7afe/4age/4agte/4agze/7age/7agte's
interesting fact that i came across is that the fluid in the auto tranny should be flushed and changed approximatly every 30K miles. thought i doubt that many people do that..
also this IS in fact a rather niche section of the celica performance community.

personaly i chose to stay with the auto, rather than go to a manual. on this project 7afe since it will end up being my DD/ week end racer.
i have been auto-crossing my 7a-auto celica for about 2 1/2 years. and the longer first gear is GREAT!!! for the club auto-X'ing that i do. and then there is the sh!t D.C. traffic that i have to deal with on a regular basis. so for me the choice to keep the auto was simple..

I am sure that for others, the the choice to stay with an auto will be on similar grounds. and i am well aware that the majoraty will want to, or just, swap to a manual.

also , anything more than "regular" driving, will put additional stress on the auto trans, and there for would be smart to do a few upgrades to make sure that you are not going to have to prematurely replace a trans.

my target for the 7a will be 300WHP.. will i hit that , probably not, or any time soon.. but i figure that with a few choice mods the auto trans can be made to handle that power, with out crapping out on me every other day...
And there are other advantaged to using an auto for a boosted car.. by the very nature of the auto; it will be easier on the rest of the drive-train, due to the torque converter allowing a smooth engagement of power, and handling a solid place for slipping. no worry of shocking the trans on a bad shift, or miss shift, or improper throttle load wile shifting; as you may encounter on manual trans.

the list of mods that i would like to do to/for my lil auto would go like this:

*better trans fluid> going with Royal purple's Max ATF (all around ++)
*dedicated trans cooler> got a radiant style. (gives better heat handling of the auto trans, and radiant that way it does not have to be mounted in direct air stream.)
* auxilery trans fluid filter>Got a magnifine in-line duel media filter that uses a massive magnet for ferrous particulates, and low micron for other types of particulates. (this will offer better protection for the trans over all, AND extend the service cycles on the changing of the trans fluid (about 10K miles more)
*the shift kit is a new find for me, but defiantly on the list of later on.. > later phase of modding the trans( reduced time "shifting" should make racing the auto a bit more predictable, perhaps less loss of power during change over, and over all better performance.)
*Limited slip diff> i know that this is not something that most would think of doing for an auto, but the realized performance gains on the track should/would make it worth wile.. now as to if there IS an LSD that will fit the A-246E is another question all together, but i have hopes that a C-series lsd may fit.. and the only addition stress that would be realized from this mod would be excess heat, which should be handled by the already upgraded cooler.

this list of mods (whit the exception of the LSD) would cost not too much considering the yielded benefits. and can all be transferred over to another trans should this one "not make it". but the whole point is to make the trans have a drastically reduced susceptibility to catastrophic failure. and handle the increase load.

this trans regularly goes for about $250. and does makes it not a HUGE pain to replace should you break it. so in concept you can go off and mod the car with out fear of needing to find a hard to get trans quickly, or a more expensive trans cheaper...


as for not going with the cryo or iso process, i just don not believe that it is needed for anything other that a race prepped trans.