I have a lot of friends with TransMaroBirds and they say the rearends aren't very tough, and they were also saying I had basically the same rear-end so be nice to it... they also said the T56 is tough, but doesn't hold up to power shifting (which I seldomly do, as most of the other cars around here a slow anyways, and I don't need to be that aggressive).
Is any of this true? I figured the Z06 with its big torque and big HP would be tougher? I also read that the ring and pinion in the Z06 was shot peened (peaned?) which would make it stronger, but is it much stronger?
Sorry for all of the questions lately... I'm new to the Vette thing... I know plenty about Porsches though! hehehe.
From everything I've read, the output shafts have a tendency to break when running high HP with slicks but there are plenty of Z's running around with 450+ HP at the wheels without any problems provided they avoid hard launches on slicks. Considering that this car is not designed for drag launches, they hold up pretty well.
My understanding is that the transmission is definitely the weak point in the drive train. Also the stock clutch will not hold up well to repeated hard launching situations. I think the rear end is ok.
GM offers this caliber of performance for 50K, where as the nearest competation is priced 30K more and it goes up from there. Now GM has done great for providing the "best bang for the buck" however what goes along with that are components able to just able handle the power given with very little more.
Examples: Brake rotors (sh*tty at best) a lot of warping issues, Clutch (needed to be beefed up to handle a minimal 20 more HP from 385 to 405) and don't tell me they beefed it up more than they had to to handle 405 horsies.
Now the Z is a great car with awesome performance, but they had to cut where they could to provide it at 50K.
IMO a high performance sports car designed for the track, should come from the factory with top notch components that are going to take a beating like the brake rotors, clutch, and drivetrain. If it cannot it should not be marketed as a "track ready" or race car. Which is the market the Z06 was designed for.
Kind of like the Porsche philosophy on it's brakes. I read somewhere that they must be able to perform like 15 - 20 full pedal stops with NO fade. Now I know Porsches are more expensive but mainly for the name and the pricy leather. I don't think it would cost GM that much to put better quaility brake rotors, clutch and drivetrain components in. At least with the Z GM needs more of Porsche's philosophy when it comes to their flagship top of the line race/track ready sports car.
The fbody has a piece of shit solid rear axle in it (I say POS in the sense that it won't handle any real power at the drag strip, for stock use it's fine).
The Vette has an independent rear suspension - NOT a solid rear axle, not even close to the same thing.
The clutch is definitely the weakest point if you plan on going bigger power than stock. Even weaker than the tranny.
I'm upgrading in this order:
clutch, output shaft in differential (Speedworks, or Breathless), and maybe some tranny upgrades, but doubtful.
Looks like I will go ahead and start the big mods around Xmas(as a present to myself here in Germany before I leave). Looking at a SC and was wondering what clutch you would recommend. I've seen a lot of your posts and seem to have a lot of the good info. Thanks
I did a RAM 910 sintered iron disk, RAM pressure plate, McLeod adjustable master cylinder, and aluminum flywheel. Now, I make just over 400 rwhp, that disk is probably just a little bit overkill, it will handle 800 lb. feet of torque . I just did it to be sure, and to be sure it will handle a shot of juice if I decide to do it later.
You could get by just perfectly fine making 500hp with their 6000 series organic disk.
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. I just did it to be sure, and to be sure it will handle a shot of juice if I decide to do it later.
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