zf6/t56/btr 4speed/2 speed glide

[Forbzy89]

hey guys now I bought a xr6 turbo ute a while ago and it was running great made 333.3rwkw with a t5z till the gearbox let go now ive been looking for a t56 for a while and they seem to be same price as a zf6 speed or I could go a powerglide possibly... im after something that can handle a fair bit of abuse and still drive it on the weekends... its already been tuned ect as a manual would it be a better idea to run with a t56 or should I go for a one of the other options as im after alot of reliability... any advice or input would be great and appreciated cheers

[Ralph Wiggum]

How do you intend to use the car?

[Forbzy89]

bit of everything to be honest... needs to be able to drive open road good but I also would like to see what times I can get out of it as I was going to try it out before the t5z sh*t itself

[Ralph Wiggum]

Cross the power glide off the list then.

 

T56 and ZF6 may be similar in price in principle but cost to install a ZF6 into a BA is prohibitive. T56 gets my vote.

[Forbzy89]

the ute has a bf tornado engine only 83,000kms on engine if that changes things thanks for the advice

Edited 12/05/16 06:50 AM by Forbzy89

[k31th]

ZF = great for drag-strip+street, average/not-great for hills/track, really expensive/difficult to fit to a BA.

BTR = great for drag-strip+street, average for hills/track, cheap/easy to build strong and fit to a BA in comparison to a ZF.

T56 = not great for drag-strip, great for street, great for hills/track, cheap/easy to fit into a BA.

 

T56 is probably cheaper than a BTR to make reliable at your power level, but tricker to drive hard when you want to (except in hills/track environments).

[Forbzy89]

thanks for the quick reply yea might stick to a t56 then just need to find one at a good price in SA

[barnz]

sorry keif but I think you will find the zf is actually at an advatage to a 6 speed man on hill/track. Have you actually given a zf equpped car a proper flogging? If the zf had throttle blipping on downshifts like it does as fittied to shaguars and bimmers there would litlerly be nothing the manual could hold to it. Even then blipping to downshift early in the braking area is only done cause its a better time to do it when braking in a straight line, so you need to blip so as not to upset the balance of the car. The brakes do a much better job of stopping the car and any bullsh*t about helping stop the car with engine braking is just that. Maybe in the 50s when race cars had pathetic brakes it was somewhat helpfull.. With the way the zf is configured in the falcon you still dont want to upset the car by downshifting early in the stop without blipping so you just do it later when the revs are lower, which is easy when you dont need to worry about a clutch and heal and toeing. Pretty sure nelson who tracks his ZF xr6t very regularly will back all of that up. Hes also done a heap of mods to make it quicker on a circuit and none of those include a manual conversion..

T56 is definitely the best option for OP.

ZF you will end up with a BF by time your done

BTR is polishing a turd IMO

Powerglide....rediculous option unless your trying to get mental power to the ground and the sole focus of the car is drag racing.

IMO

[Tocchi]

If you get a powerglide, buy a set of ear plugs

[k31th]

7 minutes ago, barnz said:

I think you will find the zf is actually at an advatage to a 6 speed man on hill/track. Have you actually given a zf equpped car a proper flogging?

In answer to your question, yes, I have many times flogged a ZF through the hills. Maybe a properly tuned and built ZF would keep up with a manual car, but you'd be taking unnecessary risks in hill driving to keep up with a better balanced manual (obviously depends on driver skill). The manual isn't just for the purposes of engine braking (although that does help a small amount), it's also about correct gear management/timing, torque delivery and overall car balance. The biggest flaw with a stock tune ZF (haven't tried a tuned one to know if it'd be significantly better or not in the hills) is that even if you're in manual mode, it doesn't always do what you want it to exactly when you want it to.

 

A ZF could definitely be faster on a track than a T56 due to the amount of upshifts necessary to be done on straights (which the ZF is much faster/better at than a T56), but all being equal, the manual should still be better for cornering. So if it's a track with lots of corners and short straights, manual is the choice. If it's a fast flowing track with few corners, then a ZF may be better suited. The ZF is also very sensitive to temperature changes, so a lot more temperature management would be needed than stock for the ZF, but the T56 will happily take a flogging around a track in stock form.

 

The only automatic race cars are drag vehicles and there's a good reason for that. Being able to select what gear you want exactly when you want and control torque delivery via clutch/throttle application instead of just throttle is extremely useful when you're on the edge of traction.