Alfetta Transaxle - To strengthen or toss to the curb for a Hewland etc

[Mike]

I am trying to decide whether to work around the Alfetta transaxle or toss it and cough up stupid money for an aftermarket transaxle.

My goal:  I aim to make close to 550Nm or torque from a two liter engine on 50psi boost.  So, 550Nm gives most transaxles a hard time. 

I am reasonably clear on what the options are outside of Alfa transaxle, so more interested in what can/has been done on Alfa trasaxles and whether anyone has been able to get them to hold together.  It is feasible that I can torque limit via the computer to try and limit torque due to impact shocks to the trans.  The wheels are the fuse to a certain extent, but I do intend to run slicks on the car, and call me crazy, but I do want to be able to do a hard launch off the line and not have to worry about picking up the pieces.

I've heard many a rumour, but none confirmed...what did Beninca put behind their turbo'd green Alfetta from the 80's?.  Was it a transalxe, if so was it alfa?  I had heard it might be Hewland and not transaxle...again not confirmed.  I am particularly interested if they ran Alfa (I doubt it) as this means there may be hope.

Things I know can be done to the transaxle:
straight cut gears
steel gearbox end plates )not seen it done on Alfetta)
oil sprays and oil cooler
outboard brakes (I guess would pee more heat out of diff/oil
A less agressive clutch material..athough tricky given the torque target
stronger cast clutch bell housing.
shifter mechanism moved inside the casing
has anyone installed an aftermarket lsd into an Alfetta...I've heard rumours yes
install a bracing frame tieing clutch housing to box and diff (in alloy I guess to avoid expansion issues)
Crown wheel and pinion...will the talest ratio still sheer teeth and if so, is it due to week diff mousing or week teeth?
Has anyone priced a new pinion and crown wheel shaft?
....Which unit to use, Potenziata?  Are there decent ratios in Potenziata?  I know they have 4 sun gears instead of two in the lsd.

I expect one could spend 15-20k easily on an Alfetta box..which I would be ok to do if I thought it would ever hold together.  Aftermarket options installed can easily get to 50k....take a Hewland LS box...its almost this just to buy (but at least you get clutch,box and diff in the right order!)

The easy answer is no, it's not doable, we all know of people who break the box's, but it is typically not from engine power alone, it is a combination of engine torque plus a shock loading of some sort.

If anyone has suggestions of people I should contact, or thoughts on the topic, I'm all ears. 

[GTV6SA]

Beninca's had a Hewland because when they stopped with this particular car the Hewland was sold to Graham Smith who used it in  his Calibra with the twin turbo v6 Fiat motor. It cost $ 20,000  second hand then! I know of another Imsa 75 that use to run in the U.K, but is now in Finland and use to have a 3.5 or 3.4 V6 built by Dawie de villiers in South Africa.. As far as I know this box had hewland internals not sute about the diff.-also big bucks!

[aggie57]

Hi Mike

Why don't you give Joe a call on (03) 9830 1720.  He's normally very open to this type of conversation.

The other person with direct experience locally with the sort of outputs you're looking at would be Rob Burns, who I imagine you know or know of.  He ran a welded Alfetta transaxle in his seriously turbo Alfetta GT back in the eighties.  Used to break pretty often as I recall.  If you don't have a contact for Rob I'm pretty sure Vin Sharp would have it.

[Duk]

Ultimately, no matter how much money you spend on it, I think you'll be limited by the Alfa Romeo's TA's intended design purpose.
To be proper durable and and abusable stuff needs to be bigger. The input shaft is so spindly (a 1.8 litre Corolla's input shaft is bigger than the 1 in my Potenziata's TA), that I doubt that you'd ever be completely convinced that you can use the full potential of your engine in anger.
And if you do spent 10s of thousands on an Alfa TA and break it once..................... 

My vote, as mentioned on AlfaBB, would be for the Corvette TA.

[Mike]

Good info thanks guys.  I know it's an age old question.

Who's the mob in Ballarat that make gearbox's?

Corvette box is a hulk of a thing, but yes, it certainly has potential, but installed, with a sequential gearset, it is still the same money as a drenth setup.  My issue is I need a solution around the 30k mark...not the 50k mark...Perhaps corvette without sequential is where by budget is at.

Yes, you can drop plenty of money on a transaxle and still smash pinions all day long, so little point chasing power you can not use...About the only thing I can think of is machining the diff off the transaxle, making a new large pinion shaft and then bolting up a larger crown wheel and diff housing to suit...still not sequential, still got other strength issues...

Finding someone who wants to do the work is also an issue...I've not the time nor probably the skill to undertake the installation.

[Mike]

If anyone wants to do the job, or talk it over, give me a call...0488091723.
Cheers
Mike

[scott.venables]

I think Albins are who you have in mind. I presume you are considering a V8 Supercar transaxle?

Scott

[Mike]

Thanks, yes that was who I was trying remember...although I hear there are some issues with these boxs on the V8's.