What is the concensus on these transmissions,
What power can they handle?
Are they versatile enough
What is the concensus on these transmissions,
What power can they handle?
Are they versatile enough
my buddy bought one for his '73 Chevrolet 4x4 - 5 speed and burned it up in two years. He ended up putting the standard 4-speed back in.
Too expensive for my blood.
It's a good old Warner Super T-10 4-speed with an overdrive box that can engage in 2, 3 and 4.
What I've heard from the Corvette guys is that it's a half-decent unit if you take care of it. The biggest problem with it (and most automotive parts that are just a little outside of the norm) is that people get their hands on one, have no idea how it works, fiddle with it enough to screw it up, say "this things a piece of E36 M3!!" and replace it with a part they understand. This is the same reason that fuelie 'vette injection systems are hard to get now.
Despite what people may tell you, the Super T-10 is just as strong as a Muncie but doesn't have the price tag attached. Pontiac 400's and 455's have been beating up ST-10 transmissions for years without any real failure problems. It'll hold up to your smallblock just fine as long as you're not slipping your foot off the clutch sideways at 5000 rpm.
Warner was contracted to supply transmissions for Corvette, Camaro and Firebird as well as others after GM decided to stop using Muncie transmissions. Think of how many mullet-wearing hillbillys have beaten the hell out of these cars, you don't hear about transmission failures all the time.
The O.D. box may not be up to as much power as the plain-jane manual only gearbox but it should still be pretty tough.
Plus, the ST-10 can be gotten with first gears as deep as 3:42. SECOND gear in my transmission is the same as first gear in a Muncie. My Turbo T/A pulls like it's got 4:10 rear gears in 1'st but I've only got 3:08 gears in the diff.
The DNE 5-speed is a racing transmission that is good enough that Richmond Gear still makes it in a 5 and 6 speed version but I guess anyone can abuse a transmission. Never knew that they made one with a transfer case adapter 
Shawn
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