Drivetrain upgrades for your muscle car are required for total high performance control.
Whether you drive a 500-hp Muscle car or a 96-hp economy, all that potency under your car's or truck's hood is useless if the engine's torque doesn't get to the drivewheels through a complex maze of gears.
In fact, the drivetrain may be the least understood part of a vehicle. New innovations in four-wheel and all-wheel drive full auto drive have only made that confusion worse for many drivers. Here's a primer to help explain that mystery below your feet under the floorboards:
FRONT-WHEEL DRIVE
Front wheel drive can be found in car way back in the 1920's. The overwhelmingly popular modern configuration is based on the 1959 Mini. Its creator, Sir Alec Issigonis, put the small engine transversely sideways under the hood, mounted the transmission and differential in one unit called a transaxle, and installed them underneath and to the rear of the engine. While some front-drivers have a longitudinally front to rear mounted drivetrain, all the components are still up front. Because the front wheels must steer as well as propel, they are connected to the axle halfshafts via complex universal joints, called constant velocity joints, which can transmit power smoothly while severely articulated.
Positive effects:
More room for people and cargo.
Better fuel economy due to reduced weight.
Improved wet-weather traction thanks to the weight over the drivewheels.
Negative effects:
More wear on front tires and suspension.
Limited engine compartment makes servicing difficult.
Limits to amount of power the front wheels can handle without making steering unpredictable.
Less wet-weather traction on upgrades.
CONTINUOUSLY VARIABLE TRANSMISSION (CVT)
CVTs are gaining popularity and are used in several new Fords. Instead of gears, the CVT uses a belt between two pulleys. One is driven by a shaft from the engine, the other drives a shaft to the differential unit and drive axles. Both pulleys are split so that their halves can slide closer together and farther apart. As the belt rides higher and lower in the pulleys, the effective gear ratios between the driving and driven shafts change.
REAR-WHEEL DRIVE
Still the classic, rear drive was basically the only drivetrain system for many years. A longitudinally mounted engine, with the transmission bolted directly to it, sends power via a driveshaft to a differential unit at the rear axle. The differential turns the power 90° and sends it to the rear wheels. (Some sports cars such as Corvettes, Mustangs, Firebird, and GTO place a combined transmission and differential or transaxle in the rear.)
The driveshaft connects via yoke-type universal joints and a splined expansion joint to allow for vertical and longitudinal suspension movement.
Positive effects:
Better front/rear weight distribution results in nimbler handling.
Ease of service thanks to spread-out components.
Less wear and tear because the front tires don't have to both steer and pull the car.
Negative effects:
Poor wet-road traction and stability without sophisticated electronic controls.
Reduced passenger and cargo room.
MANUAL TRANSMISSION
The gearbox is connected to the engine via a spring-loaded clutch plate faced on both sides with friction material. The clutch must be disengaged to shift gears, and the transmission must be in Neutral, or the clutch disengaged, for the vehicle to be stopped while the engine is running. The transmission consists of an input shaft from the engine and an output shaft to the drivewheels. The input gears can slide back and forth to mesh with their output mates. Synchronizer cones between the sliding gears and shaft allow smooth shifting. Reverse gear is on its own shaft. AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION
An oil-filled torque converter that multiplies engine torque inside the transmission bell housing allows some slippage so the vehicle can be stopped while the engine runs. A friction clutch built into the center of the converter locks its input and output shafts to the same speed for highway cruising. Computer-controlled hydraulic pressure selects which combination of gears within several planetary sets can rotate, changing the ratios between the input and output shafts.
OPEN DIFFERENTIAL
While cornering, the outside wheels cut a wider arc than the inside. The differential needs to ensure that the outside and inside wheels are allowed to turn at different speeds--hence the name--while still supplying power to both wheels. The basic differential housing contains a large ring gear that meshes with a small pinion gear driven by the driveshaft. The ratio between the ring and pinion gear is known as the final-drive ratio or rear-axle ratio. The ring gear also spins a carrier containing perpendicularly meshing spider gears that allow the left and right axle shafts to spin independently. Downside: The wheel with the least traction limits power applied to the road. LIMITED-SLIP DIFFERENTIAL
The concept of providing traction to the non slipping drivewheel with a limited-slip differential dates back at least to the late 1950s. Though there are now many wrinkles to the old theme, the essentials are the same. The spider gears are mechanically linked to share torque regardless of conditions. This can be done simply by adding spring-loaded clutch packs that keep the spider gears from spinning. Power then flows to both wheels to the limit of the clutch packs' capacity. The spiders can also be pneumatically or electrically locked together--but this defeats the differential function.
When thinking about upgrading the performance on a vehicle, like a Ford Mustang, most people forget about one of the most important areas of the car, the drivetrain. The drivetrain is the key to great speed and total control. Upgrading the drivetrain is one of the most important parts of any car that you wish to upgrade to a high performance platform. A high performance Chevy Camaro for instance without an improved drive train is weaker then a stock Chevy Camaro because of the added stress from the horsepower causing the factory OEM parts to fail because of exceeding the factory specs. All of those performance upgrades you made to your vehicle are lost due to slipping of the tires and loss of torque. The same holds true for anything like the Corvette, Pontiac GTO, Firebird, or Trans AM. That's why there are so many areas of the drivetrain that need to be improved on. Without upgrades to your performance auto drivetrain the vehicle will slip all over the road and will not hook up.
Parts of the drivetrain that you should be replacing for ultimate control and speed are: Start with a new set of ring and pinion gears and rear differential and why not the differentials cover. Drive shaft axle shafts, differential installation kits, and driveshaft loops. Most people don't think much about the importance of the drivetrain. With out an improved drive train the power for the engine will not transfer to the wheels correctly. Take the Ford Mustang, Cobra, and Mach 1 for instance. There are so many aftermarket parts to improve the drivetrain. That it shouldn't be hard to find a place to start.
For those driving the Pontiac GTO there are more after market parts than ever. With the return of the new Pontiac GTO you will find plenty of drivetrain upgrades. Climb to the top of your class with high performance upgrades for the Pontiac GTO drivetrain. There you will find a whole new level of driving performance. These same types of performance upgrades are also available for the Firebird and the Trans AM. The prices of these upgrades are comparable to that of the Ford Mustang and are easy enough for anyone to do should you have the basic knowledge to approach such a task.
For the Ford Mustang it should never be a question of whether or not you should upgrade the drivetrain but moreover when you should do it. The best course of action for the upgrade of the Ford Mustang GT, Cobra, and Mach 1 drive train is fresh from the factory floor as it is a lot easier to work on vehicles that have not been on the road for a long time. The factory parts are good for factory applications. If you have taken your factory car and added performance auto parts to improve its HP than you need to consider replacing the factory drivetrain parts. This will improve the total control and speed with out the loss of power due to the factory OEM standards parts. Now start by replacing all the factory drivetrain parts to the proven performance after market drive train parts.
Upgrading the Ford Mustang drive train is of the utmost importance when considering adding any kind of high performance upgrades. This is due to the stress the added horsepower causes on the factory OEM parts. So by replacing the factory OEM parts you insure that your classic or new vehicle will perform to its peak performance.
AUTOMOTIVE FORUM
