<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by towerymt:<BR><B>I'm just curious how you broke all of those M41's. Drag racing, hard shifting, dropping the clutch at 5K? Or was it from really strong clutch? Which broke first, the trans or the diff? Were tires a factor at all?</B><HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>Yes, yes, yes and yes. The transmission was the first to break, actually, it was the clutch lining in the overdrive unit of the M41 - I managed to hose two of those. The others were just from hard driving. But, of all the transmissions I had broken, second gear seemed to be the weakest link, right along with the third gear synchronisers. Eventually, I altered my driving habits a bit (I got older as well), and the transmissions would last just a bit longer though. The pro-built engine puts out a lot of torque, more than Volvo had really ever anticipated for the B18 setup.<P> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR><B>Did you ever consider a stronger trans after the first few failures? I've heard quite a few people saying that the M410 can handle a lot of torque. Is it any better than the M41?</B><HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>I could never get a straight answer from anyone regarding other Volvo trannies to use. Every person I talked to said something different, and the only person who ever gave me a straight answer was Dave Rauch (Volvo racing veteran of 30+ years - he also assembled the rear end that I've not yet been able to break!) who races a P1800 that puts out 200HP. He is lucky enough to have purchased a few rarer-than-rare Volvo M41 close-ratio gear cluster sets, of which I have a theory about torque loads and gear ratios - the lower the gear ratio (higher numerically), the less stress on the whole system. I could be wrong though.<P>Anyhow, I remember having read somewhere online back in 1996 about a guy who figured out that an M46 (1976 - later 240) tranny coupled with a 1975 240 bellhousing (used the B20 engine with an M46 trans) is the thing to do, but once again, the clutch lining on the overdrive is a weak link.<P>Last year, I stumbled upon an Australian website that documented <A HREF="http://wwwrsphysse.anu.edu.au/~amh110/supra_in_volvo.htm" TARGET=_blank>using a Toyota Supra 5-speed tranny</A> hooked up to a B21/B23 with great success, although Toyota suggests that it cannot handle more than 250HP, so I am guessing it is not the same transmission they use in the turbo Supras.<P>So, over the past one and one-half years I've been documenting lots and lots of stuff here and there, taking lots of notes, asking a lot of questions (and unfortunately annoying the hell out of a lot of people in the process!) to find out the minute details of different transmissions' specifications/dimensions/etc., and trying to come up with an almost universal solution to fit my needs. Well, the Tremec TR-3550, although somewhat expensive (my custom-configured one was $2,195.00 w/shipping) is cheaper than the more-sought-after Getrag M51 transmissions, and replacement parts are <I>waaay</I> cheaper as well. Sure, the Getrag weighs 40 to 60 lbs. less, but once again, it's pretty cheap in comparison.<P>-he who stacks pork