TheSamba.com :: View topic

Wed Jul 27, 2005 5:35 pm

I was cruzing the funco site and strolled acroos this. thought it was some good info. I know i have seen questions like how much could my trany handel. well here you go.

Drivetrain can be a very important decision when building a sandcar. Once you select a transaxle it can be costly to change your mind later because all transaxles don't mount the same. Swapping out from VW to the stronger Mendeola involves lots of cuts and welds. So when picking a transaxle you should make sure to provide enough strength to handle the biggest motor you ever expect to use. And if you're extra hard on transmissions you may want to step up to a Mendeola to get that extra strength, it should help keep you going. Below is a recommendation chart for various HP ratings. Keep in mind we provide no guarantees that you won't break your drive train by following these guidelines. This guideline is based on normal use which does not include racing, power shifting, wheelies, etc.

Max HP Minimum Transaxle Recommended CV Min. Axle needed
200HP Beefed up VW IRS 930 High Tuff
275HP Beefed up 091 930 High Tuff
325HP Mendeola 4E 930 300M
550HP Mendeola 2D 934 300M

for the type of off roading that most of us do i think that those specs are pretty acurate.
Baja Ben

Wed Jul 27, 2005 9:42 pm

i saw that review and i agree for the most part one trans they forgot to mention was the 911/930 4 speed that trans according to porsche is good up to 500hp and i know some guys running them in their rails most have big v8s and you can get a good used one for about $1000 to $1700 depending on miles all a mendeola is a glorified 091 thats what gears are in it of coarse they are hd and hardned with a larger ring and pinion....and the cost is about $2000 to start

Wed Jul 27, 2005 10:05 pm

hear hear. i agree totaly with you. I was also wondering about the proche trany's. i mean if a modern day 911 turbo is pupming out 400+ hp then the older ones must have some guts to them. well thanks for the info and keep it real
Baja Ben

Wed Jul 27, 2005 10:49 pm

There was never a 911 made with a 4spd. 912 yes, 911 no. mendola is not even close to 091. I wish they had one @ $2000. base price is $3500

Thu Jul 28, 2005 9:54 pm

well i think if you were to check i think you would find this link interesting....
http://www.mechtech-ms.com/html/sswinter.html

this is where i got my info....and as you see it was in 911/930 cars from 1978 to 1989....

Fri Jul 29, 2005 12:11 am

I think that chart is close but it all depends on how you drive it. I know guys with 16 race cars with maybe 70 hp and break full built 091 trans at race speed. And others with type 1 irs with 170 hp in a baja bug with type 2 cv's live for a season but driving it alot nicer. I have a 500 hp ls1 in a 3000 lbs baja bug and was told from many tranny guys that any tranny I put in it could break in the right situation. I recently purchased a agb tranny after breaking a porche 930 trans a couple times. It is a tuff trans for being stock out of a car but not enough for the whoop abuse. The other bummer is unless you gear it from stock it is basicly a 2 speed trans if you have a very tall tire.I had 35's then an in 1st it did 75 at 6800 rpm and 2nd did 135 3rd 180 and 4th was 240 so definitily a 2 speed. All the new gears cost about 4000 alone.

Fri Jul 29, 2005 1:40 am

I'm surprised that a type 1 IRS will handle up to 200 hp. I would have thought that it would go pop a lot sooner than that. Maybe I don't need a bus tranny ......

Fri Jul 29, 2005 10:36 am

62 bugzilla wrote: I recently purchased a agb tranny after breaking a porche 930 trans a couple times.

Exactly what broke?

Fri Jul 29, 2005 12:53 pm

I agree totally that driving habbits have a lot to do with keeping a transmission alive. I drove a 1200 lb sandcar for 6 very active sand seasons before selling it. I had no problems. I had a built 2276 (estimated 200 hp) behind a type I IRS trans with, a super diff, lower 3rd and 4th, H.D. side cover, 4.86 r/p and type I C.V.s. There were guys in my group that broke basically the same set up consistantly with much smaller cars and 1835 - 1914 engines. The bottom line is when you get in the air, don't land on the throttle, that spells certain death for tranny's.
Just my 2 cents.

Fri Jul 29, 2005 2:15 pm

I'm surprised that a type 1 IRS will handle up to 200 hp. I would have thought that it would go pop a lot sooner than that. Maybe I don't need a bus tranny ......

It would have to be a built trany with all the goodies. a stock trany is a no go.
baja ben

Sat Jul 30, 2005 12:14 am

In my 930 porsche it broke a spider in the diff first then I up graded diffs then it broke the case all the way around it tried to push the ring gear out the side. They do make a heavy duty side cover for them but I upgraded trans instead of fixing it and possibly breaking it again. The type one trans was modified but didn't have every bell and whistle.

Sat Jul 30, 2005 12:47 am

sandrail: damn you got on that one. I didn't know they put a 4sd in a 911. It must be one hi geared jose'

Sat Jul 30, 2005 9:28 am

hey thats ok the only reason i know about them is i need one for my long travel 3.0sho turbo mtr its going to be 500 to 600 hp and i dont think a 091 will take it (not the way i drive HA HA.) i have a hard enough time keeping 1st and 2nd in this rail and they are hardned weddle 3.30 1st and 2.06 2nd dont seem to have any trouble with 3rd and 4th .....

Mon Aug 01, 2005 9:03 am

The reason I asked about your 930 is that you cannot build an off-road 930 without upgrading the differential housing, the spider gears, and the side cover (along with the special low-ratio gears). The spider gears are a sintered material that will fail almost immediately in a shock-loaded environment. The HD side cover encorporates a "thrust button" that keeps the ring gear in check.

We built a 930 off-road trans for a guy in Arizona in '93, and he's still pleased as punch. He services it once per racing season.

The '87-'88 model years have the strong transmission housing.

Mon Aug 01, 2005 5:42 pm

Your right but if you do all that stuff you have about 8500 in it and you should just get a purpose built trans like a S 4 . I didn't have that kinda coin at that time so I got a used trans for 2200 and I got about 8 trips out of it both times it broke.I think its pretty tough trans for stock.(I definitly wasn't nice to it)I liked it enough to get a albins trans now which is based off that tranny.I'm going to part out that 930 trans once I get it apart and see whats good.

Mon Apr 02, 2018 12:08 am

What does high huff mean for an 091? I have an 094 I was thinking of using with my 2.3l turbo. 200 to 250hp. But know I'm thinking mendeola. Just 6 grand I'm not sure I can afford that. I have an 094 sitting in my garage.

Mon Apr 02, 2018 9:31 am

We broke two 091's with just over 100bhp :lol: *

You can't rate a transmission on horsepower unless it's overheating, it takes very little into account that matters.
Torque * shock loading is far more sensible

*flat out race use though