What tranny do I have?

[Phantomus]

I have a 2000 Grand Am SE with a 2.4. I'm gonna put in a transmission shift intecepter. How do I find out what tranny I have and if it will work properly on my car? I will be putting a nitrous system in shortly after.

[MJE95GAGT]

4T40E

[Phantomus]

Do you by chance know how much horsepower this transmission will handle safely?

[MJE95GAGT]

trannies are rated by torque and its a little smaller than the 45 so I would say 210lb-ft safely as an estimate

[Phantomus]

Thanks MJE95GAGT. I appreciate all the information. I was going to do some pretty extensive modifications to my car and I needed to know if my tranny could take it. I think I'm going lto be all right for now, although my goal was to get my car in the 275-300 HP range and may run into a few problems. Thanks again.

[Phantomus]

By the way, do you by chance know if there is any way to beef up my tranny or swap in a stronger one? The engine will get a few heavy mods, and I'm worried about blowing my tranny to hell when I race.

[ferran586]

Yeah, I am also curious about this because eventually I plan on reaching the same goals as Phantomus.

[MJE95GAGT]

There is currently no one who makes aftermarket tranny parts for the 4T40/45E trannies (besides Level 10 which is a huge rip off). Raybestos looks like they are coming out for something for the 45 in the future, not sure about the 40 tho but most parts should work for both. A good tranny to swap would be a 4T65E, but Im not sure if it will bolt up to the 4 cylinders since no one has done it yet. And they do have aftermarket parts available if you want to beef it up even more.

[Phantomus]

A good tranny to swap would be a 4T65E, but Im not sure if it will bolt up to the 4 cylinders since no one has done it yet.

What cars did the 4T65E come equipped on? I live in junkyard heaven and have found all kinds of parts for cars for next to nothing in price.

[MJE95GAGT]

http://www.gm.com/automotive/gmpower.../apps/4t65.htm

[Phantomus]

Wow! That is a lot of good information. I think that I can score one of those trannies here in town. Now I just need to find out what to modify on my car to get that tranny to work. Are the numbers on the site(MN15, MN3, etc.) the same numbers stamped on the trannies?

[Colin]

Originally posted by MJE95GAGT
trannies are rated by torque and its a little smaller than the 45 so I would say 210lb-ft safely as an estimate

Actually the 4T45e is factory rated @215 ft lbs , and is stronger than the 40 . It also has a better chance of fitting easier than the 65 without as much shoe horning .

[MJE95GAGT]

yeah thats what I was stating, therefore the 40 would hold less probably around 205-210lb-ft

[Phantomus]

What kind of tranny set-up do cars like the GM racing cavalier use. Not that I'll go that high in performance, but I'm shooting for a very quick street/strip vehicle. Will a 4T45E handle some serious power?

[MJE95GAGT]

no the 4T45E are POS when it comes to performance wise just like Colin stated they are only rated at 215lb-ft. Those with S/C on their 3400s are having big probs with their tranny. It makes no sense that GM uses the 45 on their low end 3400 and there higher end 3400 use the much more durable 4T65E But Im not sure what the drag Cavy uses, probably some sort of custom one?

[Phantomus]

What would be a realistic approach to getting my car to handle 275-300 hp? Any ideas guys?

[Colin]

Convert it to rearwheel drive and put in a 9 inch Ford rearend and Borg Warner T-56 tranny ... But seriously, the 65 is one of the FWD trannys that will handle that power , the 40 & 45 are not gonna cut it . It will not be an easy bolt in swap though ! By the way how are you gonna get 300 hp from your engine ?

[Phantomus]

Convert it to rearwheel drive and put in a 9 inch Ford rearend and Borg Warner T-56 tranny ...

With a chevy 350 of course.... ha ha ha.

Actually I had planned to build another LD9 on the side while doing my intake and exhaust work on my car. I bought an extra engine complete from head to oil pan, with throttle body and fuel rail for a mere $150 dollars(I love this town). I had planned to beef up the bottom end with forged rods and pistons and combine these with a stroker kit I found for the 2.4. I then was going to up the compression to about 10 to one and have some cams ground for my engine. I tracked down some neutral balancer shafts from GM and of course all of the usual harcore performance tricks like pulleys, monster intake, full exhaust, etc. Finally I'm debating on a custom fuel management system or just hopping up the stock ECU. Oh yeah, the nitrous bottle in my car right now might help. I've built ford and chevy V8's, and a few pontiac V6's in the past, but this will be my first four cylinder.

[Colin]

That's a pretty ambitious plan . Four bangers can kick if they're built right and you can't complain about the weight savings either . Hope you have good luck with it

[Phantomus]

I'm gonna try. Now I know I can count on you guys to help me out when I have a question on my Grand Am. I really appreciate all of the feed back. If there's anything I can ever help you guys out with let me know.