944 NA transmission strength improvement

I’ve heard people say that the 944 NA transmission will turn to goo if mated to a high HP power source like an LS, especially with power adders.

I’m curious what makes it “weak” vs say the 944 turbo transaxle? Is it the quality of the metal the gears are made out of? Could a machine shop just copy the NA gears using stronger metal to make a high HP trans? Or is there more to it than that? A few years ago this would be a silly question but with turbo trans getting rare and very expensive such “radical” ideas become not so radical.

gzoller wrote:I’ve heard people say that the 944 NA transmission will turn to goo if mated to a high HP power source like an LS, especially with power adders.

I’m curious what makes it “weak” vs say the 944 turbo transaxle?  Is it the quality of the metal the gears are made out of?  Could a machine shop just copy the NA gears using stronger metal to make a high HP trans?  Or is there more to it than that?  A few years ago this would be a silly question but with turbo trans getting rare and very expensive such “radical” ideas become not so radical.

there are a few changes for strength between the design of the na and the turbo/s2 transaxles, but those resulted in many smaller changes to accommodate. aside from different gear ratios, some of the gears were made wider. this resulted in the iron case having the bearings in a slightly different location. the pinion shaft bearing is larger to deal with the larger pinion gear, as well as for added strength. also, the iron case section was made stronger.

a regular old machine shop wouldnt be able to make gears stronger. sure, it would be possible to design new gearsets and shafts, many transmissions out there have this done in the aftermarket, however your likely gonna spend 6 figures by the time you get the first set.

there are a couple upgrades you can do to the na transaxle to make it stronger. cryo treating gears makes them stronger. there is the case stiffening plate that helps solve the rear pinion bearing breaking the case. but you still have inferior gearing for a v8 and are still better off for the money going for a turbo transaxle.

in the last few years people have started to gravitate towards the 01e audi transaxle. its said to be stronger than the turbo transaxle, has more aftermarket, more gear ratio options and is more widely available. one company was making a conversion kit at one point, im sure as time goes by more people will.

sharkey wrote:
there are a couple upgrades you can do to the na transaxle to make it stronger. cryo treating gears makes them stronger. there is the case stiffening plate that helps solve the rear pinion bearing breaking the case. but you still have inferior gearing for a v8 and are still better off for the money going for a turbo transaxle.

Can you share info on where to find this stiffening plate please? My Googling is coming up no joy.
Thanks!

J686 wrote:

sharkey wrote:
there are a couple upgrades you can do to the na transaxle to make it stronger. cryo treating gears makes them stronger. there is the case stiffening plate that helps solve the rear pinion bearing breaking the case. but you still have inferior gearing for a v8 and are still better off for the money going for a turbo transaxle.

Can you share info on where to find this stiffening plate please? My Googling is coming up no joy.
Thanks!

http://www.texasperformanceconcepts.com/Conversion-parts.html

Scroll down to bottom right of that web page