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Making an M46 LAST!

spongemonster said:
hehehe Dr. Volvo my M46 has even less of the teeth left. I'm gonna have to paste some pics sometime. I know this is slightly off topic but I have been looking into swaps and I crossed the supra off because supposidly the shifting isn't as nice as an M46 (correct me if I am wrong please) and I was leaning towards the T5. I cna get ahold of parts to copy to do a getrag though. I've also heard about a guy pretty much just throwing them away in a city near me so now I am really leaning towards the getrag just because it will be easier to do as I have already made custom parts I could copy.

Don't waste your time with an M46 if you want to make power. Pulling trannies in your driveway is definately not fun especially in the middle of winter (done it) and for the love of god when you put in an expensive new clutch put in a new rear main seal (the shop that originally put in the tranny for me didn't).

James
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James, you car is N/A 16v right?
I'm staggered as to how you managed to do so much damage to an M46.
It certainly wouldnt be done through brute power.
Did you simply abuse it to death? Was there a problem with the box before you did the conversion?

I have an M47 in a quick N/A 240. On track days it often sees over 6000rpm, and at places like Winton (Victoria, Australia) demands on gearbox are high.
I've had this box in the car since December 2001. I've never had any problems with it.

I've heard the stories of failure particularly in high-boost, super high-hp applications but am really surprised you've managed to break an M46 in your application.

PS. Looking forward to the pics.

Cheers,
Ash

(no offense intended toward you or your driving of course)
 
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ashvolvo said:
James, you car is N/A 16v right?
I'm staggered as to how you managed to do so much damage to an M46.
It certainly wouldnt be done through brute power.
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You should see how he drives this thing. Like there is no tommorow, or he is driving as fast as he can to the girl he is going to lose his virginity to. Every time I see him when I"m walking down teh street or somthing. You can hear him a mile away screaming. I'm amazed he hasn't been pulled over lots.

The night it blew he was doing lots of hard driving with a brand new locker in the snow doing donuts and the like....

No offense intended james! :)

Jordan
 
a while back i did some research about cryo treatment of metal parts. It seems to be a very effective method of strengthening metal parts. I think i called on place up and they quoted me 300 dollars for the tranny internals. It seems that the stronger transmissions out there are better designed and also have stronger treated gears. Though it seems it may not be worth it to do such a thing to a outdated and weak m46. But for 300 it seems like a deal compared to all the other tranny swaps. What i dont know is how much more power can the treated gears handle of if the gears are really the reason for the tranny weakness. Its times like these that i am soo jealous of those gay ass hondas with the amazingly low levels of torque, driven the the tractionally limited front tires and suck. Oh wait im not jealous anymore.
 
best thing i could recommend to make an M46 last would be to not powershift!

lots of people seem to think that if you go around slamming from gear to gear without using the clutch, and everythings going to be just fine... if you treat your M46 nicely and drive with skill and forethought, it'll last you a million miles or more. thrash it like a boy racer, and you'll get what's coming to you ;)

-unregistered
 
I have broken two of them. One aluminum and other cast iron housing. Both times I was in third gear, fully engaged and accelerating. No power shifting, just my foot to the floor. 18 psi plus everything else that I have done will do that. And that was before I added NPR. Now I have T5 and the only thing that breaks loose are my crappy tires.
 
I had my M-46 Quaife Gearset Cryo-treated and promptly broke multiple gears.

The ONLY way to make an M-46 last is to NOT apply excessive torque to it.

Going to make more power then stock or abuse a stock powered thing? Plan on replacing the gearbox with something that can take abuse. The M-46 cannot take it.

JL
 
This is another topic that has been thrashed to death recently, with arguments raging back and forth due to peoples experiences with M46's.

To summarise;
Guru Lane and others have managed to destroy M46's with stock HP even on NA cars.
There is a PRV turbo'd 740 in the Uk with 330bhp that hasn't destroyed M46's.
There is a 300bhp 360 with a M47R (similar internals) that is also happy.
None of us Uk lot have even heard of anyone blowing an M46 yet.

So, what possible conclusions can we draw?

1, Mr Lane and all other N Americans w/blown M46's cannot drive manuals.

Highly unlikely that all the people concerned are equally incompetant.

2, M46's shipped to the US are somehow inferior to European M46's

Again, highly unlikey unless the sea air on the boat over weakens them!!

3, M46's are not all built to the same standard. Some end up weak, others are strong.

Possible, but unlikely.

4, M46's are a temperamental beast and reliability very much depends on treatment during their livesand after years of abuse by various owners during their life they will fail - it's just a question of when!!

Again possible given that most M46's are old/high mileage and possibly the most plausible of the options.


I think that M46 life is more a question of luck than anything else and that we will never get a true answer to the question.
 
stylngle2003 said:
a T5 is the easiest by far...well, a trans swap is a trans swap, but the T5 is the cheapest to rebuild and find parts for
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how is the t5 easiest by far? have you tried a getrag before? t5 swap requires: t5 transmission, modded bellhousing (which one can do by himself), ford pilot bearing, modded driveshaft, modded crossmember, modded t/o fork.... getrag swap requires: getrag transmission, modded bellhousing (which one can do by himself), pilot bearing bushing (using old pilot bearing), modded driveshaft, modded crossmembers, modded t/o fork

see any similarity? t5 has more initial costs than getrag since getrags are a dime a down at the pick n pull (at least in northern california) while all t5's end up at dismantlers and are extremely scarce at the pick n pull.. i got 4 getrags at the pick n pull (being the previous m46 owner i was, i knew it never hurt to have extras) at 70+core each.. the core i just gave an m46 overdrive once, the other time i gave a m46 w/o overdrive, etc.. i never came across a t5 from a 5.0 or a fuel injected 5.0 for that matter. getting a rebuild on a getrag? in my car, i just yank the tranny and put a backup in :-)

-patg
 
6: UK tbrickers all have 16+ second cars :-P



Come on, NO broken M45/M46/M47s in UK????? Are you oiling your roads??
 
Morley said:
6: UK tbrickers all have 16+ second cars :-P



Come on, NO broken M45/M46/M47s in UK????? Are you oiling your roads??
Click to expand...

i broke mine in various fashions: donuts up to 4th gear (broke the one way clutch in the o/d)..not once, but twice (didn't learn the first time), broke the shaft to the overdrive (figure 8s), 3rd gear (shifted to third from second at 50 mph and brought 3rd up to 85 mph.. 13 psi), cracked an overdrive casing (not cool), and several others
 
916volvosport said:
i broke mine in various fashions: donuts up to 4th gear (broke the one way clutch in the o/d)..not once, but twice (didn't learn the first time), broke the shaft to the overdrive (figure 8s), 3rd gear (shifted to third from second at 50 mph and brought 3rd up to 85 mph.. 13 psi), cracked an overdrive casing (not cool), and several others
Click to expand...

I have one M45 and one M47 on my kill list. + a Getrag.........and three 1031s.
 
i started having m46 problems when i upgraded to a dual friction centerforce clutch.. then after i was with a 6 puck and pressure plate from clutch net and the getrag, i started breaking bushings and rods in the rear of the car (broken torque rods and destroyed the trailing rod bushings).. i just can't win.
 
So you guys in Yer-up don't break your M-46's? Then you are all not making torque.

The Early M-46 will break the mainshaft at the input to the overdrive with a hard launch and traction every time.

The late M-46 with the P-Type OD at least has a big mainshaft that won't break.

They both still have undersized gearsets for abuse. I have always broken gears. They all break. Even close ratio gearsets with bigger straight cut gears break easily with more power.

I got a Jerico dogbox so that I can not have to worry and broke it too........in reverse.

JL
 
Can't drive a manual? I was cruising along in 4th year and floored it. It exploded.
If by "can't drive a manual", you mean "refuse to drive like a pussy", then yeah, I can't drive for sh8t. :rofl: Just like everyone with these magically indestructible 240's with subframes that never crack an windsheilds that never move around. :roll:

What a joke. Now I know why pete's username is "Yea, right".
 
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