[DeTomaso] ZF-Q transaxle

[adin at frontier.net]

Hi kids,

Recently spent some time yakking w/ Don Bryars . . . he showed me a  
very "not pretty" ZF shaft that one of the customers had modified.   
Apparently the customer was fond of racing hot new muscle cars and   
letting them get a 10 car lead.  Ford big block torque and drag racing  
shift techniques were used to reel them in.  the drag racing shifts  
modified the ZF.

Maybe "not prett" wasn't quite the correct term.

Jack is probably right though - an "adult driven" ZF might last  
through more than most could apply.

David, if you think you are John Force - stay outa my car.



Quoting JDeRyke at aol.com:

> IMHO the 'old' ZF is quite capable of handling 5-600 horses regularly and
> 7-800 if the driver takes some care in shifting (and getting out of   
> the throttle
> when airborn!) to prevent shock-loads. I know of two real ZF failures: Jr
> Wilson broke a clutch input shaft by not backing off while getting   
> air-time at
> high revs/200 mph in his 572 inch Boss 429 conversion; the shaft   
> snapped in two
> on landing. And Greg Isakoff somehow broke several gear sets in '04-05 while
> road-racing a 650+ horse Pantera; dunno how 'gently' he shifts. For   
> the rest of
> us with less than $50,000 in our engines, a good tune-up of our ZFs wil allow
> them to do another 35 years on the street & occasional open track.   
> Supposedly,
> the 'super' ZF gearsets are a little stronger- but I have no direct
> experience.
>
> I've not torn one down, but my understanding is, the Quaife LSD diff is based
> on the mid-'70s Torsen spiral-bevel-gear diff design (which I have torn
> down). These work well, as long as you get one that can take the   
> torque. I have one
> in my garage right now that failed behind a 500+ horse 350 Chev in a
> roadracer. The iron diff case spread, allowing force to move outward  
>  to the tips of
> the bevel gears, which then chipped and failed. One problem seems to be parts
> availability;  when Torsen's patent (apparently) lapsed, the rights   
> seem to have
> spread across the globe and not all dealers handle all models. I've checked
> four dealers & none can do anything for this particular LSD. Two had never
> heard of the model.
> Nothings perfect, or cheap, when you talk of big power- and actually usie it.
> Torsen-type LSDs don't heat up lube like a clutch-type LSDs, so probably do
> not require any sort of diff cooler except maybe for Daytona or   
> LeMans. FWIW- J
> DeRyke
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