Cadillac and The Disappearing V-8

Eric Peters Autos ^ | Eric Peters

[right way right]

The “bail out” clause.
It’s in there.

[ROCKLOBSTER]

C6

Atomic transmissions. Guaranteed to blow up eventually.

[Norm Lenhart]

Pretty much. I will give the big ones credit though (C6/TH400/747) they can handle fairly big power stock and are pretty rugged when built, but they will go poof before the equiv. crashbox even when built.

That said...They are actually preferred in off-road racing because the driveline shock is constant with the constantly spinning tires and jumps. It actually feels like a hammer in the back with the Pro/Trophy trucks (450-750HP depending) as they lose/grab traction and its like that for hundreds of miles. But they are -totally- maxed trannies with all the exotic stuff inside and at the end of a 500 mile race or especially the Baja 1000, there’s nothing inside them salvagable. You can smell them coming. Just fried.

IF they make it. Tranny swaps mid race are common.

[Norm Lenhart]

Edit 727 Torque-Flite

[Balding_Eagle]

“CE”?

Christ’s Era. Did I get that correct?

[ROCKLOBSTER]

they can handle fairly big power stock and are pretty rugged when built, but they will go poof before the equiv. crashbox even when built.

I've said this before, but one thing that has always impressed my about the "hybrid technology" is not the total hybrid vehicle itself, but rather the fact that they have replaced the transmission with an electric drive motor.

Why wouldn't a performance vehicle benefit from the massive torque and indestructibility of powerful electric motors driving the wheels with the power being delivered by the high-output engine?

[PieterCasparzen]

Being a car buy you KNOW that 400 isn’t trifling. Put 500 on an icy road with traction control and no experience with it and watch the computer be useless. They can only do so much.

I had a Caddy front wheel drive STS back in the /90s; had to drive on the Jersey Turnpike and Parkway a lot.

The road surface coming out of toll booths was always slicked up quite well as it was so well worn with vehicles starting out from a stop. In the hot summer months you get warm asphalt and tire rubber deposits making a nice smooth surface.

No matter how gently I tickled it when pulling out of a toll booth, it would chirp the driving front tires.

What was really "fun" was about a 2 mile long steep uphill grade highway with 3 lanes, and an on-ramp halfway up the hill that I frequently used getting on the highway. Heavy traffic, so you need to get moving in a hurry.

Nothing like having 300 horse in a front wheel drive 1995 or so STS, and you really need to step on it. It was the very definition of squirrely. Really nasty, had to really make a point of watching that rear view for oncoming speeding traffic and actively keeping it going in the direction you want it to go. And this is on a clear day, dry road.

The opposite handling - I found in the MB S-class from the '90s. It goes in the direction you point it, period. No problem at all in that same situation - you could drive those cars and be half asleep and still have no trouble handling the car - even in bad weather. It's all about rear-wheel drive and BALANCE and suspension design, of course.

[Stormdog]

“Christ’s Era. Did I get that correct?”

Nope.

BC = BCE (Before Common Era)

AD = CE (Common Era)