PRO-X™ Powerglide Transmission Settles The Argument That Bigger Is Definitely Better

You’ve heard it before: Unless you get power to the ground, all the horsepower in the universe is useless. There are any number of components that facilitate power transfer, but it’s safe to say that transmissions are one of the most important links between the powerplant and rear wheels.

New PRO-X™ Ultra Shaft Powerglide Transmission

Assuring that aftermarket transmissions are successful in transferring power has increasingly become a challenge because high-horsepower demands have continued to rise due to engine technology advancements.

Engineers at TCI® Automotive have long been on the leading edge of aftermarket transmission design, and they know the need to meet these new demands is critical. It’s for that reason they recently undertook a major redesign of their popular PRO-X™ Powerglide automatic transmission for extreme horsepower levels.

Engineered Up

The Powerglide upgrade was a major undertaking, and TCI® invested substantial resources in time and material to achieve the design and manufacture of a new and better unit. It all began with the determination to “engineer up” the Powerglide to handle the increased demands created by higher horsepower engines. What they came up with is the new PRO-X™ Ultra Shaft Powerglide Transmission.

As the name implies, the new PRO-X™ Powerglide has an input shaft that has been designed to provide ultra strong and reliable service. It has been enlarged from the factory diameter of .980” to a whopping 1.125” diameter across the entire length of the shaft to withstand the heavy demands of 3800+ horsepower.

The larger input shaft also features two additional advantages. First, it has been designed without oil channel openings, making it a solid component, which in turn makes it much stronger. Second, is the fact that the shaft is made from a proprietary material with a special heat-treat process that assures the ultimate in strength and durability.

The input shaft has been engineered up from a .980 diameter to a 1.125” diameter

Making the shaft bigger also created the necessity of re-engineering other internal components. For instance, the planetary, gears, pump assembly, stator tube and high-gear drum assembly have all been redesigned and strengthened to accommodate the larger input shaft.




An ingenious patent-pending rear-oiling system has been devised to eliminate the need for input shaft oil channels. Simply stated, the new process redirects internal oil flow directly to the planetary. This method creates a process that provides superior oiling characteristics, assuring substantially improved reliability.

Changes have also been made in the torque converter for the PRO-X™ Powerglide. For example, the converter is now available in a steel bolt together design. This unit provides an enormous advantage for its at-the-track service capability, as well as increased strength and durability.

The Test

There has been extensive testing of the new PRO-X™ transmission, both on the dyno and on the high-performance “test mule” R&D car at TCI®. All the results have demonstrated and confirmed that the re-engineered PRO-X™ Powerglide is right on the money.

Not only has it been subjected to intensive in-the-lab testing, it has also been put through rigorous real-world, on-track testing. Here too the results have demonstrated that the new PRO-X™ Powerglide is far superior to its predecessor.

Todd Berry’s 1991 Mustang Driven by Eric Dillard

Todd Berry of Woodstock, Georgia, who owns a 1991 Mustang equipped with a 3500 horsepower engine was provided a new PRO-X™ Powerglide for testing. After some very demanding testing, Berry and his driver Eric Dillard have reached their own conclusions about the PRO-X™ Powerglide.

Dillard was the perfect choice of driver to test the reliability of the PRO-X™ Powerglide. He has been involved in racing since the age of six, and today, at the age of twenty-six, he is the reigning 2009 Limited Street World Champion in the ORSCA series. Not only does he know how to drive a car, he is a complete racer that understands everything about racecars from the chassis up. In fact, his livelihood is building race engines at his shop in Woodstock. His engines run in some of the most competitive racecars around.

Todd Berry and Eric Dillard

Dillard’s testing on the new PRO-X™ Powerglide was recently completed in non-optimum track conditions at a ¼ mile drag strip in Valdosta, Georgia, where he scored a reading of 4.604 seconds at 171.26 mph at the ⅛ mile pass, with a 1.20 second 60-foot reading. He completed the ¼ mile in 6.91 seconds at 221.98 mph in the 3200 lb car.

It was a grueling day of hammering on the PRO-X™ Powerglide, but Dillard’s take on the newly designed transmission and converter was all positive. He said, “This new transmission performs flawlessly. We put a lot of demand on the transmission, and this new beefed up PRO-X™ Powerglide has given us the confidence that when race day comes around, the transmission will be there for us.”

For information on this and all other TCI® products and services, go to www.tciauto.com or call 888-776-8255.





Sources;

TCI® Automotive
151 Industrial Way
Ashland, MS 38603
Phone 888-776-9824
Fax 662-224-8255
www.tciauto.com

Eric Dillard
Proline Racing
116 Dixie Drive
Woodstock GA 30189
770-516-0745
eric@prolineracing.net