Heat Treating OE Gears a waste? 4

[apex944]

I've got a guy with a big turbo on a small car that used to make 100hp. Now he's pushing 350 and breaking gears all the time (imagine!)

Anyway he wont pay for proper racing straight cut gears and shafts so he wants to try heat treating.

Is there anyway that a heat treatment could be this successful on gears made for 1/3 the HP this engine now makes?
And if so, what type of treatment are we talking about?

Thanks in advance.

- Bill

 

[axledude]

pontiacjack,

The tradeoffs moving from hypoid to spiral bevel (0 offset) are:

1. The obvious that you have identified--packaging to floorpan.
2. Torque capacity is somewhat reduced, so you have to increase the ring gear diameter as a countermeasure, decreasing ground clearance.
3. Manufacturing method has to change--due to the lack of sliding action on the tooth, it must be ground instead of lapped.
4. Typically, in part due to #3, but also attributed to contact ratio and sliding, they are somewhat noisier (not generally an issue for racing though)

If you can live with the sacrifices, there is efficiency to be gained!