Would anyone be willing to spend between $5500-9000 on a titanium trans housing? A local precision machining shop next to my work, Benedict Robotics, would build it. I talked to the owner about this and he was happy to draft me up a plan.
I gave him a shit housing out of the Sentra for a visual, and within 2 days I got the results. The tranny housing would be made from Ti. Billets. This would end up being a modular housing consiting of 4 modules. Maybe more, but from a gander he thinks 4. It would retain all of the factory mounting locations, gaskets, internals, yadda, yadda, yadda....
Keep in mind this is NOT an offer..... yet. I just wanted to humor the guy and myself to see the price, feasability, and any feedback from here.

-Tim

Is this titanium going to heat treated? If I recall correctly, titanium needs to be treated to get it's strength. It's been a while since I've had materials class, but I think that's right. Please correct me if i'm wrong.

Titanium hardness/strength depends on if it is alloyed, HR/CR, Stress relieved, heat treating, Quenching via. air, oil, water, etc. But yes it will be treated, most likely heat treated. I will talk to him tomorrow, I'll keep you guys updated.

No offense, but what would be the point of this? The tranny housing is not a weak point in our cars, but the gears certainly are.. maybe have him look into making gearsets instead. Or if you want something a little more along your original lines, how about a maxima tranny kit. I don't think a single titanium trans housing will sell.

andris

No offense taken.
The point... There never was a real valid point. As for the trans housing, they are weak enough for me and others to crack and break. My idea was to see if this could be done. Think about it, a lightweight strong Modular tranny case. This could be very beneficial to drag guys. And not to mention you could change gearing by dropping in a different "module". And look at it this way, one more item to the small list of SR20 parts. I was just curious, thats all. I figured no one would see the point, but hey I could have something no other guy has, and what the hell.:confused:

Actually one of the reason the gears MAY (this is a possibility not a fact) be weak is because the case spreads under severe load which causes the gears to not mate as well (or as closely) which causes failure from riding on the tips of the gears. I have titanium glasses and a ti axle on my mountain bike but I doubt I will ever have a ti tranny on my sentra.

If I had the money to spend on a tranny casing like that, I would probably need the stronger casing. :D

Please...people bitched about the price of the Quaife gear set Mike K was trying to get done. Imagine a titanium case?

A stronger case would be great. Is there not a different material that he can use to make it? something cheaper, but just as strong?

just making it out of billet aluminum compared to cast would damn near double the strength, you wouldn't even need the ti.

and being that you are machining it all you could get rid of the weak spots where the axles exit right from the get go because it would be less machining.

just a thought.