As Chad and I were cruising the 2011 SEMA show on Friday we happened upon a booth with a bad ass crash box for sale. Long known for their differentials and transmissions for foreign stuff, Quaife now manufacturers a sequentially shifted, six speed, dog-box style transmission for RWD cars and trucks. They have been on the market for a while now and are capable of handling up to 750hp, although we flaked and did not get a torque number. This is a bad ass transmission.
Being a “dog box” style transmission, it is filled with straight cut gears, hits each shift like Mike Tyson, and while workable on the street, will make the kinds of noises that make gearhead’s hair stand up and everyone else run for cover. We were yanking the handle on this thing hard enough to rip it off and the damned thing felt like it was hewn from granite.
It is pricey at around $14,000, but knowing more than one person that has blown up a worked over “traditional” transmissions, it ain’t as expensive as buying multiples of what combo is currently in your car. For track cars, it would be killer. Slapping up and down gears without the clutch, in incredibly rapid fashion will make you faster in and out of the corners. There are an amazing array of gearsets available. You can run it so that sixth is 1:1 or have both fifth and sixth as OD gears. The transmission is designed for easy service by the owner in the event you want to swap ratios between tracks, etc. Oh, and if we were not clear, once you let the clutch in for first gear to get rolling, you don’t need to touch it again until you stop, shifting both up and down. That is cool.
Here’s a look at the Quaife QBE69G -
