My car has broken three of them in various ways; 2 with my 367HO and one with a Smoggerteen. When the OD blows up it usually takes the entire trans out. But one time, I was able to drive all the way home in direct, a distance of ~14 miles. After subbing in a replacement OD kit, a few weeks later, the 318 took the input gear out. I didn't count that incident because I musta missed a piece of debris, or just didn't see the damage at the earlier inspection. In any case, that alloy-box is now available, lol, and the broken parts are on my wall of shame.The other gears seem to be strong enough for my combo; maybe because I have a serious traction issue.
I find those gearsplits just too daymn far apart for spirited driving, and the total range is too large. It's dang near impossible to have a nice Second road-gear.
The ranges of the A833s are;
At 2.66 and 1:1 the regular box has 2.66/1=2.66
At 3.09 and 1:1, the Commando has 3.09/1=3.09
At 3.09 and .73, the od box comes to 3.09/.73=4.23
With a GVod the numbers are;
2.66/.78=3.41 Tight splits, adequate range, adequately high cruise rpm.
3.09/.78=3.85 What I run, but already getting long.
3.09/(.78x.73)=5.43 stupidly nice with the right combo.
If you have too much starter gear, it just goes to waste, unless you need a parade gear.
Most performance combos with long overlap cams will rapidly loose fuel-efficiency below ~2000rpm. 2200 to 2400 seems to be the sweetspot.
After about 3 years, I quit the od box in 2004 or so.
