318/8 Speed Swap

DionR said
I have to admit I am a little confused by the video. They show an S197 Mustang on the dyno, but with an 8HP?? Until the end, I thought they swapped an HC into it, but nope; twin turbo Coyote.

I will admit again that even as a hardcore stick guy, the 8HP is intriguing. I love the idea of modes and a transbrake for a drag and drive event would be killer. And my wife could drive it if we were roadtripping the car, unlike my T56 where I would be the only to do all the driving.

At the same time, I really don't think it will ever feel like a manual trans. Even with clutch emulation. Even so, if I wasn't so far down the road of my T56 swap, I might have jumped to the 8HP camp.

Yeah the 8HP is a popular swap, I assume the mustang was swapped but not sure. I just read the documentation. I think the 8hp is likely the better overall transmission even vs the dct but hard to know for sure.

I agree. I have never considered doing an automatic before as I've been a hardcore manual guy. The biggest thing that is making me consider it is my 408 makes way too much power for either manual I have (nv3500HD or 833OD) which makes the likely candidates TKX or t56 which both require extra parts that I don't have (bellhousings, hydraulic clutch etc) which basically puts them in the $5k+ range even if you can find good deals on used parts. The 8hp is all over and you can get a good pullout trans for $6-800 and all you really need is a flexplate and a TCU. So you are looking at $3k even if you go a little crazy/fancy. If I go with the MAXX Ecu that also gets me FI ECU and really a VCU with the extra inputs and datalogging for that same price.

The other thing is flexibility. With the 8 gears, super fast shifts and multiple modes you can go from an aggressive race manual setup to a smooth full auto setup that the wife could (theoretically) drive with the twist of a knob or push of a button. Also in function, with the internal clutches, the 8hp very much acts like a wet clutch manual with torque multiplication available. Also performance wise: with the fast shifts and more gearing options and transbrake, I think the 8hp will be faster in most every situation even with the slight weight penalty.

At the end of the day the main thing I'm not sure about is will I like it and will I regret not doing the manual? Unfortunately I don't have a good answer for that.