Thread: r380 strength on paper vs reality

Yes they do but a factory fitting can always be improved upon.
Regards
Robbo

Are they not the same cooler as the autos? If so an additional ATF cooler like Davis Performance Landys etc which just sits behind the grill. Some also fit the P38 V8 ATF cooler in place of the normal one - I havent done that one though.

Originally Posted by Slunnie

Are they not the same cooler as the autos? .

The ones I have seen are just a steel pipe which runs forwards to the front of the engine (or thereabouts) and back to the gearbox. No proper cooler as such.

Err, there are autos around with LS2's in front of them, so I don't think you can call them crap.
Still, the question was re R380's. Djam1 is right, the suffix L seems to be the one to get. Having had two R380 failures, my take is that the oil volume is critical. The original failure was due to a weep from an oil cooler pipe, along with a long drive on the highway, mostly in fifth gear. This was in a relatively new ( not reco ) box. Oil choice is also vital. The oil Dave Ashcroft specifies is hard to get locally. There are many opinions regarding oils for this box. Fred Smith told me Manual Gear 70. Many folk say ATF. We're using Nulon synthetic ATF, but not behind a Holden V8.
In another life I pulled down a number of Holden all synchro 4 speeds that had been behind 253's. They were stuffed. They were relatively cheap to fix though. Maybe that's the point.
If you've got the bucks, get in touch with Dave Ashcroft. He's very helpfulll. Tell him what you're doing and get him to build it. The one he did for us is a beautiful box, and his prices are good. Do a LOT of homework before you import it though. The import BS cost us more than twice the price of the box. Not Ashcroft's fault, but needs bearing in mind.

I was going to say, they are 304 cubic inches! 304nm is pretty lame for a 5.0L motor, especially considering the 4.6 Bosch motor in my P38 makes 406nm!

Originally Posted by johntins

Oil choice is also vital. The oil Dave Ashcroft specifies is hard to get locally. There are many opinions regarding oils for this box. Fred Smith told me Manual Gear 70. Many folk say ATF. We're using Nulon synthetic ATF, but not behind a Holden V8.

ATF is generally not up to the task IMO, unless you can get a GL4 spec ATF (like Castrol TransmaxZ) and then a dedicated MTF like Redline MTL/MT85 or Castrol Syntrans 75W-85 will still provide better gear and bearing protection.

Originally Posted by rick130

ATF is generally not up to the task IMO, unless you can get a GL4 spec ATF (like Castrol TransmaxZ) and then a dedicated MTF like Redline MTL/MT85 or Castrol Syntrans 75W-85 will still provide better gear and bearing protection.

Yeah, every time this topic comes up this gets said. I'm not arguing, but the box is due for a change, what do you recommend?
The ATF has been in a while now. It's done some work. I'll be interested to see it when it's drained.

I couldn't speak highly enough of Castrol Syntrans for the R380