So my car has a D36. It's an automatic.

I do know: the D44 is stronger than a D36 and I know if I ran drag slicks it would rip the D36 to hell.I also searched and realized that torque, not hp, is what breaks parts.

I don't know how much abuse the D36 can take.

Theres a burnout contest in Oakboro NC and I want to enter it. The transmission is rebuilt and am confident in it.

The only thing I don't know alot about is the D36.

Educate me on the D36 and how much abuse it could take.

I mean the L98 makes 330 torque stock. Im just confused on how it would handle the burnout contest and I want to learn more about the D36.

burn out contests are not really the best thing...

They put a lot of stress on the drive line and if you don't do it right can really break shit in a hurry!

If I was entering a burnout contest, I would rather have a pickup truck with a Ford 9", a big block and manual trans....

I have raced mine on drag radials for 3 years with absolutely no problems. Mine is mostly stock LT1/A4 with the 3.07 D36. With a few bolt on mods I am putting slightly more than stock to the rear with no problem. I wouldn't do a burnout contest though just because I really don't see the purpose in it. I would much rather spend my time and money on the track.

D36 will handle a burnout, they usually wet the ground down anyway. Keep the rpms up and dont go lugging it in a higher gear youl be Ok.
Honestly I dont see the fascination with burounts all it does is tear up your car but to each their own.
Take pics.

Well, you're not going to to a burnout on drag slicks.

A burnout is less load on the drivetrain than actually getting traction, and you don't necessarily leave it floored during a burnout either. Wet ground helps the tires break loose easier, and also makes more smoke (steam).

Go for it. Burnouts are awesome, don't listen to these old farts. I love it when it starts filling the car with smoke and I can't see anything. Probably not good for your health though, lol.

As for the burnout, you need to side step the clutch and get that left foot on the brake right away to make it interesting.

Side step, meaning, push the clutch to the floor, hold your rpms up, then plant your left heal on the floor and just pull your toes sideways off the clutch pedal, this will let it snap up and grab and snap the tires loose quickly. Then just get on the brake and use that to control the car's movement.

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I certainly haven't read every pertinent post but in seven years of forum time, I can't recall ever hearing of anyone breaking a 3.07 Dana 36, even with a modified engine. It seems it's the aftermarket 3.54/3.73 gears that come apart, and not just on modified cars at the strip either....

CC is right, with the exception of sidestepping the clutch. If you have a D-36, you likely have no clutch to sidestep.

I also love smoking out the neighborhood, although now that I run drag radials all the time I can't afford to melt them off.

There is always the possiblility of breaking something but on street tires doing burnouts is not likely to hurt it. I had many 1.6 60' times on drag radials at the track, and countless dead hooks that were likely also 1.6 60' times on the street and didn't break the D-36. I do have it clunking now, after cutting 1.5 60' times. It actually happened coming out of the burnout at the track to heat the tires. It went sideways spinning and as I eased out of the gas to end the burnout it snapped straight and felt like something hit the back of the car. I'm certain it wouldn't have happened on street tires, it's just the stickiness of good drag radials as they get hot and start to bite in. Go have fun with it!

See my thread on D36s. See what the Tech with 25 years said about swapping the D36s for D44s....I'll hint...He scoffed at the idea.

here is a link

http://www.corvette-guru.com/modules/ ... pe=&topic_id=7466&forum=1

Thanks guys. Burnout Contest is in Janruary and they videotape the entire thing and post it on youtube. Ill be sure to post it when it gets online. Patrick at DC blew up his engine reaching 320 degrees during his burnout contest. I wont let that happen. He blew out his tires, melted his fender wells, and did alot of damage to the clutch. I have an auto btw.

I like a good burnout as much as the next guy but aren't the rear brakes burning up along with the tires? I'd hate to warp a rotor or ....

Most official type burnout displays use some kind of wheel chocks on the front so you don't have to use brakes. It also helps to keep the water spray coming.

Lame! Using the brakes is half the fun, the ass end of the car walks all over the place and basically paints the whole parking lot black.

Even if I did install line lock, I'd actually set it up to valve the rear brakes off. That way I could use the front brake without burning up the rears.

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I don't have time to read that thread right now, but are you saying that a 36 to 44 swap is a waste of time/not worth it?

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jhammons01's rearend Master Tech

"scoffed at how many subscribe to the "switch it out to a D44" advice. He pointed out that the D36 if properly maintained ,it will stand up just fine...even when much larger HP is added to the motor."

Maybe you could enlighten the people how to blow up D44's Josh?

Just stick 50 psi in some cheap back tires, go easy on the brake pedal and you'll be fine. The D36 will handle that no problem. Just stop when the tires blow to avoid body (and wheel) damage!

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I would think, that if the D36 was truly capable of withstanding much more than the stock levels of abuse, that it would have been used in the stick shift cars as well. Maybe strength isn't the reason GM decided to use a D44 in lieu of the D36 in M6 applications, but I always thought that was the case. Admittedly, I've never seen any type of documentation from GM to support this assumption though.

I don't think the D36 is as weak as the forums make it out to be (this dude is scared to do a damn burnout with one?!), but I don't think it's as robust as the D44 either.

Dan has countless 1.6's on his 36 without an issue, and only once he started getting into the 1.5's did he start to have problems. I would bet most D36 owners could accomplish the same thing.

A couple of us stick shift guys have gone consistently 1.5 without breaking anything on the stock D44, so in my opinion that's the difference; a D36 will not take continual sub 1.6 short times, where a D44 potentially will.

As far as properly maintaining a D36, what more is there than a long fluid change interval? I seriously doubt that changing the fluid on a regular basis would make the difference between life and death on a car that cuts 1.5XX short times. If there is some magic maintenance schedule that will propel my rear end into the "properly maintained" category and greatly increase it's strength, I'd love to hear about it.

Bear in mind, this is all just my opinion. As someone who has drag raced and consequently broken literally every component of the rear end in a C4, I'm not sure how my opinion stacks up against someone who has done 25 years of GM warranty work. Take it for what it's worth, your mileage may vary.

In regards to the original question, you won't hurt anything doing a burnout. Make sure the car is straight when you let off the gas so it doesn't jerk the car to one side when the tires bite and you'll be fine. Go smoke the hides, have some fun, and take video!