it's not a blanket statement like that.
hanlon offers many different levels of transmission. I got the most basic level, a full rebuild (stock) kit plus the t56 carbon fiber blocker rings, t56 1-2 shift fork, his modified t56 3-4 shift fork, and the three 5-R forks to fix the reverse issue in t45s. he can do anything as simple as that up to double-blocker ring, faceplating, more reinforced parts, remove 5th and change ratios, harder shafts, etc. as you go up in power, you go up in price, and down in daily driver status.
I'm sure promotion is similar.
What I'm saying is that a T56 will hold 650whp all day long in a stock 03/04 Cobra unless you start adding serious amounts of tire/suspension and getting it to hook really hard. At that point, you upgrade the input shaft spline count and you can make a ton more power through the stock trans.
To get a T45 to perform at the same level, it's going to be unliveable. I'm sure there are guys who will swear by faceplated, straight cut dogboxes on here and just say grow a set of nuts, who don't mind gutted drag cars that they have to hop through a jungle gym of bars to get in, no heat or a/c or radio, lexan windows, open headers, 3000rpm idles, etc. But to the normal, average person driving a car a couple days a week, faceplating and straight cut gears get to be too much. Forget hard to get in gear, some of these mods make your trans so loud it sounds like a supercharger or a bad wheel bearing just over your right ear and a hundred times louder.
If all your ever going to do is a few bolt ons, finding another T45 is an option. It will live DD around 300whp for a long while. I wouldn't waste money rebuilding one with what people are asking for them these days. I like overall how much better the T56 is. Holds more power, shifts a TON better, and has the extra gear. This allows you to run like a 4.30 gear and have the same highway rpms as your current car with a 4.10 gear. Get one from the Viper and you can run 4.30s and have the same feel as a 3.73, etc. Have more grunt down low from those gears (god knows B heads need it) but not be doing 5000rpm at 55mph.
This is not a knock on Bob @ Hanlon by any means. He answered my many questions, was local and open to pick up, gave me better pricing on cash parts, showed me a lot of stuff in his shop and was sure to give me stuff to upgrade my trans to make it hold a bit more power without making it unliveable, sold me only what I needed and not anything else. He answered a million of my rebuild questions in person and then later on the phone, I brought the trans to him a few times and he showed me in person and didn't charge me a thing. He scoured the earth and found three parts for me that are non existent for T45s anymore and sacrificed one of his transmissions to give me one of those parts - he sold me an expensive 5-R synchronizer that I admit I screwed up in disassembly for $20. Once I was done he helped me troubleshoot THREE times that I had to re-do it to get it right.
I just see what I spent on the rebuild and the effort and wish I had gone T56 with his parts. Someone who does not have the tools or experience that I do is going to shell out a lot more in labor or purchasing the tools. If I could do it again I would have sold my T45 and MGW shifter, bought a good shape T56 and crossmember. A stock T56 crossmember and mount bolts into your Cobra. For clutch, driveshaft, flywheel, and shifter, those are mods I'd suggest doing anyway and really enjoyed on my car. MGW shifter, FRPP aluminum driveshaft, aluminum flywheel and lightweight clutch. The only other modification is getting the speedometer to work which I had to do the Dallas Speed Cal for my gears anyway.
I can look up my receipts but I believe the stock rebuild kit, the upgraded blockers, the forks, 5-R kit, 3 bushings, extra bearing, extra bushing, 5-R synchronizer all came to like $650 with him cutting me that stupid deal on the extra stuff. I then had to pick up a $200 tool and $50 worth of oxy-ace to do the rebuild. Not to mention what a couple months of time is worth as around work in winter I can only work on it a day or two a week for a few hours. Most shops are around $500 at least in labor for something like this.
