B&M Transmission
B&M Racing & Performance has been at the vanguard of the automotive aftermarket since early 1950s. Racers themselves, B&M’s founders identified the needs of racers and performance enthusiasts and developed products to fill those needs. Recently they’ve acquired a number of other performance-oriented brands, including Flowmaster Mufflers, the legendary Hurst shifters, and Hurst Driveline Conversions.
B&M specializes in performance automatic transmissions, torque converters, automatic shifters, precision manual shifters, and many other transmission products. Who would have thought that an automatic transmission, the proverbial slushbox, would outperform a manual transmission in many forms of racing? As it turns out, the consistency of an automatic, the ability to reduce driver workload, and the uninterrupted flow of power to the wheels from the crankshaft are tremendous competitive advantages.
A specially-built torque converter is necessary for racing to allow the engine to rev higher from a standing-start. That provides more power to the rear wheels for the critical first few feet. The ability to keep your right foot flat on the throttle for the whole quarter-mile means constant acceleration, and those few milliseconds can put the win light in your lane. Couple that with a built-up B&M transmission that has lightning-fast shifts and no slippage, and you’ve got an uninterrupted flow of power to the ground. Bonus: a properly-modified automatic trans often will outlive a manual in a racing environment.
If you have an automatic transmission, it couples to the crankshaft with a device called a flexplate, which also carries the starter motor gears. Race flexplates need to be SFI 29.1-certified, so of course B&M has a selection. Don’t try to put a new, high-stall converter onto a cracked or bent flexplate. Add a deeper cast-aluminum transmission pan to hold more fluid and keep your transmission cooler.
Speaking of coolers, who but a transmission and torque converter developer and manufacturer would know better the importance of keeping the transmission cool. The stock radiator-mounted trans cooler is simply inadequate for towing or competition. And overheated trans fluid will deteriorate rapidly, taking a lot of internal transmission parts along with it. B&M has an assortment of radiator coolers – some with electric fans for positive cooling – that will keep transmission temperature under control either flying along Baja or creeping through traffic in the motorhome.
