What converter are you running
 

Please tell me whose racing torque converter you are using and if you are happy with its performance. If you replaced a previous converter and have verifyable data to show improvements, please provide gains achieved.

Thanks.

I have a 8 inch 5800rpm spragless Transmission Specialities converter behind my BBC.

I have run this converter for the last 2 seasons and was pleased with it's performance, thats is... till I found it has over 17% slippage :shock:

I'm pretty sure it was loose from the get go and they do offer one free tweak within the first 6 months. I just never knew it was loose till someone on here ran the numbers for me.

I wouldn't be afraid to buy another one though.

Cp

I've run Continental for as long as I've racing. In fact I've only had one racing convertor, ever. It's an 8" that I bought in '95. Initially it was set up for my 63 Nova with a 406 and 5000 stall. I had it freshened and restalled to 5500 when I bought my FED, then again to 5800 when I went with a big roller. One more time when I installed the 522RM in my Vette roadster, still at 5800. I"m sending it in again this winter to up the stall a bit more. Kris has always nailed the stall I wanted on the first try with 5-7% slippage.
Johnny

I've learned over the years converter shops are like car salesman :D

I've tried several brands and the only one not to go back on what they say is Coan ..

call and ask for Art Reed

I've ran Continental, Hughes, and PTC, current is PTC, and they will stand 100% behind their product. I've had good luck with all of them, never broke one, but PTC is closer for me and will have something in a couple days if necessary.

JMO

Zip.

X 2 on PTC. I have used them before and will again. My current convertor is from BTE, good service from them also...

I just got my coan converter back from a freshen up it was about 70.00 less then we figured :)

want to add after I got this coan back ... it was 600rpms tighter then it was when I sent it in ... and of course they told me I was down on HP and would not fix it... I wont be back there either

8" ATI CONVERTER 4500

/www.tciauto.com/Products/TechInfo/Calculators.asp

Don't mean to but in on this Post but how do you check to see if your converter is slipping
Thanks Andy

Marco Abruzzi is building a fantastic converter at a very, very reasonable price.

[((rpm X tire diameter)/(rear end ratio x trans ratio x mph x 336))-1] x 100 or use the caculator on TCI's website......
Johnny

8" TCI 5000

Mine is Blue. It is round & Stalls @ about 3200.

Not typical of bracket racers but we have four Neal Chance converters. 2 bolt together and 2 welded. Marty has been a big help to us every time. They have always performed well and all are very consistent.

Curtis

ive heard good news of neal chance converters. marty is over at dragstuff if u guys wanna check that out...

i run a blue (light special) converter too...was told its a sonic(?) i have trust in my trans guy, thats what he sold me, sofar its ok,maybe im sitting on a time bomb...?

car doesnt see alot of time, but when full nitrous is going its about 1100 hp at the crank in a 3000lb car rolling down track

I see several big names
TSI ,TCI, ATI,BTE, Abruzzi, Coan, Chance, Continental, Hughes, PTC and one round blue one or maybe 2

but I didn't see anyone mention gaines from a previous converter. I also didn't see a major slant for one converter manufacture or another. I was hoping to see a lot more posts so readers can get a feeling for what everyone is running.

Other brands that I know drag racers are running but didn't see any posts for are Edge, JW, FTI, TCS and others.

Keep them coming guys. The more information that is on here the more helpful it will be to all.

Thanks.

I had a b&m holeshot 3600
last yr went to 8"ati mrt treemaster 4500 stall
picked up 3 tenths faster ,3.5 miles mph faster and 60 ft was .08 better
and rpm picked up 600 rpms at the 1320 finish
this is all with a stock 350 and small cam

I run a 8" 5500 tcs, there out of Vancouver Can. Great service :!:
http://www.tcsproducts.com/

cam67152

Hughes 9" 5600 stall behind 540BBC.

I run a transmission specialties converter that started out as a TCI. I sent it to TSI and they upped the stall to 5800 from 5500 and my car picked up .2 in the quarter.

I had a hughes spragless that was 6000 stall and was .3 slower than my faithful TSI converter. I tried a buddy TCI 5400 stall off the shelf and slowed down .15.

I guess my best suggestion is to have one built exactly for your application, it does make a difference.

I yanked out the ATI and put in an all aluminum Neal Chance bolt together deal. My 60 foots went from 1.17 to 1.06. Quarter mile went from 7.0 to 6.8

It was real expensive but a beautiful piece of machining work. Being able to dismantle it and clean it, adjust the stall etc has been great.

Marty Chance is a great guy and willing to give good advice.

whatever you do don't buy a redneck performance converter had a friend talk me into getting one ran ok the first 7 passes but on the 8th pass i was doing my burn out and it let go just stop pulling, i call them and told the guy what happen and he tells me to send it back with 150 dollars and paid for parts. i told him to go to hell and i got a ptc converter and no more problems and picked up .3 on et.

I have used PTC for several years, happy with the converter and the service. A job transfer took me to Wichita, Kansas. Neal Chance's shop is right here, so when the converter needed to be freshened, I decided to give them a shot. I spoke directly with Marty Chance, and after looking at all the car and motor specs, the only change he wanted to make was going to a billet stator, and a small stall adjustment.

Performance wise, the car picked up a couple of hundredths in both 60 feet and on the big end. The rpm dropped off two hundred less between shifts. The biggest difference I noticed was in temperature. The updates Marty recommended yielded about a 20 degree drop in attained temperature during the run. I don't really know if that's good or bad, but I like it. I haven't changed anything else, but having the shop so close and actually being able to visit and talk directly with someone is great.

Our Abruzzi was good for a solid .10 over Hughes and about .13 over a local company we had been using.

I am wanting to try a Abruzzi converter more now ;)

Honestly I've found that fast and consistent sometimes can be hard to find in a converter. My TSI spragless is very good et wise but is a bit aggressive which causes it to be a little be less consistent as my Coan spragless but my Coan is a touch slower

Dave,
If I am not mistaken, I think Lynch picked up .12 or .13 with his switch. Marco will be the 1st one to tell you, hitting the combo for a car that is making that 1000hp range is a challenge.

He did tell me that, I called to order one earlier in the year. His #'s stall wise scared me away at that point. Maybe he has a better handle on things now.

I have a Chance 10" nitrous converter, but that's because it's what was in the car when I got it........It's going back to Marty for a freshen up and reconfigure so it's right for my new motor when it goes on the car........Marty is great to talk too as well, sent him an email about it and he called me to talk about it.

Well the Hughes is out of the car after yesterday. Would not turn over 6000 rpm, Put my old TCI in this morning made a quick hit went to 7200 plus at the blink of an eye.

Any educated guesses what possibly failed?

Have an old Fairbank's 9'' stall's at 2500 behind a mild 360,would like to go to a 3500 or hit it harder. Maybe alky???

Converter was fine. Trans was not so good.

Alan Pope in Fl. A great guy to deal with.

I have run the same 5000 stall Coan converter in both my javelin and gremlin for 6 years and no problems. Have run a 3500 BTI in a street car and it worked great

C/Verters
 

COAN!

Later
G 8)

You all should do a search on FTI Converters ...

I just bought my first from him, you talk about over the top customer service ... he is tops in the converter business in that area ..oh and his converters seem to be prettty darn good ;)

reply
 

I currently ran a JW 9" 5000 conv. behind my 505 bbc and when I hit one of them calculators online, it showed me I had -37% slippage :shock:

Do to my ignorance about converters, I have been doing some homework on this area of key performance and I am now putting my trust into Lenny at Ultimate Converter Concepts. He has mine now and says so far it looks good, but he needs to check the tolerances and sprag, and he will lighten it up a bit, change the stall to around 5600 and tighten it up as I am going to run Nitrous now.

One thing that is VERY IMPORTANT GUYS, is to have as much info about your car as possible, DYNO numbers are a key element, along with what rpm you launch at, what does the rpm flash too right when you leave off the pedal or brake, rpm drop from gear to gear, and those are the 3 main inputs of data needed for any trans shop to get it close to being right, but it's up to the shop guys to know what they are doing of course. :wink:

Another way to find out how much slippage you have, or if the converter is even close for your combo is to hook it up to a chassis dyno and make some pulls, the graph won't lie to ya and go to a respectable dyno shop, spend your good hard earned money and find these numbers that are so much needed to match the power to the trans, rear gear and tires, you won't regret it.

Hammer, ready for the new season this year?? :)

John
"The Elkyman"
Lookin for 8's this year :D

I am ready all but paint should be done on tuesday. Different car again :) You almost ready ?

I have bought and used 5 PTCs now and they were all perfect on with the stall and never failed.