Guys,
I am going to start my TC install tonight. Any advice or things to watch out for? Thanks in advance.
Jesse

 

Hey Jesse, how are things going. I assume you have corrected your SR runners and it is now running well. What converter are you installing?

 

Advice??? hmm... don't screw up?? :jester

 

Pour tranny fluid in the converter before installing it onto the input shaft of your tranny. Make sure to carefully push the converter on while turning it and make sure to get it all the way on. It should drop down a couple times before it gets all the way on the shaft. You should lay a yard stick across the front of your bell housing and make sure there is about 1/4" clearance to the torque converter bolt holes. That way you will know it made it all the way on the shaft of the trans. Maybe somebody else has the exact measurement here. Good Luck.

 

What converter you puttin on? Try not to have too much fun :D

 

Vigilante? ProTorque? Stall? Get ready to blow those tires off(Street tires for sure!) :D

 

Guys,
The converter is only a 2000 stall speed. I know I should have a ~2800 one, but this was free and I thought I would give it a shot. Its a Summit converter. Son't know if it will even make a difference. Do you think it will help?

ps Ralph, yes I got the leaks all strightened out and also got the chip programmed were I get 128 for the BLM cells. As for the timing, well Grumpy from thirdgen gave me some advice and direction I am going to try. I also got pissed last night and ordered the upgraded ESC from the tech tips. I think the exhaust or RRs are causing some false knock to occure and I am chasing my tail with trying to get it to go away. He said that I should not have much more than low 30s for total timing. I now have at some points with the stock ARAP chip high 40s in some areas! I think it is really killing the power. So you have any tips or techniques that I could incorporate into tuning. Your and anyone else with ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thanks all.


[Modified by ski_dwn_it, 1:22 PM 2/26/2002]

 

erh? interesting choice on the converter :confused:

on the tuning: I know almost nothing about it. I have fooled with my enrichment curves a little and have another chip with some additonal timing that i haven't tried yet. my timing at WOT is set at 32 under full load, however it is much higher under lighter loads and at certain points on the table. My ESC is toast, so i never get any knock retard.....i hope i'm not distroy'n my engine but.... You might want to loosen you knock sensor or remove it and wrap it with teflon tape and only hand tighten it. sometimes that desensitizes it. Good luck.

 

Make sure you can spin the the torque converter by hand once you have it pushed all the way on.

 

Yeah I knew you were going to say that about the converter. Like I said it was free and its only costing me the time to put it in. The unit only has ~50 miles on it. We took it out of the chevelle when we got the 509. Do you think I will notice a difference?

 

I would be careful with that converter. A cheap/weak converter can come apart under heavy load and well kill the tranny. I wouldn't do much getting on it any where near the lockup time. If those cluthes break bye bye tranny. That's happened to me.

Not sure if you have pulled the tranny before? All bolts are reached best from under the car.. The top two use a 9/16 swivel head socket and long exenstion. Works wonders. Also take the pan off first and drain the fluid that way. Good time for a drain plug kit. Other wise when you remove the dip sick tube, and TV cable from the tranny you have fluid runnin everywhere. This should also help with the fluid running out of the converter when you remove it. IT's a heavy bastard. So you may want to rest up before trying to pull it off. It's even more fun getting the new one in. I just did this over the weekend. If you have the hard tranny lines you will have to remove them. I have hose for my lines so I don't have to remove them. You may have to drop one header as well not sure about yours? The LPE headers with both on do not allow enough drop to pull the tranny back far enough to slide the converter off. You need about 7-8" between the flexplate and converter to pull it off. At that it's a bit tight. Good luck and ask questions if you have to I hate for anyone to go through what I have.
If you already knew the above sorry.

 

Not sure if you will see any benefit from the converter. i think the 89 converter stalls to about 1800..stock. With your new power, it should stall higher. I don't know anything about the new converter you are installing, but it might not do anything for you. Before you pull the tranny, you might wanna consider a more substantial converter upgrade. My suggestion would be a protorque or vigilante with 2800-3200 stall. Good luck

 

I just hope you got it for free. Bad enough your going to waste all that time on the install. I guess you havn't been reading this forum for to long or you'd know better.

 

Well Guys I chickened out with the install. In the back of my mind I was thinking that I should be getting a vigilanti 2800 and I am kinda pressed for time this week and really wanted to spend the weekend, weather permitting to tune the car. Dad and I thought about it while the car was up on the lift and got a game plan together if at a later time we decided to do it. He also suggested I call an old buddy of his that does tranny work and ask him how much he would charge to install it. For 300-400 bucks its probably worth it.
As for the comment about not reading the forum, ect. Well I have to say that I would have to disagree with you on that, and so would my girlfriend! (shes always bitching that I am always on this thing). And no I have never read a single thing that said "DO NOT USE A SUMMIT TORQUE CONVERTER!" I checked the prices of a summit 2800 stall and they are nearly the same price as a yank converter, which I just saw a GP going on here. Now don't go tell that price says it all and you have a crappy old torque converter that is collecting dust that you will sell me for 1000 bucks and it will outperform any other converter becuase it *costs* more. I'm just trying to make the point that I don't think there would even be a market for them if they were that bad. As a matter a fact I have one in the chevelle (3600 stall) and I beat the livin poopie out of that with 585hp and 638 ft/lbs and it has not missed a beat. Granted it might fail before a *better* one, but I wouldn't be out there racing if I was afraid of or couldn't afford something breaking. Thats the nature of the beast.
I was going to do it just for the fun of it. But after feeling like I was pressed for time and all. I just simply decided against it. The same goes for the whole engine project that I did. I did it for the fun of it. I could have simply paid someone and been done with it, but were is the fun in that. I do these things for the challenge and the learning experience. Which brings me to the point of the forums. These I *thought* were to help people. I guess your comment about not reading the forum really pissed me off. Sorry all you others for me T-ing off here. And I would like to say Thanks for all your comments about the install.
-Later-

 

Jesse, your the one that asked for advice on this topic and as many in this thread have stated and as well in other thread on this forum about TC your choice of TC leaves alot to be desired.
You asked My opinion I gave it to you. That convertor you are installing won't be any better than the stock one. I want you to remember this thread when your changing to another convertor in less than a year.

Sorry, If I hit a nerve but I've been where you're at now.
John

 

I agree with John Mackey........ :yesnod: :yesnod: :yesnod: :yesnod:

We are only trying to help you, and I believe that is why you posted your topic in the first place as most of us do :confused:

I just had a $400 TCI lockup go-to-pieces and Toast my tranny with it :U

It was a 2600 or so stall, but it just couldn't take what my 383 stroker puts out :crazy:

I would go with Mackey......he has a lot of experience under his belt.......I now have a Protorque....Vigilante is OK also.......

A little extra advice...I was in your shoes and opted for the TCI.....everyone recommended I either go with the Protorque or Vigilante....I should have listened to the sounds of experience the First Time :)

Live and learn :cheers:

I hope you don't end up with the Bill I did :D

Just my 2 C's worth :cheers:


[Modified by 95BLKVette, 9:30 PM 2/26/2002]

 

I'm going with a 2420 stall .. the 383 will make it stall higher anyway, and I can't afford a $500-700 converter. Later on when I can, I will swap it out on my own. For now this is fine :yesnod:

 

Hey Glock, how's the new tranny doing?

Is it in yet?

Wish you luck with your TC.

I wouldn't do it though after what happened to me, especially with your new tranny rebuild. Dig deep and go for at least the Protorque :yesnod:

My TC flamed with no warning....wasn't even pushing it at the time :U

 

Tranny is going in tomorrow night and I pick it up thursday morning :yesnod: :yesnod: . I had to go with a stock replacement TC. The good thing is stock is 2420stall and it should be close to what it needs. 2600 would probably be a little better, but I cannot afford a $500-700 converter right now. Maybe later.


[Modified by Glock'94, 12:59 AM 2/27/2002]

 

[QUOTE]Tranny is going in tomorrow night and I pick it up thursday morning :yesnod: :yesnod: . I had to go with a stock replacement TC. The good thing is stock is 2420stall and it should be close to what it needs. 2600 would probably be a little better, but I cannot afford a $500-700 converter right now. Maybe later. i hope it doesnt bite you! :eek: how much did you pay for the converter you are putting in? i got a 2800-3200 stall b&m holeshot for $439 plus shipping...of course i was in a hurry so i ended up paying $470.00 with the 2nd day air shipping. i really hope you dont have a problem with the new converter. good luck! :cheers: