There has been a lot of transmission questions on the 700 R. With Pete not hanging around as much I thought I would throw in my 2 cents on cheap assed converters... If you are building any kind of HP and your running any kind of stall you need to take care of the weakest link, and that is a cheap converter. I had purchased a 3000 stall lockup from TCI. It did not take too long and the converter blew. If your not aware, if the converter goes, it destroys the trans.....1 trans to rebuild. TCI said oh, we will replace the converter, you pay for shipping. Ok I'm stupid. rebuilt and replace the trans, and installed the (new ??) converter. 15,000 miles later my trans goes..It was full of clutch material sluffed off of the converter. I called TCI again. They said that that was impossible, ( I was looking at the converter that my transmission guy had cut apart to show me why his just rebuilt Trans had failed. It not only had sluffed of clutch material, the gears were wiped out. Now that is two. I really think that the first time my trans went it was a TCI converter, but I cant prove it. Long story short, 3 transmissions and 3 TCI converters.

After much discussion here on this forum I called Precision. They built me a Billet converter guaranteed it for 5 years. So far so good. Stay away from cheap converters if your building horsepower. You will regret it....

 

It's not the first time i read that about TCI , not trying to put them down
but i did a big research before i bought my first stall converter and went with a B&M
Holeshot 2400,which was really good with the ZZ4Cam, then i stepped up a bit went to
the 219 cam and obviously got a Precision Vigilante that thing put the wild in the beast.
i will always be a Precision Industries fan.

 

 

Wayne as you know I have to go through my trans real soon. The car just sits, as the trans only has first gear. Not sure how long first gear will last. When I go to have my trans done, I will get ahold of you to find out about the trans rebuild itself. You know my car is stock and will probably not ever be much over stock, as the Convertible is my daily driver, but I have done research on converters recenly and am really leaning towards a Precision Converter from all I read. I have talked to a couple of different places about doing the rebuild that have said I can have just about any converter I want, however neither would put in a TCI and put a warrentee on my trans. They both thought the converters would not hold up. I will get with you when I have the funds to put the trans work at the front of the line.

 

I put in a Boss Hog converter (~$200) when I did my 700r4 rebuild. After 150 miles it started whining. At 170 miles I figured it was grinding itself to death and sending metal particles throughout the trans, so I stopped driving it. One thing I noticed (didn't know it was a problem at the time) was that there was a very large gap between the flex plate and the torque converter, at least 1/4". I just bolted it up and found out later that this could be a problem.

Here's the inside of my trans filter. All the sparkly stuff is metal particles:



Anyhow, I bought an Edge torque converter (~$350) because Dana of Pro-Built recommended them. One thing I noticed was that the gap between the flexplate and torque converter was very small and the torque converter actually grazed the flexplate as I spun it. I think this says something about the quality of the Edge converter, which obviously fits much better. Hundreds of miles later everything is fine.

One small complaint. I asked for a stock stall speed and they sent me one that is slightly higher than stock. I don't like the loose feel off the line. On a slight incline I can take my foot off the brake and the car won't creep forward. This is a daily driver and I don't need a high torque "launch" every time I pull away from a stop. I like the tighter feel of the stock stall speed better.

 

tci has a bad reputation and not just their converters,transmission are not that good either.I have had a vigilante in my car for 20,000 miles and no issues,you get what you pay for.

A friend of mine told me 25 yrs ago to buy the best and you won't be dissappointed.

 

I've been using a Precision Vigilante for years. Great converter, wot lockups with no problems. They will give you one free stall speed change with the converter. I have a spare for a backup but haven't needed to use it.

 

Thats been my policy... dont skimp out on heads, valvetrain and torque converters... I had Edge converters in my bolt on L98, my 383 HSR motor with spray, and my current daily driver 99 LS1 trans am. They have been good to me so far. No complaints for the money.

PTC did my turbo car. 900 bucks then 300 for another restall/rebuild since the first one stalled higher than I wanted.. Not cheap but you dont want to risk blowing a converter and wiping out the driveline.

I had a few local guys buy cheap revvmax converters and such... they blew up, and come thru the floor pan on 1 car.

 

I have a Circle D 2800 and have had no problems with it.

 

I've been running PeteK's 9.5 in 2500 stall for 3 years. This past winter when I had PeteK build me a monster trans I shipped it down to him to have him make it a 3200. He checked it out and all was perfect with it. 4 days later I had it back.
I'm very pleased with it...

 

........... I ran a TCI Breakaway 2400 stall for three years ... no complaints ... no problems ......

 

I've been surfing and saw the torque converter rant, I don't own a Corvette, used to have a '68 big block 4 spd. that I sold for $1800 waaaaay back in '74. Anyway this question is about as far away from Corvette's as possible but it has to do with torque converters.

I'm building a '32 Ford Victoria with a "Built" 507" Cadillac / TH400. This will be strickly a cruiser but I will get on it now and then when safe. The expected hp & trq. is around 450 / 525 and should idle at 800 in gear. the cam is a hyd. flat tappet 228/235 with .535 lift. Not real big for a 507" engine but it will have a noticible lope to it. The car will wiegh around 2900 lbs.

As all of you know when talking t/c EVERYONE has a different opinion...."you need an Allison with 1800 stall" ....."you need a stock converter" ....."you need a TH400 converter with 2800 - 3000 stall". This engine will have so much torque I won't really need anymore than stock or 1800 at best....I don't think. My main concern is having as little slip as possible at cruise speed which will be 98% of my driving. I live in So. Utah and 4 miles from the 15 hwy, everywhere I go is 75 mph. So anyone have their opinion on what would be best and the best t/c company to deal with? I''ve already talked to quite a few with varing opinions also , thanks.....Dave

 

circle d is a good company to deal with and sells a good product its a corvette dont skimp on fixing it right if its a stock car with no or mild mods get a transtar or dacco converter

 

Yes I've talked to Chris at Circle D and I know they have a very good rep.........but I don't understand the rest of your statement, it's not a Corvette and it's definately not stock ......????

 

He wasn't talking to you he was just making a blanket statement. What rpm range is your cam? I would call the manufacturer or if you are already talking to Chris get his recommendation. Chris is a nice guy I have talked with him before as well.

 

correct i was in a hurry posting last night was stating a corvette or asny collector vehical for that matter people are better in the long run to use a quility part it will save money in the long run transtar and dacco are torque converter rebuilders also i use them mostly in my shop on daily drivers mild street rods very few failures witch they handled quickly. depending on what type of car m working on there are a few companys that i deal with Circle D i just started with and like a lot Goerend makes good diesel converters for trucks and treats customers good ive used a few BandM converters in 3 speed units with good sucess and tci units in mopar 3 speeds with out any issuses im not a fan of tci trannys or lock up converters

 

Ok, thanks, had me kind of ????????

 

late night typing sorry the allision converter would be good in a rv tow rig soming of that nature its heaiver so increasing the stall on it would be a waste of time the stock 400 converter has around a 1200rpm stall speed witch may me a to low a engine that makes a lot of low in torgue makes more stall speed a 350 converter would probley make 1500 behind a cadd motor with out much slippage any thing over 2000 would probley be to much example i had a 71 olds cutlass built 403 th350 2.56 gears i put a 2400-2600 converter in it it slip at hiway speed it stalled close to 3000rpm trans would get hot i went to a 1800-2200 12 in converter made big diffrence still could stall it close to 2500 rpm holding brakes changed to 3.73 gears it would now lock up at 2000 and the tires would spin

 

Yea no problem at all, I've talked to several converter shops. Chris at Circle D says he can build an Allison with around 2000 - 2400 stall and 5% slip on the top end for about $450. Another shop, Vortex Converter in Michigan said he would build a powerglide 11" tc by machining out the guts of the 17 spline and installing 30 spline parts, also 1800-2200.

I'm not really concerned about the stall other than the light weight of the car and the possiblity of the engine trying to make it creep at idle in gear. This Cad is "supposed" to idle at 800 in gear so I would think that an 1800-2000 stall should work. This thing will have so much torque that I won't have any trouble accelerating....other than breaking the tires loose. I'm 65 and a retired street cop so I won't be out tearing up the hwy but it will be fun to play now and then on a lonely counrty road. As said before my main thing is as little slip as possible at cruise speed for the heat and believe it or not.....some kind of gas mileage. Thanks

 

understand that im figure a stock stall speed would be plenty for that
im looking in my converter book i can get you a high stall 400 converter approx stall speed 1750 for 159.99 plus shipping its a 13in converter