Lockup converter in Drive while drag racing?
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: Nov 2015
Posts: 496
Likes: 35
Lockup converter in Drive while drag racing?
OK, I think they have finally found the issue with the trans/converter in the Vette so we'll be starting with brand new stuff one more time in the next couple of weeks. Whew! With that issue finally resolved it's time to move on to maximizing the car's potential at the drag strip. Question: Who's locking up their converter in Drive at the drag strip and what performance gains did you see both in ET and MPH? I have some experience with this with my 2000 Camaro SS with a PT4000 Yank Converter. That car made 459 to the tires with the converter unlocked and 483 to the tires locked. Plotting both horsepower curves over each other indicated the proper lockup point and locking it at that MPH in Drive averaged gains of almost 2 MPH in the 1/4. The best MPH unlocked was just slightly less than the worst MPH locked so the gains were real. The ET gain was slight (.02.-03) but there was a gain nonetheless. This was on a stock bottom end head/cam package so it might be a whole different ballgame from what I'm doing now. I've been told by a few people that we will likely not see those gains on the Corvette if any gain at all as we're running a Procharged 408 now with 800ish RWHP using a Level VII 4l60e from RPM and a PY3600 Yank converter. Just curious as to what the masses are doing. Thanks.
Last edited by smokinstorm; Aug 2, 2016 at 09:36 PM.
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: Nov 2015
Posts: 496
Likes: 35
MPH in the 1/8th so I'm going to need every trick in the book with my limited horsepower and still too heavy car. Also going to need some GREAT air which I hope will be on 11-14-16 at MIR.
Safety Car
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 4,326
Likes: 140
From: Weatherford, TX
I don't think the masses are doing it. Some can be programmed but mine isn't one of them. I did it with a manual lockup switch that grounds the TCC signal. I just wanted to see what it would do. Locked up in 3rd it gained a few mph, went 150mph and got me kicked off the track. Precision triple disk and roughly 900hp.
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: Nov 2015
Posts: 496
Likes: 35
I don't think the masses are doing it. Some can be programmed but mine isn't one of them. I did it with a manual lockup switch that grounds the TCC signal. I just wanted to see what it would do. Locked up in 3rd it gained a few mph, went 150mph and got me kicked off the track. Precision triple disk and roughly 900hp
Safety Car
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 4,326
Likes: 140
From: Weatherford, TX
I'm curious how it turns out. Alot going on in the mechanics of a run. The TQ/HP curves cross at 5252rpm but if the shift into 3rd takes place at 7000 like that run, it would lockup immediately. I dunno if that's good or not. I wasted maybe a sec making sure it was into 3rd and another sec going to lockup at about 120mph. The lockup pulled it down to about 5500rpm.
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: Nov 2015
Posts: 496
Likes: 35
I watched maybe a dozen vids of Corvettes where the converter was locked up somewhere in Drive. I guess none of those guys are forum members or just have not seen this thread. I know this works, to some extent anyhow, but was just looking for those that have tried it in their car and can share their experiences. It definitely worked in my sub 500 RWHP Heads/Cam Camaro. I'm just hoping to hear from others with 600+ horsepower cars to see if the results were similar to what I experienced. One person has responded in this thread already. Anybody else?
Last edited by smokinstorm; Aug 4, 2016 at 11:01 AM.
