Hello all, as some of you may remember I came here to research Corvettes for my mother to purchase.


For those that aren't familiar, she wants a Red, Automatic, Coupe with Red or Kalahari interior (so far).


She has a preference for the C7, so I have been focusing my search on the 2014 MY due to the A6.


I got to wondering, with the reading I've done on the A6, would an aftermarket torque converter, possibly with a higher stall speed, and the commensurate tune to match potentially eliminate the failures the A8 has been demonstrating (at least here on the forum)?


I ask as I seem to recall several threads (C6 section as I recall) suggesting a 2800-3200 Stall converter as a performance upgrade for the A6 with "stock ish" street manners, just more power available down low.


I know the A6 doesn't present the same difficulties the A8 has, but I was wondering if it's a possible alternative fix.


Maybe it's just the racer in me, but in my past, a part failure was an opportunity to upgrade.


I wasn't interested earlier, but some of the '15 and '16 MY A8 cars are coming up on the end of the warranty, if the car became available inexpensively enough, the performance improvement coupled with an ultimate fix (perhaps eliminating the TCC slipping during V4 mode while you're in there) would make for one hell of a car.


After all, it's ne hell of a car now, as long as the A8 functions correctly.

 

Hopefully most of the 156 views are from web robots.

Or perhaps I've posted this in the wrong section?

Should it have been in tech?

 

Installing a racing torque converter in an otherwise stock C7 with the A8 might cause more problems and drivability issues than simply having the dealer perform the fixes prescribed by GM. If I was buying a used car with an A8, I would purchase a GMEPP extended warranty. If the A8 starts to have problems, all she has to do is take it in to the dealer and let them handle it. GM fixes the A8 by flushing the transmission three times. If flushing the transmission doesn't work, they replace the torque converter. It seems like most people who have had the transmission flushed or the torque converter replaced report no further problems with the A8.

My dad is looking at buying a new GS next fall, and I'm trying to talk him in to buying one with the A8 instead of the M7. Performance-wise it seems like a great transmission.

 

sounds like you have a cool mom!

 

My feeling, based on what I've read about the problem in these forums. If the car hasn't seen the problem before the drivetrain warranty has expired, it has probably been fixed or won't happen. Of course you can buy the extended warranty to protect yourself if you want. Might be cheaper than swapping TCs for no reason too and cover more. Or you can drive and enjoy.

 

Yes a racing converter could be problematic, I had a "street performance" converter in mind. I remember pictures of one, a prototype IIRC with springs in the lock up hub like a sprung hub ctutch would have.

With something like that you could eliminate the "slipping the clutch" feature for the V4 mode (to smooth it out as I understand) as that seems to be the biggest driving force with these; at least according to this forum.

The '15 & '16 model year 'Vettes I've seen that had the A8 issue, with warranty left, or the oportunity to buy extra weren't cheap, err, "inexpensive" enough to offset the cost of the "performance" converter.

A car with an A8 and a full warranty would be preferred, but the '17s are still outside her price range.

 

I like to think so.

 

Or you could simply keep the stock converter and disable V4 in the tune. If willing to tune it for a performance converter, might as well tune it to disable V4 with the stock converter.