Have T 400 set up for SP backing a 455 , approx 500hp. No real intention of racing ,just around town fun. From reading most of the Threads a box from Bruce Roe set up as Larry asked would probably be most Ideal??. Second may be the BIGGER issue. Once again from reading the Threads the converter is a Poston bought in 2008. I'm about to finally be able to get it out on the road this spring. SO is thing going to crap out on me ,do i Have a little bit of time if i dont beat on it. In the paper work it does claim to have Torrington bearings, a stated upgrade in the threads. Not opposed to getting a new Converter but would like to enjoy it for maybe a summer considering I've had the car for 19yrs and drove it off the Trailer. Any help and suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Kevin
Ask yourself if you want to chance wiping a gear train due to a failed converter, vs the peace of mind buying a small (12") stock switch pitch and sending it to Jim Wise and having it built.
Can I ask why you would think the converter would crap out ? I converted my 70 stage one to a switch pitch and ran the KB149 converter. Wired to the brake switch with a diode, so every time you stop or hit brakes it would switched to high stall I was running the KB107 cam car drove absolutely great no issues whatsoever and raced. Now the Val train that was a different story.
Just a sampling of how JW feels about PAE converters. https://www.v8buick.com/index.php?t...onvertor-works-from-1953.327444/#post-2741233 https://www.v8buick.com/index.php?threads/switch-pitch-question.366493/page-2#post-3217914 https://www.v8buick.com/index.php?threads/switch-pitch-converter.295902/#post-2568215 And Jim's post on the Cadillac Forum, https://cadillacmagazine.com/forums...-went-south-on-friday.9394/page-3#post-100892 Go back to page 2 of the above thread to see pictures of the carnage.
Thanks for the Info all Stage 2 It seems my Poston converter has a bad rep from Info on this site. Was just hoping to actually drive it this year without any issues or developing one. Bruno Ill pm
Yeah I remember now there was an issue with those converters back in the day it’s been a while. I bought the switch pitch pump and 149 converter from KB back in the late 80s. If you need information on how to wire the switch pitch let me know I’ll see if I can find the KB paperwork.
I have it wired to the brakes and also a toggle switch for when you leave the line when you’re racing to lock the converter up.
Stage 2 Thats great Ill keep in it mind . going to try to get the converter straightened out first. thanks Kevin
Couple more questions. Are the converters no longer made or just really expensive ? And with the 12" and 13" out of the 60's cars do we have an idea of approximate Stall speeds for both. Car will be on street 99.9% of the time. Thanks again Kevin
Converter stall speed is not an absolute number. It is determined by a number of factors. Engine torque, car weight, and gearing all affect stall. If you put a converter meant for a small V6 or V8 behind a big block V8, it will stall higher behind the more powerful engine. If you put the same converter in a much heavier car, it will stall higher. Numerically lower gearing will also make a converter stall higher. There are no new aftermarket converters. All things being equal, a smaller converter will stall higher than a bigger one. The popular swap back in the day was to use the smaller 12" converter behind the bigger engine for more stall. The 12" converter came in the ST300 2 speed transmissions behind the smaller V8. Read through the thread on SP identification, https://v8buick.com/index.php?threads/vp-converter-trans-visual-id-guide.143723/
