I ran a 3000 stall 10" converter for years with my current setup with no problems. I'm convinced that I'd have been just fine if this converter didn't slip as badly as it does.
OK, here's where we'ere at... After speaking with Mark Diconti, it appears that I just cooked the fluid a bit. It only has 100 miles on it. It still snaps into gear fine and shifts fine. So we're still Ok with the trans. Where the problem lies is that the converter Coan recommended to me is a full-race converter. I have no idea why they would recommend such a converter to a low 13 second street car, but they did. So, I'm selling this converter outright and just putting an new 3200 stall street converter in it. This converter has 100 miles on it and cost me $915. I'm open to offers. I'll be listing it in the parts for sale section once I do the swap.
Try calling Coan. Don't they give you one free re-stall or something like that? They have way too good a reputation to believe they won't make it right. If you filled out the tech-sheet properly (which I am sure you did) then they should be able to either fix the converter you have to do what you want, or replace it with the proper one. (after explaining why they gave you what they did, or say "oops, what were we thinking?") I would think that your cam specs, car weight, gear ratio/tire size and street/highway driven are the things you must reiterate in your phone call verifying their recommended converter. I'd be interested in what Mark told you, only because his advice has always been good and I'd like to learn from it as well.
Yards, I agree with Adam. Call them and see what they can do for you. You may be able to exchange the converter for the right one. I don't know why they recommended the converter that they did, but I don't know who you talked with at Coan, and whether they were aware that the car was mostly street driven. I can't help but feel somewhat responsible because I recommended you go with Coan. Wish I could have driven the car before you made the trip home, but I got tied up with Alan's car and the meeting in general. We would have pulled that converter back out if I had felt the slip you describe.
Yards- Maybe you ought to re install the tranny and converter with Velcro this time. :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: Look at the bright side- your an official expert at Riviera transmission removal and install.
Nope. Trans Specialties, who I've bought 2 converters from, does this once free for each converter, but Coan won't. They say that they have to install all new guts to move the flash/stall, and that costs big bucks. Nope. I was never asked to fill out anything. Art asked me a couple of questions, told me there was no way my car's dyno sheets were correct showing I made peak torque about 3000 RPM and said I need a 3800 stall. I have no idea why they'd recommend a full race converter for a car that only sees anywhere close to the flash point under WOT. He was told exactly what my car was, what it weighs and that it saw the track 4 or 5 times a year. I did that. When he said 3800 stall I was really against it, but I said nothing because THEY are the experts on this topic and not me. Funny thing was, I ordered it on a Thursday late morning. I called back Monday morning because I was going to ask that the stall be lower and the girl told me it shipped Thursday afternoon! I ordered a custom converter and it was made and shipped all in a few hours. I have a hard time believing that this converter was made just for me and not already sitting on the bench waiting for a buyer. But I could be wrong. Mark is the one that told me the trans and converter were fine, but the converter is way wrong for my application.
Their webpage is very explicit regarding this... New and unused parts may be returned up to 30 days from date of purchase for refund or credit. All returns are subject to a 15% restocking fee. Any non-stocking parts such as custom build or special order equipment may not be returned. Looks like they have the same attitude as Pro Systems. You buy it, you own it. Oh, and on top of my cost to ship it back I'll pay a $137.25 restocking fee... totaling about $150 to just return the converter if they'll let me. Nowhere does their webpage mention an exchange if the product isn't right for an application. Anybody care to wager on whether Yardley's buying another new converter Monday????
I just looked over their products on their webpage. I am not happy about this. They have a REALLY nice 10" "Competition Series" converter that will do everything I need and only cost me $495. So why would the Coan guy tell me I need a $915 custom made race converter?????? Was I taken advantage of??????
**** Yards, From the best in the buisness to- this? Looks like a new tread about bad company policies is in the future..:blast: :af: :spank: :rant: Good luck!!!
I think there was a "miscommunication" somewhere..maybe this point should be brought up again with their "Powers to be"..let`s keep the customer happy!!! :TU: Later,Tony.
...*picking myself up off the floor*... Yards... they up-sold you something you did not need, simple as that. And to add insult to injury, they didn't bother to take into account that you have a BBB, not a BBC. Torque production at rpm is considerably different between the two motors, and that's the most important factor, along with car weight and gearing when building a converter. Especially a unit that will spend more time on the street, than the strip. While you probably do make peak torque at 3800, the curve is flat as a board, as it is with all Buick 455's. So he way underestimated the torque production at rpm, and from your description of driving it, I would bet if you had a trans brake, you would be able to see that it's actually stalling a lot higher than 3800 rpm. Your describing what a 4500 or 5000 stall converter feels like on the street. When I order one of my 9.5" converters for a Buick guy (which is quite often lately, they are building 3 and 4 at a time for me typically), I show up with a dyno sheet of a similar engine. Every time Tom or Dick looks at it, they shake their head and say "man those Buick's make a ton of torque at low rpm". If they sold you an 8" converter, then your best bet here is to sell that unit to a drag racer on the board here, or on racejunk, and get a 9.5" unit from me, or some other vendor. That's about as small a diameter as you can go, and still maintain the cruising efficiency. While I wish this was not true, the sad fact is that this is not the first time I have heard this story. And it's exactly why I though I should share the experience and great workmanship I can get locally here on performance converters. At the price I sell at, I'm certainly not going to get rich doing it, but I have made many folks happy, and that's a good thing in this business. JW
Hey Jim ... Its not like I wasn't telling him to call you, its just the *mystique* from many other people telling our boy Yards that Coan builds THE BEST, dont you want the best ?? plus alittle of "there certainly must be something better that doubles the price, no ??" we just got off the phone with them ... the short version is that they need the production number to first make sure it is the correct unit. Then, If it is - it needs to get shipped back and tested / inspected. 2 cases then 1) it wasn't built to spec -> they fix and correct cost - free + round trip shipping 2) it WAS built to spec but it isn't to Yards expectation -> they'll still probably fix and correct for free. When I questioned him recommending a 3800 converter for a heavy, 95% street driven car his response was that this converter is about 2% better than total lock-up, i.e. it can overdrive the rpm delivered by the motor by 2% under light load conditions and therefore should be perfect for this application. I certainly haven't had my ears tuned to the converter channel for a long time but thats the first time I've heard that claim
Yes, that's my fault. I had heard a lot of good things about Coan. I thought they were the best. Obviously I am mistaken. If this is how they stand behind their product, they aren't as good as I thought they were.
:idea2: Claims like that are how salesmen get folks to pay twice as much for something as they should.
http://ckperformance.com/index.html They are in BOHEMIA,N.Y. They also have shops in Philly and Del. Can't hurt to talk to them..... - Bill
I can practically throw a rock and hit thier front window from my house. Pro Torque converters is also in Bohemia.
First off... Jason, Limelisk and I were just on the phone a while ago laughing our a$$es off at this comment. Man, that's funny. And Secondly... I'm not throwing Coan under the bus. At least not yet. We can't explain their odd choice of a converter that is probably 800 RPM too high. But at least it looks like they'll make it right. Of course, I have to pull my transmission AGAIN! I'm surprised the tranny doesn't just jump out of the car when it sees me coming now. It knows the routine.
