Hey all. I am looking at torque converters. I won't be ready to buy one yet, but I'm just looking for some opinions. i am looking at a TCI Saturday Night Special converter with a (flash) stall of around 2000 RPM. Here are my specs. 1969 400 0.060 over T/A comp. headders Performer manifold Pertronix electronic ignition 40,000 volt coil Flowmaster 2.5" exhaust with 50 series mufflers currently an Edelbrock performer carb ( soon Q-Jet) TH-400 trans. Sorry, I know that this is inportant but the Mechanic didn't tell me the cam he used. It's not stock but its not really hot either. He thought it was a Crane or Comp cam. It has a nice performance idle not really lumpy when warm but it has a lot of lump when it is colder. :Brow: Currently the car performs good. It will break the tires loose at 75 MPH , gonig into 3rd gear. :Brow: Sorry no track times. Thanks, Thad Seybert ________________________ 1969 GS400 Hdt. 1968 GTO Conv. 400
Hi Thad - what exactly are you looking to accomplish with a converter swap ?? Are you running the stock converter in it now ?? What rear gear ratio are you running ?? is it a Posi ?? Lastly....is this mostly a street car ?? We need to know alittle more about what you are trying to accomplish to help you out :beer Look foward to meeting you and your Fine69 at this years BPG Nationals :beer
Reply Yes this is a street car my dad is not into racing even though I would be intrested as to how well it would do on the 1/4 mi. :Brow: The car is a 12 bolt standard rear, but we are planning on putting a posi in soon. I think that the rear raito is around 2.73-2.93-3.08 We might change the gear raito too. I'm thinking something around a 3.08 but nothing over 3.33 or 3.42 to keep the gas mileage down. Any good combo ideas? Yes, I belive that we are running a stock converter. (looked stock) The reason that I am not 100% shure is that whoever had it before screwed up the engine and we had to get a new block :rant: , so who knows what else they tampered with. I have a hunch that they might have had the trans. rebuilt or replaced. I'm not shure though. The reason that I think this is because it looks too clean compared to the rest of the udercarrige and were they and the converter painted? (light grey) The main thing that I think that we are trying to acomplish with a converter swap is a little more performance an a little harder launch to scare friends that we may take for a little ride. :Brow: But we want a good balance between performance and gas mileage. Back at you about seeing you at the BPG nats. You might have seen me at last years meet looking at yours and Dave Tuma's car at the A&W that night. I was doig a little talking to him about originality of some parts. We didn't have our car then because our slow mechanic stll had it after 2 1/2 yrs. If I knew it was going to sit outside that long we would have stored it in our garage. :af: I don't think that we will be showing( not too good paint job ) or racing though. I apologize about the length. Thanks, Thad Seybert
update! Update I did see a #15 on the top of the trans. housing. Is this a # that we can trace to an original? Also I think that it was followed by a marking that looked like a circle with an x inside it. uzzled: Now tyhat I looked at the tranny more I cn see where there is a possibility that it is original. Thanks, Thad Seybert _______________________ 1969 GS400 Hdt. 1968 GTO Conv. 400
Thad, I would leave well enough alone. The stock converter sounds like it is doing the job. There's really no reason to change it if it is a street car, unless you are having problems with low end response. Does the car get off the line from a dead stop smartly? Can you roast the tires from a dead stop without really trying? If you answered yes to those 2 questions, then the converter you have is doing the job. The main reason for changing a converter is to increase the low end response that you lose when you install a cam that softens the bottom end. A higher stall converter, will in effect, slip more, to get the engine up to an RPM where the cam starts to make power. The downside is, that once the car is moving, the converter slips more than it has to, creating heat, and lowering fuel economy. You should see what RPM you cruise at, on the highway, at 65 MPH. You don't want the converter below stall speed, at highway cruise speed. With a 2.93 rear, 65 MPH, is like 2200 RPM. So a 2000 stall converter would work well. You don't know what cam is in the engine, and that is an important consideration when choosing a converter. You should be able to tell whether you really need one. Unless the car is sluggish from a dead stop, or at low RPM's, I'd leave it alone. Just my .02.
Thanks Thanks Larry,Alan I was figuring that someone would say that and I myself was going over the purpose,function,and difference of converters. I was thinking that maby we don't really need a converter. Stock stalls around 1500-1800 right? Yes, the Car really does good on takeoff. We were sitting at a red light one day after picking up some pizza. We were about 3rd in line and my dad was looking at a new Pontiac G.P. The light turned green and my dad is stll looking at the G.P. After a couple seconds I said "Dad, wake up!". He hardley put his foot in it and the car broe the tires loose and spun them for about 50 feet. :Brow: :laugh: I think that the freeway speed is around 2200-2700 RPM. I am going to have the mechanic go through his files and tell me what cam he put in it for times like this. Will my situation change after we put in a posi and maby change the gear to a 3.08 or somthing around there? And about that 0.02 cents of yours, you might want to add a few zeros onto that and make some money. :laugh: Thanks agin, Thad Seybert
