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Torque Converter Experiences!


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Hi all, I have seen this thread on a Chevelle forum and thought I'd start one here for us to reference!

 

What make of Torque Converter have you used and what kind of experience was it--good or bad!

 

I will start it out. . .

 

I have used a B&M Holeshot 2400 behind a 500 lbft 454 and it lasted for 6 years or so.

 

I have also used Dacco behind a wussy 302 and it was ok too!

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i have a holeshot 2400 and have had no problems yet but it is still in the box lol

 

junk yard torque convertors no problem yet either and that have been in the car. for a while

 

Alex

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I have a B&M 2400 nitrous (ya never know when you might get the urge to toss a bottle in!) converter in my Monte that works well.

 

I recently replaced an old B&M 3000 in my Camaro (went with the B&M 2400 nitrous as well). That 3000 had been beaten very hard- many many bottle passes, long highway trips and most recently getting abused behind a big inch big block. I felt it was too much converter for the Camaro- that is why I changed it.

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Coan in everything! Has a 10" max perf steel stator unit built for Nos and a Trans brake use behind a sb with 750+ all motor hp, has seen 400hp worth of spray for 1150hp. This converter was bought in 1996 and is still in perfect working order! Has always been behind this engine, in several cars on the strip the street in the mud you name it's seen it practicaly!

Have used Coans behind 1800 hp NOS feed 600+ ci monsters without failure.

Tci's work well on street/stip cars if you use the street fighter or super street fighter units. The sizzler and lesser converters from TCI work well on the street.

ATI, Neal Chance, also make excellent converters. If you have an overdrive trany check ou Yank Racing converters the ones I have seen are better than most for an overdrive unit!

The units to avoid based on failures I have seen in person, Darrell Young, Boss Hogg, Hughes, Summitt racing brand, Fairbanks, Art Carr, and just about any other locally know only brands.

You get what you pay for here guy's!! No way a sub 300 dollar converter will do/hold up like a 500/600 big name race converter company offering.

NO B&M is not a big name race converter company! Neither is Hughes! I know they promote their stuff as "best money can buy" basically! If you want the truth go to the dragstrip and look around the pits ask the fast guy's what they run. If it's strong enough for race use it will last a very long time on the street. But if it's not strong enough for race use then it will not last very long even on the street and even less time if used at the track any at all.

The converter is a highly stressed part of the drive line and as such should be an area of wise investment of funds during a build. Remember that you are not just playing with the money involved in the converter purchase here, the trans is involved here because 99% of the time when the converter goes it takes out the trans also!

So that 300 bucks you "saved" on the questionable quality converter may just cost you a $1000 dollar trans!!

Don

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There must be alot of you guys out there that have sticks or something. . . if we are the only 5 people who have experiences with different torque converters! :rolleyes:

 

Please post, whether you bought an $80 Summit Converte or a $1000 custom one, I think it would be good to have some references of what converter brands have been better than others, what have lasted, and what ones blew up.

 

I understand and agree with you Don, you get what you pay for and I am not doubting any of what you say. I would still like to hear different experiences just to get a decent knowledge base on the different brands, uses, and how they hold up. I'm sure not all hi-dollar units are good ones, as I'm sure not all low-dollar ones are crap. There is alot of gray fuzzy area where most converters probably end up wink !

 

So. . . Anybody who is not lucky enough to have a stick shift Monte, please chime in!

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Well, I talked to Coan and ATI today. Both of them agreed that a "normal" $200-$300 converter would not last with my current combination. So, Tomorrow, I will be ordering a 10" "Treemaster" competition converter. ATI said that it would have absolutely no problem with my engine and gearing. Sometime soon I will give a review of the ATI. It's hard to make the jump to a converter that costs $600. cry

 

I'm sure I'll be happy in the end though!

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Heck, you couldn't go wrong with either ATI or Coan. Both are top of the line converters. The tree masters are nice converters that hit very hard when properly matched to the combo! Hope you have good tires on the rear. You may need to do some rear suspension work to make her really hook and book! LOL

You'll be very happy I'm sure.

Don

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Hey guys, I agree that you do get what you pay for, however, B&M converters are excellent for street and strip for the price. Back in 1989, I bought one for $89 a 2200. Never have I had a problem with it, 143000 miles later. I turned 13 second times on a 1/4 at least 25 times plus lots of street racing and harsh driving. Probably one of the better cheap investments I ever made.

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I had a TCI 2400 stall in my daily driven 72 small block Monte 15 years ago and never had any problems on the street or the track. Now that the 72 is tubbed and has a big block I broke down and spent $650 on a Coan 4200 stall and love it. It was hard to spend the money but I wanted to get a good one.

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I run a 9" Transmission Specialties Converter with a Mechanical Diode (a special kind of sprag). It is a race converter that flashes to 4400 behind my motor. Works flawlessy everytime around $700.

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I twisted the guts out of a Summit Racing 2000 in less than 3000 miles.

Put a B&M Holeshot 2000 in it and it behaved like a stock one, pulled it out and have a B&M Holeshot 2400 in it now.

Oddly enough, the Summit 2000rpm one felt like it had a higher stall than the the B&M 2400 does confused

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I twisted the guts out of a Summit Racing 2000 in less than 3000 miles.

Put a B&M Holeshot 2000 in it and it behaved like a stock one, pulled it out and have a B&M Holeshot 2400 in it now.

Oddly enough, the Summit 2000rpm one felt like it had a higher stall than the the B&M 2400 does confused

You were likely powering through it...
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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi all, I have seen this thread on a Chevelle forum and thought I'd start one here for us to reference!

 

What make of Torque Converter have you used and what kind of experience was it--good or bad!

 

I will start it out. . .

 

I have used a B&M Holeshot 2400 behind a 500 lbft 454 and it lasted for 6 years or so.

 

I have also used Dacco behind a wussy 302 and it was ok too!

i had a b&m 2400 and it didnt stall for ****..got me a 10'' tci . hvnt ran it yet
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What motor and gears do you run? Strange that it didn't work in my opinion. My Holeshot 2400 stalled very well, actually higher than stated value.

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I've run the B&M 2400 in my 85 Monte with a 350. No problems with it, but it did not feel as efficient as my TCCI (locally built) in my 72.

 

Rice Racing - what about the efficiency of these converters? Which ones are sloppy at high rpms and which slip less?

 

Thanks

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I've run the B&M torque master for years and it still works great, and have a lot of just cruzing around town miles on it also.

 

fgmcc

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Rule of thumb is the higher the stall in a given diameter ='s more slip. Example a 10" 4500 converter slips more than a 8" 4500 converter. And the smaller dia converters hit harder leaving the line. The best for a non lock converter is about 3 or 4 % slip. B&M is around 5 maybe 6 on average. The real junk is 8+% !!!!

The smaller units flash better and do slip more under the stall speed but flash quicker and slip less above the stall point. 3% slip may not sound like much but thats 1800 crank rpms not reaching the trans output shaft. So if you calculate that you need lets say 5000 rpms to cross the finish line at a desired MPH, most formulas don't compensate for converter slip you acually need to turn the engine 6800 rpms with a 3% slip converter. Noe you now why alot of guy's don't run as fast they "thought" they would.

Don

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  • 3 weeks later...

Got the ATI in. It seems to be a quality piece although I can only see the outer shell! It probably has the same stall as my B&M did, hard to tell with street tires. We'll see how it holds up! As a side note, the guys at ATI just talked to me about the motor and gears, and what I was wanting to do and put the converter together per our discussions, and they pretty much hit it dead on. It doesn't stall too high, and not too low either. They seem like pretty good guys there. I'd recommend them so far wink

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