Well it sounds great.....costs a lot....seems cool....but how does it work???
Torque converters "increase stall speed so you can launch in your power range"....ok....
well to me increasing stall speed means it idles quicker, which means exactly....what? How does this enable you to launch in your "power range", and WHAT exactly IS your power range???
any help on this would be great! Would love to get one, but would also love to know how these suckers work! who's got one installed??

 

the only thing i can tell you is that it multiplies torque more effieciently(sp?)...or something...

 

Well, as a disclaimer, I consider converters just short of VooDoo, but very simplified, imagine two fans facing one another, you turn one on, the other one turns in reaction to the movement from the first. Make it hydraulic instead of air, close the system to make it more efficient, and add a clutch that mechanically "locks" the two at some point, and that's how a stock converter works.

A perfomance converter for the most part plays with how efficient they are, at what speed the pressure will either have to give or the engine will stall (stall speed) and better internal parts.

Like I said, VOODOO, but the people I know who DO understand them say they're worth the money for a good one, only changing the stall speed on our motors is a whole different animal from what more traditional (read, mustangs, comaros other small block lighter weight vehicles) converter strategy would do. Somewhere there is an article about what to consider when you tweek your converter on a 5,000 truck compared to a regular car, the weight has a lot to do with it. I'll try to find it, so I can be coherent.

Hope this helps,

G

 

would a converter be a bad idea in a street driven lightning?
it would spin even more then it does now, right?

kevin

 

Most definitly.

 

Follow this link for some good info on converters:
http://www.howstuffworks.com/torque-converter.htm

 

Ask Matt (HIGH ROLLER)............

--Joe

 

Stall speed is the point where a torque converter has reached its maximum fluid flow or it has hydraulically locked up because torque has reached its highest point. Stall speed is the amount of engine RPM that can be attained at full throttle with the brakes applied and the transmission in gear before the drive wheels turn.

Check out:

http://www.converter.com/faqs.htm#stall

http://www.lingenfelter.com/shoptalk/torque.htm

 

Check out a website called:

Howstuffworks.com


They have a really good animated pictorial
explanation about how torque converters work.


Later,

 

I'm amazed that more Hardcore L' racers don't upgrade the stock converter. I'm still relatively new to the Lightning world, but I'm willing to bet that with a bigger 'verter, an L could gain at least .2 in the 1/4.

I know that for an F-body, a larger Stall'd converter (3200-3400 or so) is a HUGE gain. I've seen BONE STOCK F-bodies drop .5 from just a converter!....and that is relatively common.

I realize that the L' is a different beast, that makes power in a totally different rpm range, but certainly it could still benefit from a slightly larger stall (26-2800 perhaps??)

How about the L's that are low 11's...are they running a larger converter? Surely some of the tuner's have explored this.

 

here's the article from howstuffworks.com

http://www.howstuffworks.com/torque-converter.htm

 

i read that whole how stuff works article and am still lost ...o well...i will have my shop teacher explain it to me

 

Can anyone read this? Am I the only one that can see my posts? After I posted the link the the HSW website, there were 2 other posts with the same link!

No flame intended, just thought it was a little odd!

 

01Lightning,
musta skipped right over it, relax
........JR

 

Good point Ebbsnflows. I switched from a stock stall speed
converter in my 65' F-100 that was powered by a 470 H.P.
FE motor, to a TCI 2600-2800 stall speed, and picked up exactly
.2 E/T.. Like the Factory Tech, said though, its like VOO-DOO.
Basically I know how and why they work, but I would have a
hard time explaining it to anyone.
And not to flame anyone here, but some of the previous messages sounded as if some people think that a convertor is
an add on. I assure you, you have an L, theres a convertor in
there, Just a stock one though. Takes the place of the flywheel and the clutch assembly.

Marc