I have been browsing the web and noticed torque converters ranging from $200-$1000. Which torque converter should I purchase for my 2001 F150 5.4L (Supercharged)

Is the money spent on this application worth the performance gains?

Thank you!

 

A new torque converter really won't give you much of a performance gain, it just changes the rpm at which your engine and tranny get locked together. You might be better off with the stock converter, if you go with a high stall speed converter you would sound real funny revving it to 3,000 grand before your truck starts to move away from a stop sign. As for the price difference i would compare it to the difference between a cheap clutch and an expensive one. The expensive clutch is least likely to blow up.

-Jon

 

Make sure that you factor in the price of a transmission removal when doing your analysis. It's very expensive to install one. It's a great time to do it when the trans is separated from the engine during repair. The supercharger will probably fry your transmission sooner or later anyway.

 

The computer controls the lockup point in a lockup converter. You can also get higher stall without buzzing at every light, much like the stocker. A performance converter will only let the engine rev quicker under higher loads. Under normal acceleration, you will hardly notice a difference.

As for gains, one of the L owners on this site was in a Truckin' mag article on a Pro-Torque (I think) converter. He dropped his 1/4 mile time almost half a second, and was in the 13.3s before the converter.

They aren't cheap, but they will give good gains. If you do the work yourself, they aren't all that painful.