Can a torque converter go bad???

My friend has a 68 camaro with a motor putting out a little over 300 HP probably, a recently rebuilt auto tranny, and new 3.73 posi rearend. With all this he has no power off the line. He says the convertor is pretty old and wonders if he replaces it he'll see an improvement in takeoff performance. If so, what stall do you guys recommend?

depending on his overall setup and type of converter he has right now he can see an improvement in performance, especially if he's got the stocker in there right now.

As far as wearing out, converters don't really wear out, they just break AFAIK.

Did the problem start right after the newly rebuilt trans was installed? Was the engine modified at the same time?

There's a possibility the converter was replaced with one with too low a stall speed. Unless the engine has no bottom end at all, 3.73's should give a decent launch, unless the trans is a two-speed PG.

Yep, the do wear out and very quickly, but only if it's the wrong converter. I had a performance shop install one in my car that failed in about two weeks.

I had fully explained the applictaion, telling the shop 1/4 times and engine components, yet they still gave me the wrong TC. The week after I bought the car I dropped the tranny pan and found it full of shavings, so I brought it and the filter into the 'performance shop' to ask why all this stuff was in my pan. The salesman told me it was perfectly normal :eek: The next week my car could barely get moving, so I took my car back into their shop and demanded they do something about it.

I ended up with a brand new TCI tranny and TC :)