1. I was wundering what all a torque convertor does.

2. Does it only help if you go from a stop or what?

3. Also read from someone that it will fix the dead spots in a auto from with you hit it.

4. What kind of strain does it put on the engine.

5. How much does one cost and what are the best brands and are there different types??

Also any other information you could give me would help and thanks to anyone that answers my questions

 

Kind of a tough one. I believe a converter is classified as a torque magnification device. (Could be wrong here, correct me if I am). Basically, going to a higher stall converter helps keep the engine higher in it's powerband.

I'm not sure what you mean by "dead spots".

I don't think it puts anymore stress on the engine, unless you start getting into one that has a 4000+ stall speed which will require more overall engine speed.

As far as cost... it varies depending on what you want. Higher stall/lower stall, lock up/non-lock up, also depends on how it's built. I believe the best aftermarket converters for the F-bodies are the Vigilante and the Yank converters. Definately not cheap though.

 

every automatic car has one, it acts like the clutch for automatics, the fluid keeps spinning in the tc so it doesnt kill the engine at a complete stop. and i believe how the lockup works so that when you reach a certain speed or rpm the converter locks up and the engine moves up to the same speed as the transmission.

 

It's not the fluid inside the converter that spins, the fluid is just a medium. Converter lockup is usually based around a set speed in certain gears and certain throttle percentages. And the engine should slow down when this happens.

 

I wrote a brief intro to torque converters that you may find of interest. Go to www.kennedysdynotune.com and click on "Tech Tips" at the bottom of the left hand menu. Click on "Torque Converters".

As you will read there, stall speed is a compromise. Most people with stock motors find that ~2,800pm is a good stall. Cost varies tremendously depending upon what the converter is designed to do. But a street or street/strip converter will be in the ~$300-750 or more. Higher stall converters will generally be more expensive, all else being equal.

Converters for hi-po street/strip or racing applications are quite expensive. For example, I am using a Coan converter that cost ~$1,200, which is typical of race converters for blower or nitrous cars. Look at http://www.coanracing.com and you will see converters from $319 to nearly $3,000. So the range is quite wide.

Rich Krause

 

I use a Vigilante 2600 rpm stall on my stock LT1 and love it. I did have to do some computer reprogramming to ajust shift points and TC lockup to get it to feel right. But once I did, it's an incredible difference. I wish I had before and after dyno or strip runs but I don't. Here is what Precision Industries (makers) say in their marketing BS about them though.....


"The standard performance gain reported with a Vigilante Torque Converter is 2 tenths on 60 foot times and up to 3/4 of a second on overall elapsed times in the 1/4 mile. The torque multiplication on the Vigilante is 2.53 to 1 compared to stock at 1.93 to 1. The torque multiplication of the converter will deliver an increase of up to 50 horsepower to the rear wheels."

 

I wouldn't think that changing a converter would make more power, maybe it's just better at transmitting what's already there to the tires. Although, isn't like 4 tenths off your 1/4 mile time the average when switching from a stock converter to a vig or yank?

 

It doesn't necessairily make more power.

You end up with more power to the rear wheels for several reasons:

1. Lower rotational mass. It's no different than a lighter flywheel or lighter driveshaft, lighter crank etc. The less mass you have to spin, the less drag on the engine, the engine has to do less work to get it to spin. Most stock converters are in the 11" range. You can imagine how much less mass a 9.5" converter has than an 11", it's considerable.

2. The torque multiplication is increased due to the design of the converter. That equates to more torque (hence hp) to the rear wheels. That equates to more torque and rear wheel hp. As Rich pointed out though, that decreases as the rpm increases. But in terms of launching, it's a very tangible difference which is why the lowering of the 60' times and therefore quarter mile times.

3. Because (if selected correctly) the stall speed gets the engine up near the peak torque rpm, you have increased torque to help launch.

Combine all of these things and your response off the line is vastly improved. Obviously that's the key to a quick ET. Of course, I hope you have the tires to handle it!!!!!!!!!!

 

While you've got some great responses here and probably already have your questions answered, I'll move this over to the Drivetrain forum so it will show up in the proper forum when searches are performed

 

Thanks bruecksteve.


So from a roll it will be a tad bit faster but mostly not much since more torque is getting to the wheels, right?

And when you get a TQ do you normaly have to get Drag radials or what? Becuase right now im tires suck, there like 60 bucks each and don't white smoke worth a damn.

 

It's noticably faster from a stop or a low speed roll. It feels much more responsive. And yes, you'll spin the tires much easier.