Im sure that all of you (TCS users/ex-users) have read about the problem everyone is having with getting ahold of TCS. Well, for now...lets put that aside. We all know how great it is to deal with Derek. We all know how he takes the time to talk to us individually carrying on a conversation and explaining anything you wanted to know. Customer support/service is great with TCS other than the fact that they havent been able to get ahold of. Customer support is one of the main things that I look for when purchasing something from a company. Im more than satisfied with the customer service with TCS, but now we need to get to the most important part of TCS and the reason why Im making this thread. I wanted a little feedback on the converters themselves. To all thats owned one in the past or that currently own one now, what are your thoughts on the converter itself? Im assuming Yank would be the "most popular and best" converters out there, but how would YOU say the TCS converters compare? How would you rate the quality, performance, etc.? If you had to do it all over again, would you go with TCS again? Has anyone on here owned a converter from each manufacturer? (TCI, TCS, Vigilante, Yank, etc.) The reason I ask is because I wanted to know what you thought was the best out of all of them. (if you have owned them all) Im very interested in buying a converter from TCS, but I dont want to base my decision solely on the customer service. I want to know how they perform and the quality too. I want acutal feedback from owners/past owners themselves and not so much rumors or whatnot. Anyhow, any help/input is much appreciated. Thank you

 

TCS seems to have a great reputation from a customer service standpoint. Their converter claims in regards to STR and efficiency seemed to be way overstated according to independent testing on GM's transmission dyno and subsequent inspection.

Here's some interesting info. In case you can't tell, the converter tested was the top of the line TCS Violator 4400 converter. Click here:
www.converter.cc/the_truth.htm

 

Well I ordered my TCS nearly 4 weeks ago with no converter or returned calls as of yesterday. I think everyone who has talked to Derek will agree he is very friendly and helpful. I thought long and hard about it and placed a refund request through Paypal. By the time I get my money back racing season for me will be over. Live and learn I guess.

Looking back, I should have just stayed with Yank. Mike has always answered my questions, returned calls and my current converter has 60 track runs on it. I drive to and from the track a minimum of 70 miles one way sometimes 288 miles one way depending on the track. I've had zero problems with it. The next and all future converters will be Yank for me.

 

...

 

 

Simple, get a Yank and don't call Hank.

 

Well I read all that and don't really know what to say, except I don't know much about or own a "Violator" converter. I have the lower cost Phoenix Pro 4200. I know someone who's car is pretty much set up the same as mine, but he has a Yank TP4200. I am hoping he is still coming to the shootout so we will have a chance to run each other. To me that is the only real way to compare the performance of a converter. I went with TCS because I could pick what stall, str, and had a higher efficency than my Vig3600 but still pay the same price I did for my vig. I looked at Yank, but I just can't pay $900 for a converter like other people can, and I read lots of post that the TP series seem to be a hit or miss. Some people did really well with them and others had issues and ended up selling them or something. Yeah, you always take a risk no matter what you buy or who you buy it from, that is just something we all have to deal with in modding our cars. I have only been to the track once with my TCS since I had tuning done and so far so good. I will be making many passes here in the next couple of months and if I have issues I will post and tell about it.


OK....UPDATE!!!! I just got ahold of someone at Derek's house and I don't know if he is avoiding trying to talk to people or what but the lady I talked to says HE NO LONGER WORKS FOR TCS. But the way she talked TCS themselves are not out of buisness, someone else is the owner and she asked if I had called the shop and started to give me the phone number. I think I am going to try to get ahold of Mikey again and see if he can tell me anything. But it will have to wait till tomorrow though, I'm sure no one is available to talk to on a Sunday. I will keep everyone updated when I know stuff.

 

Wow I am shocked, and speachless and let down So does that mean the TCS converters are a joke? Ive been pushing them so hard and I feel like Im going to be sick. I really wonder what happend.... Looks like ill go with a yank then... unless something crazy happens over there at TCS

 

No, but if you look at the pics, you will recognize that its TCS. TCS is the only converter company that I know that paints there converters that ugly green. I believe their new converters (all series) dont come with that color anymore. Go figure.

 

Well, I've been holding out on this for a while out of respect for Derek and his helpfulness.

I'm sitting on a Phoenix Pro 4200, 2.75 STR converter that is doing many thing but none of them is what is expcected. I ordered it on July 17th with the GP and a request to rush it so I could get it installed for the CZ28.COM nationals event up here in Michigan. Naturally, it was late which is usually the case when you are in a rush. Now this is an event were I ran 1.48s on the SY3500 so I know the tranny was solid before the TCS went in.

So the TCS went in after the event. It freaked the guys at the shop so much that they actually drained and filled the Tranny 3 times to make sure everything was OK. They let me take it home to do some testing and to call Derek the next day to see what was going on. We knew there would be the obvious kinds of tweaking that would be required to fix lockup issues which I had discussed with a few people on the board.

Well I popped a valve spring the next day coasting of an exit ramp which lost another week to the car sitting to replace the springs. So I finally get it back and do my logging to come up with the stall numbers in the 5150-5200 range and shift extension that were damn close to 6000. I sent the files to my shop and to Derek for review. The shop's reply was "your SY3500 is hot and ready on the floor, get your car in here". No reply from Derek or TCS after several emails and phone messages. At one point I did finally get a confirmation that the e-mail was in the box when I go a hold of Venessa.

We put the SY3500 back in and the car goes to the track and cuts some 1.49s so I know the tranny is plenty fine. Then we drift into this 3 week stretch where TCS falls into a black hole.

I have seen a lot of people having some success with the same converter but they all appear to be bolt on cars and some heads and cam work. Well my MTI 422 is blowing through this thing on motor by itself to the point that I was too afraid to consider hitting it with the 100 shot obviously. :eek

What disappoints me the most though is that I wasted a good chunk of the Michigan season on this looking for a good .1 on my 60s and maybe .2 for the 1/4. So I didn't have terribly extreme expectations and yet I never got a single run with it and missed 2 track dates which I would have had fun at besides.

I am to the point that all I want is for TCS to test this converter and tell me it looks good to them and then we can chalk it up to the fact the converter doesn't like a 470 HP car. If it's clean, then perhaps some lucky person may get a blue light special out my wasted efforts.

I would seriously hold off on all buys until we get some answers around here. I think there needs to be some serious attention directed to TCS to find out what's going on before their repitation takes a quick train to the dumper.

Rick

 

Pats correct,The dyno they use is $$$ and from my understanding PI and Yank are the only ones using them to figure out true STR.

This is why I never sold my VIG or my Yank.

 

I'm steeping back and reserving comment for a few more days.

 

Hey guys......Midwest still provides good customer service and products.

 

I hope TCS can get on the right track again and service the customer. It's good to have some friendly competition in the industry.

I read "The Truth" article with quite some interest. It seems that the first sentence wasn't the truth. Both TCI and B&M have had converter dyno testing facilities for several years now. Here's a good article on the B&M facility.
B&M Article

I can tell you a few things about the TCI dyno testing facility, because I've operated it since '96. It was built in 1995 and a 704 ci BBC engine was installed. This helped us to test our 9" and 10" steel stator racing converters. The dyno was built to record data such as torque multiplication, stall speed, efficiency, speed factor, flowrate of fluid through the converter, fluid temp in and temp out, among other things. Now we have a 355 ci Steve Schmidt SBC that allows us to test not only street converters, but also real loose 7" and 8" race converters. We test every new converter design that we build on this dyno as well as actual track testing of the converters. See the picture of ours below.

This picture was taken a few months ago. It is the current engine configuration, but this was before I installed the new FAST EFI system. This helps us to maintain consistency in our stall speed testing and datalog more information.
Kevin

 

Yep, I've been there and I can assure you that TCI has one. I think they were installing the FAST system when I was there last November.

 

Not sure the whole story on TCS or the quality of the 4l60 converters ...And though what TCS has done and to its customers is shocking to me...I will say their 3 speed converters were top notch me and mikey both have been running one for quite some time,but as I said I cant vouch for the OD verters.I do know several that had success with theirs however... It is a shame sometimes that family own businesses go bad because of personal conflict... I do know it wasnt quality issues that was the problem..Derrick as far as I know didnt own the company his father did,In which lies the problem..I think if Derrick owned it, TCS would still be alive and kicking..Tis a sad time, Derrick built kick *** converters in my opinion an if they werent exactly right he always made them right...I feel sorry for those who never got a chance to get theirs straight or see the gains they actually could have gotten out of one of his converters...

 

Sorry, don't make assumptions about Derrick vs his father, I was told by Jason at F-Body Central that JC (his dad) offered to sign over the equipement to Derrick. JC is around 60 years old. Either JC lied to Jason's face or they did not come to terms for whatever reasons, I blame both of them and neither of them will ever be allowed to sponsor our site ever again.