I had the fine people at New ERA Performance install my TCI 3500 and Tranny cooler yesterday. They actually talked me out of a shift kit and did some fine tuning to firm up the shifts.

First off was driveabilty around town. I was amazed at how street friendly it was. 20 mph I am only at 1000 rpm's. Light throttle feels just a tad more sluggish but if I wasn't looking for it I might not have noticed. From a dead stop I still inch forward on idle. For a few minutes I was actually wondering if they even installed the torque converter.

Then I took it to 35 mph and went WOT. Normally this was a huge dead spot and I wanted to see if it was better. I noticed the RPM's shot up to 3500 and climbed from there. The car was much faster then before from that speed. Still not as good as a 25mph punch but it was much, much better.

15 MPH roll I dead hooked on 245 Nittos at 24 psi. I was surprised and thought I should have lost traction but then again the Nittos are better then street tires.

Went WOT from a dig and OMG did I squeel the tires like never before. I had to let off as I was near my house and didn't want to **** off my neighbors. It definately hit hard.

I give this converter an A++++ so far. I also give an A+ to New ERA for the job they did on the tune. My god this car still feels stock until I punch it. I'm almost disappointed that I have no noticeable looseness. I was expecting to have rpm's at 2500+ while driving slow but my RPM's were always under 2000 and in many cases under 1500.

I'll hit the track tonight and see how she does with her new Nittos and new Converter. I am hoping for 12.7 @ 106/107 but we shall see.

Thanks TCI and New ERA

 

with my old car and the same mods/converter as you (3500) i got my car to do i think a 12.8- i got it to go 12.7 @ 106mph but i forget if that was after i upgraded to the 3800 or before. same mods as you, lid/stall/nitto's/tuning/!swaybar/!spare and jack.

then all i got was headers and a cutout and got the times/mph in my sig . those should be your next modifications imho.

 

I love my TCI ssf 3500 stall as well.

 

Good writeup and have fun with that stall.

 

Good write up. I had the same experiences with my SSF3500 install. I'm curious to see how well you do at the track so post of the results for us.

I went from a best of 13.39 @ 105 2.0 60' to a 12.60 @ 107 1.73 60' with just the addition of the converter and 3:42 gears. So I gained 8 tenths and both runs were made in similar weather with very close DA's, the only difference is the 13 pass was on Nitto's and the 12 on MT drag radials.

 

Congrat' s on your stall! Glad you are happy with it. I have a different converter, but nonethelss, it is a badass feeling to NOT have any deadspots any more. Now you can punch it and rip from any speed

 

Best run tonight:

R/T-------.895
60'-------1.837
330------5.470
1/8------8.491
MPH-----81.51
1000----11.111
1/4-----13.334
MPH----101.20

In Comparison here was one of the traction limited runs from 2 weeks ago on stock torque converter and BFG KDWS tires:

R/T-------.980
60'-------2.279
330------5.999
1/8------8.974
MPH-----83.31
1000----11.524
1/4-----13.681
MPH----104.57

I can't find the slip but the best run I had 2 weeks ago on stock verter/tires was 13.4 @ 105 on a 2.190 60' time. Best run ever was 13.1 @ 106 on a 2.0 60' time.

So the torque converter has cost me 3-5 mph and in essense I got slower as my best run on stock torque converter was a 13.1

I can see the RPM's jump to 3500 and the shift extension is around 4500. Why did I lose power?????

 

Is your tranny shifting where it should? I have heard of rpms dropping 200-300 after a new stall. I've noticed that with my TCI 3000, almost all my gain has been in my 60'. In spite of the shift extension, I haven't gained anything down the track. Is this an efficiency issue? Other than that, how was the air? I haven't seen my best time with my converter yet, because I can't get any good cool air. I'm going to the track tomorrow but it's supposed to about 80*

 

Air was good. It was about the same as it was two weeks ago (50's). It was shifting at 6200 and wasn't hitting the rev limiter at all. I just lost a ton of trap speed (3-5)

 

Seems like an efficiency issue with the 'verter - either that or something has gone funky elsewhere. Something is wrong - losing 3-5 isn't normal. You may want to PM Kevin Winstead.

 

The SF 3000 is fairly efficient by my slip logs. But as you
go up they get sloppier. You will lose trap unless you are
operating the motor correspondingly higher in RPM (shift
points programming, and the valvatrain / breathing to
back it up).

 

something is not right- im thinking the tune. i actually GAINED 1 mph from my 3500 stall (probably from the shift extension)- a also got .7 out of it. torque management can affect things more than people talk of too- does it shift and fall on it's face for a second or shift and pull right away? my tq management was bad on my car, big difference when i tuned it out/shut it off. hell, i gained .5 and 1mph on STREET tires with the 3500 stall.

don't give up, there is a explaination/solution for every car problem. just some cost $ others don't.

 

I will drive it more over the weekend and try to see what it feels like after the shift. I thought the runs felt good but my trap is lower now then when I was stock. It's truly pathetic. My biggest problem is that I have had this verter sitting in my office for a year due to losing my job and lack of funds. Then I finally get $450 to install it (that includes tranny cooler and pcm tune) and I get slower. You can forget warranty because I had the verter way too long for it to still apply if in fact the converter has an effiency issue. If it is the tune then at least I have some recourse there. I'll post up when I get the problem identified.

I'm very depressed

 

Darren , when I tuned it I just raised the rev limiter 200 rpm's (sometimes changing the convertor will make the tranny hit the rev limiter slightly) , increased line pressure slightly and turned down the shift delay times along with turning off TM and making the coolant fans come on at an earlier temp . I drove the car after , the shifts were crisp and fairly firm , nothing that will really jerk you back hard though (should probably have a shift kit with that convertor to maximize efficiency in the shift firmness) . Your 60 foot time dropped dramatically according to your new times , and the car drove perfect to me so I don't think anything is wrong with the parts . Sounds like maybe a bad night at the track , I think it was pretty windy and the wind might not have been going in your favor along with other conditions that could have effected it as well .

I think your next mod should be the Transgo shift kit for sure , and catching a good night at the track (even though I know there really aren't many nights left before the end of the season) will get you where you should be , I can only do so much tuning the transmission without going past the efficiency of the tranny in stock form and possibly reducing the life of it .

Just my 2 cents , call me if you want on Monday .

Mike
New Era Performance
www.neweraperformanceparts.com
sales@neweraperformanceparts.com
585-865-1832

 

But there wasn't any wind. It was a very good night to race actually. There is definately something wrong but I can't for the life of me think what it is. I didn't drop .5 like everyone and thier uncle says these converters do. I'm slower now both ET and Trap. I hope you guys kept my stock converter because I may need it back. I'd rather be stock and capable of 13.1 then modded and only able to hit 13.3's. As stupid as that may sound

 

BTW, I just want to say for the record that I have absolutely no problem with New Era. From what I can tell the install was flawless and the shifts are crisp and clean (no caffeine). I am personally leaning towards this particular torque converter being a lot less effiecient then it's supposed to be. I'm betting a dyno right now would show my car at around 270 rwhp where I bet 2 weeks ago I was around 300-310.

This is why I think this so see if this sounds logical to you guys. I did a weather history on the two nights I ran and this was the result:

Top numbers are from 2 weeks ago before SSF3500 and Nittos and the bottom numbers are 2 days ago with new setup.



Time(EDT) Temperature Dew Point Humidity Sea Level Pressure Visibility Wind Direction Wind Speed Gust Speed Precipitation Events Conditions

7:54 PM 53.1 °F / 11.7 °C 46.9 °F / 8.3 °C 80% 30.16 in / 1021.2 hPa 10.0 miles / 16.1 kilometers South 5.8 mph / 9.3 km/h - N/A Clear


7:54 PM 59.0 °F / 15.0 °C 54.0 °F / 12.2 °C 83% 30.01 in / 1016.3 hPa 10.0 miles / 16.1 kilometers WNW 3.5 mph / 5.6 km/h - N/A Partly Cloudy


As you can see the temperature was a tad cooler (53 vs 59) and the humidity was a tad higher (80 vs 83) but wind was a non-factor both nights. The last run I did 2 nights ago the temp had gotten a little colder and I spun a little (opposed to the dead hooking I did earlier) and I got a 2.0 60' which is far more comparible to the 60' I was getting 2 weeks ago. Look at this slip comparison

stock verter_____________________TCI 3500

60' 2.279________________________60' 2.077
330 5.999_______________________330 5.766
1/8 8.974_______________________1/8 8.808
MPH 83.31______________________MPH 80.73
1000 11.524_____________________1000 11.434
1/4 13.681______________________1/4 13.647
MPH 104.57_____________________MPH 101.24


By my logic (which could be wrong) my ET got worse because if you give me a 2.077 two weeks ago I probably see a 13.2 @ 105 timeslip. But I still lost over 3 mph in trap and gained nothing/lost ET. All while in close to same conditions and at the same exact track. But the car shifts good and where it should so all I can think of is the torque converter is eating considerably more horse power then it's supposed to. A factory defect so to speak.

Does this sound logical or am I missing something?

 

I'm thinking what you're thinking ... the only other thing I can think of is if you were hot-lapping it, the car was getting hot, and you were getting KR.

 

I thought about that too. But after about 5 runs I parked the car, got some dinner, watched some races, felt the temp drop (could see my breath very clearly now) and then went for another run. Engine was very cool and the result was the timeslip I quoted above (13.6 @ 101 on a 2.0 60').

I'm just baffled. I can't even begin to describe how miserable I've been all weekend knowing I spent a total of $1,000 to get slower. Knowing now that if I was to race someone from a roll who traps 102 that I'm likely to lose where I would of almost certainly won a week ago

But I'll call New Era tomarrow and probably bring my car back to them for a little trouble shooting. I have lots of confidence in those guys and I'm sure they'll help me get to the bottom of my mystery.

Sherlock Holmes and the case of the missing horses

 

Keep updated on the results of your sleuthing ... one other thing that might contribute: what pressure were you running those Nittos? I've noticed that if I drop the pressure too much (15-16), my 60' might be ok, but I get down the track slower and my mph comes off a little. But the difference could be pretty significant if you were running your KDWS before at recommended street pressures.

 

I was running about 19 psi on the Nittos. I wouldn't really mind the trap so much if the ET was where it should be, but it's not.