Go with the fuddle, cant beat it for the price, I have a 3800 and have no complaints !

 

I call BS. Only Yanks are allowed to do that

Fuddle and TCI both have excellent reputations for value, performance and great customer service. For a bolt-on application I have great success with my TCI SSF3500. Kevin Winstead is a torque converter guru and would always be willing to spend time discussing your goals.

You won't go wrong with TCI or Fuddle.

 

And? Too bad thats what I dropped in the 1/8 w/ a Yank, and gained 3 mph. Actually I went from a 8.35 to a 7.62, and 85.7mph to 88.8mph.

 

love my yank too, SS3600 can't wait to get to the track and see my new times, my dad also have a TT3000 2.5 str and has pulled 1.56 60fts with a cam only 224/224 on a weight of 3500lbs, gotta love that 60ft on a 3000 stall

 

Yank makes some high quality converters, no doubt about it. But they do not greatly outperform the other brands with a similair stall and STR especially when talking about the 3000-3800 range. I guarantee you that a yank SS3600, TCI SSF3500, Vig3200 and Fuddle 3600/2.5 str will all yield very similar results on near stock cars. All are good for .5 or .6 in ET.

It's one thing to be brand loyal. It's another to be brand blind. Nothing wrong with TCI or Fuddle. Both are well proven at the track and on the street.

 

Who said I was blind to the results of other brands???? I already said I've installed and seen the results of numerous brands. To date, I havent seen another brand of converter besides Yank, drop .73 in the 1/8. Yes, the 1/8. And gain 3mph. W/o doing anything else....just putting in the converter.

 

Took me about 3-4 days to get used to it, but now i could never imagine the stocker back in........driveabilty is perfect and i even lost no MPG...HA...LOVE IT

 

Do a search, people have swapped out Yanks for Fuddles and PICKED UP MPH!
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Yank makes a great converter. They aren't the only ones. Since you're so into trying all these converters, maybe you should actually try a Fuddle before you decide Yank is automaticaly better.

People with Yank love Yank. people with Fuddle love Fuddle. Can you really keep arguing that?

 

well i have a fuddle 4k 2.5 str and i couldnt be more happy, i went from running a 12.9 1.9 60' in ice cold weather to a 12.2 1.5 60' in nasty hot humid weather. Just give John a call he will take his time to talk to you and see what you want to accomplish, then he will set you up with the TC thats right for you.

 

Tried a Fuddle on another car. Why don't you try a Yank?? Oh wait....you're already happy w/ what you have

 

And I do NOT believe you. Too many variables that you might accidentally forget to mention or intentially lie about to try and make a point. Here is a good example.

I used to run my car with just the lid, dynomouth and SSRA at Rt 66 speedway. I ran it on a ninety degree day in August and I went 13.5 @ 103. I ran it another time in late September in 55 degrees (same tires, mods, ect) and ran 13.1 @ 106. I gained 3mph and .4 ET by simply running in better weather. Lets say I decided to buy brand X torque converter inbetween those two runs. Then in September I ran say a 12.7 @ 108. Would I be correct to come to a forum and say brand X dropped my ET by .8 and added 5 mph to my trap?

No I wouldn't. I would be lying for the sake of making a product sound more productive then it really was. By adding things like tires, other mods, dyno-tune, better weather, better track or anything of the sort it adds to the gains. I did a search and here is some quotes I'll share with you.

Yank SS3600 users first.

Not bad to drop .562 in the 1/4. But not exactly earth shattering either.

So this guy dropped .15 over a PI stall that is actually flashes to 3200 rpm's. Boy you could almost account that gain to the fact that he upped the stall speed by 400 rpm's. Still a nice job but again it's not earth shattering.

.6 is even better yet. But I'm still not blown away with outragous gains like you're claiming

Now a few for TCI since that's what I have.

.5 is always good and about what most get. Not earth shattering but but right in line with Yanks SS3600, hmm.

Another .5 and I can't say I'm shocked.

LT's are good for 20 rwhp so he gained a good .2 of that from the headers. But that still leaves the TCI 3500 responsible for a .5 to .6 gain. Looks about right to me.

Now that's just wrong. You better get a linch mob ready to go after this obviously demented former Yank owner.

 

And I saved the best for last,

I agree that Yank has top quality. I agree a Yank "may" last longer then other brands. I agree that Yanks SS series will feel less "loose" then other brands of equal stall/str. But to night and day out perform them?

I don't think so.

 

PT 4000 with those 3.23s. Just look at all those top A4 cars out there, They all have one thing in common, YANK. The info speaks for its self. Everyone that doesnt have a Yank wanted one but just didnt want to spend the extra dough. I was one of those people too. Do the job once.

 

I guess he never updated the infoon the test!
as he sent the converter back and we found that his trans was out and had to have it rebuilt
thats was the issue for his loss in power not the converter!

 

I guess he never updated the info on the test!
as he sent the converter back and we found that his trans was out and had to have it rebuilt
thats was the issue for his loss in power not the converter!

 

I'll be honest and say I thought that seemed a little strange myself. Even if he gained nothing I certainly wouldn't have expected him to lose anything. I'll give you that one.

But the gains from a Yank to Brand X if keeping stall speed and STR the same are minimal and in some cases non-existant. I'm not bashing Yanks. I usually tell people to buy Yanks if they can afford it because I believe they are made of better materials, will last longer and to some degree feel less "loose". I also believe the customer service is 10 fold better today then it was just a year ago.

But for anyone to try and imply you get about twice the gains from a Yank vs say Fuddle or TCI is absolutely rediculous. Last time I checked SS3600 didn't gain a full second on it's own merits. Not that it can't but it would need assistance from tires and weather conditions.

 

I really dont care if you believe me or not. I ran the car w/o the converter and went 8.35 @ 85mph. I ran it ONE WEEK LATER, WITH THE SAME TRACK CONDITIONS AND WEATHER. With just doing the converter it went 7.700 @ 87mph. To date, I've gone 7.62 @ 88.80mph w/ the same mods. It also ran a 12.1xx @ 111.xx mph.

 

Obviously you do care

I know what gains to expect from any given torque converter because I've been reading this forum as well as others for over two years. I've spent countless hours researching. In my previous post I very accurately quoted what yank customers and TCI customers have gained with compairable converters. The numbers I posted don't lie. I was here when Derrik and TCS were big and then fell off the face of the earth. I was here when Yank had the worst customer service in this business (but definately not now thanks to Mike). I was here when the Colonel was having excellent results with the TCI SSF3500 and boasted about it's performance. I was here when the Colonel switched to a Yank SS4000 and boasted about it's performance (remember I do like Yanks). Point is, I've been around here and the track long enough to know what's what.

I guess it comes down to that old saying,

If something seems too good to be true then it probably is.

I wish it was true that Yank could double the performace gains of all others. Because then two things would happen.

1). There would be a Yank SS3600 in my car before April.

2). TCI, Fuddle, Midwest and PI would all be out of business in a years time. At least in the LS1 market.

But like I said, I've been around long enough to know what's what.

 

Yeah, ok

So...........my ET/mph is too good to be true. Hmm....I thought you've done your homework. You've been around. You've been posting and reading diff posts for some time you say. lol. You keyboard racers are funny. "I read this, I read that. That means I know everything about it." What are you gonna read about next?? I'm sure everyone will want your professional opinion on it. I've done the installations.....seen them at the track....seen the improvements. I've seen the difference in quality. I know which ones fail more than others, and which ones perform better....why? B/c I actually work on LS1's. Not just my own. I'm not limited to the aspect of one car, like most people on here.

 

Your gains were either padded by something else (tires, weather, ect) or you're fabricating the numbers all together. It doesn't take a genius to know you can't put 10 lbs of brand X in a 5 pound bag

All your posts are entertaining but I have yet to see one that would explain why you gained so much. You havn't offered any shred of logic as to why you got numbers far greater to anyone elses.

Bottom line.............

3500/3600 stalls gain .5-.6 regardless of who makes them. Weather, tires, additional mods added at the same time can all affect the overall outcome but the converters on thier own are only good for about half a second.

I know it. A lot of people who have been here a long time know it. Yank, TCI, Fuddle, PI and Midwest all know it as well. The logic here is very simple.

3600 rpms is 3600 rpms regardless of who built the thing. 2.5 STR is 2.5 STR regardless of who built the thing. The only advantage Yanks have are the new parts/better parts they use to build thier converters and slightly better effiency. Some think that's worth the extra $300-$500 and others do not. IMO Yank is the top of the line. I've never doubted or denied that. But the gains from a TCI 3500/Fuddle 3600 to a Yank SS3600 would be a tenth at best. Worth it for some but for many it's not worth paying almost twice as much for the converter when the money saved can go towards other mods.