You asking me or OP? I only have 1/8mile tracks close. When I get it right in the 1/8 I'll take it for a pass down the big track.

 

http://www.magic-photos.com/2011/Sun.../DSC_1459.html
how about a 1.27 60ft. from a ss4000. 9.84 at 135

 

If it runs that with a junk yank converter I'll bet on a good converter picking that up a couple tenth a over the course of a full pass.

Those things are garbage. If it 60's good with one of those it's likely blowing thru it for a big part of the run. I've never even seen one work right by mistake.

 

Well lets stop ******* around and get down to it. When I asked Chris at circle d to spec me something BETTER then my Yank 4k he did NOT steer me to an 8 inch/5000 converter. I feel my car may gain from it but its wasnt his suggestion. It wasn't FTI's suggestion either. Why wasn't it? What qualifies you to move from the 9.5" down to an 8"??? My car was full weight at the time but is now 3040, basic H/C/I 346 NA combo, shift around 6750. Do 8 inch converters have lockup? If they dont then we are sorta apples to oranges. If they do why arent they recommended more often??

 

An 8" converter will generate to much heat trying to drive it on the street. I run an 8" but I trailer my car. When my converter was recommended it was recommended as a race converter not a drive it on the street converter. My wife drives her car on the street and runs a 4000ss 1.53 at 11.83. Totally stock engine and no weight reduction. How much better could it do? My guess not much.

 

Well then it's an apples to oranges comparison and that is why yank gets recommended so much around here.

 

I think Yank and PI are some very good converters for these cars with the 4L60e's that are street/strip cars. But for a TH-350/400 trans, I'd look elsewhere.

 

I would 100% agree with that.

 

Damn, that's the first time you agreed with me on anything! LOL
And 100%!

 

Come on man, I can't remember every single thing I disagree with! Really though the above statement was what threw me off track. The truth is, for its intended application, the Yank SS series is one of the best converters offered for these cars, when comparing apples to apples. Some posts just make you go cross-eyed when you read them. Hey maybe it just came out wrong.

 

I must say I run the 8" in a TH350.When I switched from my 4l60e 4000SS to Th 350 8" PTC I lost .06 60' put picked up everywhere else. The loss in 60' came from the gear ratio difference between the two trans.

 

No one will recommend you drive an 8 inch converter around but if you're using hydraulic fluid that withstands temps a lot better and you have a good fan cooled tranny cooler you can keep it under 200, Doing it now with one of my customers cars.

5200 rpm ati 8 inch tree master with a lightweight internal th400, 2890 on race weight car, 4.30 rear gear, has a 28 inch tire for driving and racing, cam in the 260 duration 370 inch motor single plane intake.

Could you drive this car on a road trip? No. Can it be driven around to car shows and to and from a race here and there, yes.


I will not install a yank converter in anything. I absolutely refuse. There is always a better option.

I have and will even go as far as to discount the labor just to try to keep the cost down to prevent someone from buying those things if that's what it takes.

 

That's fine and all, my last converter I bought was a circle D, recommended a buddy buy PTC. I dont blindly follow Yank by any means, but do you have an actual problem with their converter, something specific? And again, I cant purchase an 8 inch cause I have a 4l60e and the lockup function.....just like 95% of this website (the ones who drive autos).

 

I have had them just strait not run right. Slip and never actually catch, cause stuff to run WAY too hot, pull it out for a unit built my someone else and have a car pick up .5 and 7 mph, had one come apart internally and eat a transmission. Had one that was advertised to stall at 4000 stall at 3200 with a Bolton car so it's not like we guessed the power wrong on it.

That's enough reason for me.

I tell customer this, spend 700-800 on a yank piece of crap and pay me X to put it in, get it tuned right, then have it not work right, pay me X to pull it out and then put it back in after sending it back, repeat again at least once more.

Buy a good converter from a reputable converter company, put it in, tune it and have it work right or close enough so that a little tuning adjustment and/or a gear change at most gets it dead on. A lot cheaper in the long run.

 

Chance, TCI, Coan, FTI, PTC, Yank, Circle D, and many more, are all good converters. If any of them come apart internally, there is a very good chance that the correct spacing between the converter and the flywheel was not right. If you want it right you cannot guess the HP. And if your only paying 7 to 8 hundred, then your buying an off the shelf converter. A custom specked billet converter will cost around a grand. Then the biggest problem is, and never fails, is that something gets changed on the car before the converter even arrives. You should not have to do a gear change to make the converter right. If you were brutally honest with the specs on a car. They prolly will be right the first time. I called all those I mentioned, just to see if they were all on the same page. And they all quoted me the same size and stall. So you can't just throw down a blanket statement like, get an 8" converter. Every one of them quoted us a 10.5 " 3600 for our power level. And said it would stall at 4000, and 44 to 4500 on spray. We run a Reid cased, all light weight internal TH400. So if you do go for a custom converter. Let them tell you what you need. Whoever you choose. Because this debate can go on forever. Everyone has their own opinion. Many people run Yank with great success. Including us. Or they would not have been in business as long as they have. Like 40 some years. Best of Luck on whatever you decide.

 

Really interesting thread. I've been following for a bit. I don't know much about converters so I just had to go off of reading on forums and going by what converter places said. I have a 383 supercharged ls1 with a th400. Before my new mods I had a 4L60E with a Coan 10" triple disc with 3400 stall. Great for the street and track. I had it setup a little too tight for the track but I just went with a different transmission all together. For my new trans and some upgrades I called all the shops listed above too and got all different answers. I read numbers off the same spec sheet and told them what I wanted, mainly was drag strip use but able to be driven on the street, and didn't want to have to pull my car through the pits with a golf cart. But I think a lot of times these shops interpret what you want differently. Otherwise they spec the same. Most guys want to spec my car for DD use as soon as I tell them I'm going to street drive it occasionally. But I live 2 miles from work so I don't see my car overheating on that drive even with a race style converter.

So Coan said a 9" is what I needed for power but would get too hot on the street and some of the other companies agreed but then said I could just use a good trans cooler and fluid like was stated above somewhere. I ended up with an ATI 9" fuel and blown with 4000 stall. FTI recommended a similar setup but I went with ATI. The more converters I have I'm sure I'll learn more. So we'll see how I like the new setup. I know this isn't 100% pertinent to the ms4 cam but I just thought it was interesting how different shops and people spec the converters differently. The shop just really needs to understand what you want I guess. And everyone has different opinions. Before I bought my ATI I actually heard from a few people they were junk. Ultimately the reason I bought from them was because the shop that spec'd most of my engine recommended them.

 

I will not speak for specific manufacturers unless I know for a fact. But yank themselves did tell me that they used to make their internal parts and billet fronts years ago. Manufacturing and staffing problems/cost demanded they outsource them. There were bulk parts available to purchase so they started buying their parts and basically just doing the assembly in house. I suspect lots of other converter companies use the exact same parts. I do know that circle d has a nice facility there in houston and wont speak specifics but they may make theirs in house who knows. Maybe they only make some and buy others? Converters are funny cause people treat them like voodoo. Odds are if you put an fti "hard hit" 4k, circle d, and yank ss4k on a table and cut them open it would be damn near the same thing in all three. Dont think for a second circle d cant tell me what stator/turbine and all is in a yank ss......and vice versa.

 

Has anyone answered the op question?

 

No but we answered all the other questions!

 

I answered it a long time ago. Ms4, trex, polluter, g5x4, all the big ls cams, 5000 rpm converter. 8 inch if you have a good transmission in the car, if still running a 4ljunkie whatever the smallest one you can get with the lockup crap that's needed.