New trans is in, question.....

Got my new trans installed yesterday. I had the car on the NJ TPK and ran great. There is a TON of traffic all over the place here yesterday. I found a patch of open road, rare and fleeting, I was doing 68MPH so I punched it good. The tires broke loose and the ass went a little sideways. Scared the crap out of me. Can't wait to finish the tune.

Question on converter lockup on my new trans.

I spoke to Performabuilt, about 9pm last night these guys are good that way, it doesn't seem to be hitting OD. Now on the ride home it was fine, but I was doing at least 75.

In traffic, under 70, it doesn't seem to be hitting OD.

He says that on this trans it's designed not to lock up until in OD, and perhaps it's just not getting there.

As a disclaimer, I set the lockup in the tune at 70MPH. There were tuning reasons for that. On the final tune, I'll drop it back to about 40ish. But even if it doesn't lock up, shouldn't it at least go into OD? There was a TON of traffic last night, so it was hard to really tell what was going on as I could not reach highway speeds.

Once the power leaves he flywheel, I'm not real good with transmissions. SO if I sound like an idiot, I'm sorry.

I'm going to talk to them today on the phone and take the car out. Today is Sunday, so I expect I'll have more open road to see where I'm at.

If I can get a hold of Greg today, I'll try to do more tuning. Those POS Accell ignition parts were fucking up my tune something awful. They're gone now, so we have to assess where we're at and move from there. That's why we had to move lock up to 70. Ignition issues at the RPM range..blah blah blah.

I guess my simple question is...what should I expect to feel, and does it make sense that the old trans would lock up in all gears and the new one won't?

Which trannies are you playing with....???

the 700 and the 200 4r have identical plugs on them, I have had both in my '72 shark here over the years.....went to the 200 because of weight and reliability and MY 700 had shifting issues that would not quit......although the lockup function was fine....

either one should be able to lockup in 2-3-4 gears.....IF you ground that computer/controller wire....it SHOULD be set to also go to that 4th gear switch internally wired to the valve body, the insures lockup in 4th gear regardless of what any external controller says to do.....

now the builder could rewire/do something different, but well.....:stirpot:

so the + side is controlled by the brake switch....on my Shark I put a relay that opens contacts feeding the +12 side of the tranny plug/TCC solenoid....so when the lights light, the relay opens the contacts and unlocks the tranny.....

the ground is congrolled as per above....this all was standard GM wiring practice....

you need to be more specific on what is happening with the shifting, and you should be able to flip the lever and see the rpm range on the tach change a bit even with a loose converter....

BTW, I not a fan of loose converters, as I like that swack in the ass when my automatics shift.....:devil::2nd:

Converter isn't too loose, it's 3000.

3000 is very loose, a 'corvette' converter is supposed to be 2000, and I have a truck converter in mine...nearer 1400 something....

so you will have a tough time telling what gear the tranny is in except by locking it up in final drive, noting speed/tires and rpm off the tables....

Just went for a ride, I think you're right, it's just a looser converter I need to get used to.

Jsup said:

Just went for a ride, I think you're right, it's just a looser converter I need to get used to.

Click to expand...

Yeh, my '87 vette had that 'looser' Vette converter in it, from the factory, whatever that was....and I could hardly feel the tranny shift, even 1-2 shift which for that 700 is a huge rpm drop....

think it was a dynaflow or something.....

where the tight converters I had in my Pontiacs would slam a 4100-5500 lbs car a good nudge....

I like that kick in the can from a hard shifting auto....I even have a switch in my console so I can lock the converter all the time...soon as 2nd hits....

then stay locked during all the upshifts....tad harder on the clutches...but i'ts a kick in the ass.....

feels like someone knows how to drive.....

:bonkers: from back in the daze.....:crutches:

mrvette said:

Jsup said:

Just went for a ride, I think you're right, it's just a looser converter I need to get used to.

Click to expand...

Yeh, my '87 vette had that 'looser' Vette converter in it, from the factory, whatever that was....and I could hardly feel the tranny shift, even 1-2 shift which for that 700 is a huge rpm drop....

think it was a dynaflow or something.....

where the tight converters I had in my Pontiacs would slam a 4100-5500 lbs car a good nudge....

I like that kick in the can from a hard shifting auto....I even have a switch in my console so I can lock the converter all the time...soon as 2nd hits....

then stay locked during all the upshifts....tad harder on the clutches...but i'ts a kick in the ass.....

feels like someone knows how to drive.....

:bonkers: from back in the daze.....:crutches:

Click to expand...

Well, the thing is, my old converter was 2800 SAME BRAND! I only wet to 3000. Same STR. I didn't expect it to be that different.

Jsup said:

mrvette said:

Jsup said:

Just went for a ride, I think you're right, it's just a looser converter I need to get used to.

Click to expand...

Yeh, my '87 vette had that 'looser' Vette converter in it, from the factory, whatever that was....and I could hardly feel the tranny shift, even 1-2 shift which for that 700 is a huge rpm drop....

think it was a dynaflow or something.....

where the tight converters I had in my Pontiacs would slam a 4100-5500 lbs car a good nudge....

I like that kick in the can from a hard shifting auto....I even have a switch in my console so I can lock the converter all the time...soon as 2nd hits....

then stay locked during all the upshifts....tad harder on the clutches...but i'ts a kick in the ass.....

feels like someone knows how to drive.....

:bonkers: from back in the daze.....:crutches:

Click to expand...

Well, the thing is, my old converter was 2800 SAME BRAND! I only wet to 3000. Same STR. I didn't expect it to be that different.

Click to expand...

THAT makes me wonder what is what then....there is a hell of a differance between a stock converter and a 'vette' converter, and anything like 3000 rpm is very sloppy in 'feel' when it shifts....the car necessarily feels like it's a slush o matic driveline.... without actually feeling the car while driving it myself, I really can't say....words and crap....

:flash: