T/C Setup with Sled Puller 66
02-25-2006, 06:28 PM
#16
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The input shaft on a transmission with a locking TC will be hollow. Depending on what is being asked by the PCM, the fluid can flow one direction to lock and the other to unlock.
To lock a converter, pressure is applied behind the piston (more towards the transfer case) to force the piston, clutch and cover to make contact. At the same time, the fluid that is sitting between the piston and cover must be drained back into the transmission as ATF is not compressible.
To unlock the converter, the opposite occurs - pressure is applied between the cover and piston to force the clutch to unlock. At the same time, fluid behind the piston is being drained.
I'd definitely recommend getting a converter that stalls no lower than 1500-1600 RPM. Any lower and you'll have a doggy truck off the line - normal driving will be a pain if you don’t like smoke! You need enough stall to "flash" the converter up to where the engine can produce enough RPM that it can effectively start delivering air to the engine - below this RPM you get no power and mad smoke. Typically, the bigger your charger is you'll want more stall. The beauty of the triple disk converters is that you can run a higher stall converter with big chargers then lock them up as soon as you have the torque to pull the vehicle. Single disk converters rely heavily on a tight fluid coupling to reduce the load seen on the lockup clutch.
A side note, a ruel of thumb, the tighter the converter, the higher its efficiency (this is by no means always the case!). Basically, less power is lost to heat. So, once you get your charger lit with a tight converter, you get more power put to the ground. However, you will never get anywhere close to the 100% efficiency of lockup. So, regardless of what converter you get, you’ll always want to lock ‘er up early as possible!
To lock a converter, pressure is applied behind the piston (more towards the transfer case) to force the piston, clutch and cover to make contact. At the same time, the fluid that is sitting between the piston and cover must be drained back into the transmission as ATF is not compressible.
To unlock the converter, the opposite occurs - pressure is applied between the cover and piston to force the clutch to unlock. At the same time, fluid behind the piston is being drained.
I'd definitely recommend getting a converter that stalls no lower than 1500-1600 RPM. Any lower and you'll have a doggy truck off the line - normal driving will be a pain if you don’t like smoke! You need enough stall to "flash" the converter up to where the engine can produce enough RPM that it can effectively start delivering air to the engine - below this RPM you get no power and mad smoke. Typically, the bigger your charger is you'll want more stall. The beauty of the triple disk converters is that you can run a higher stall converter with big chargers then lock them up as soon as you have the torque to pull the vehicle. Single disk converters rely heavily on a tight fluid coupling to reduce the load seen on the lockup clutch.
A side note, a ruel of thumb, the tighter the converter, the higher its efficiency (this is by no means always the case!). Basically, less power is lost to heat. So, once you get your charger lit with a tight converter, you get more power put to the ground. However, you will never get anywhere close to the 100% efficiency of lockup. So, regardless of what converter you get, you’ll always want to lock ‘er up early as possible!
