At what mph should I lock up the torque convertor?

[The Darkside]

Extender chip users: At what mph do you lock up the torque convertor @ WOT?

I've got the latest edition of the extender chip & so now I can program it to lock up the convertor "@ WOT". My car is driven on the street 95% of the time, so what would be a good mph to lock it up? At the track should it be set different?
At what mph are you guys locking yours up at? Is there any downside to using this feature?



Thanks,
The Darkside

 

[UNGN]

If it were me, I'd do it around 4000 RPM in 2nd gear... what ever mph that works out to.... some where between 50 and 55 mph.

 

[TurboBob]

try 85, it seems to work best when the RPMs dont drop below 4000 when the TCC locks.

Locking in second is a gamble, with a non-sledgehammer shift it should be ok to do this, if your tranny hits 3rd hard you might break it.

Unless the trans is billet-ized...

TB

 

[The Darkside]

Thanks TURBO BOB & UNGN.By the way UNGN, I ported my LT1 maf as per your instructions & it sure seems to really flow great!!! I'm reading up to 390 grams of air flow @WOT now with that extender chip!!!!




The Darkside

 

[The Darkside]

TURBO BOB, I am running a stock transmission & stock torque convertor.



The Darkside

 

[TurboBob]

Does it have a "shift kit", how hard does it hit third?

I don't want to tell you to do it, 'cause if it breaks you will be unhappy.

Bob

 

[The Darkside]

No shift kit & it hits as hard as any other stock trans/convertor in 3rd with 120,000 miles on it(I guess). Whatever is the safest mph to lock it up in is the way I want to go.
For whatever it's worth, I know when I had the toggle switch in the car to manually lock it up, I would just flip the switch on from a dead stop & just let it go from there.


The Darkside

 

[TurboDave]

I like Bob's recommendation. Mine is mostly street driven now that I'm out here in the sticks. I set mine to "8" which is in the 80'smph somewhere (don't have the sheet in front of me now).

Unless your tranny's built, and has the right parts I WOULD NOT recommend locking it in second gear (Years of experience and busted tranny's speaking here)

I like the 85mph lockup point. Especially out here on the two lane highways where there's plenty of passing that needs done. When the converter locks, you pass is completed in the blink of an eye, and the power curve is at a perfect rpm range!