This will be a fairly long post. Those with experience can get a chuckle. The rest can hopefully learn something from it.
My car ran 13.0 @ 107 last Fall as a peg leg that was all stock except for a V4. Not stellar but solid for a car running at altitude with 2.0 60's. Anyways, over the winter I completed quite a few modifications which can be seen here . A good friend and GM service tech beefed up my tranny using all Bruce's parts (thanks Bruce
) and a convertor ordered from TCS up here in Canada (apparently not the same company as in the States according to some threads I have read). I talked to several friends with more knowledge in this area than myself and we decided on a 3500 stall for my application. I cannot talk to the guy who ordered the convertor right now as he is at the SyTy Nationals in Kansas City. But I have to assume he gave TCS good, solid information regarding my build and the expected power levels...he is a SyTy owner and a fellow Buick fan.
I put the car together and worked out a few bugs with the car. This is by far the most powerful auto I have owned so this is virgin territory for me and I didn't know what to expect. The car certainly isn't as smooth as the stock setup was, but I expected to lose some comfort with a fairly whizzy build. The car is very driveable on the street although it shifts a bit late like the TV needs adjusting even though its been done. I think it also has a bit of shudder from the convertor, but again not knowing what I am looking for I could be wrong. Another friend/Buick owner who has helped me a lot with the work on the car summed it up well. It's an awesome car but I don't think that convertor is for me. Meanwhile *his* good friend, yet another turbo Buick owner and a tranny guy by profession is telling him a 3500 stall convertor would be the hot ticket for his car. lol.
A few weeks ago I took the car to the track and ran it WOT for the first time. I was happy to see the car run a 12.2 @ 113 the first time down the track without a boost launch. Then things got interesting. I started adding to the base timing on the translator. By the end of the day I had advanced base timing 10 degrees. The result? Nothing. The car ran 12.2 - 12.5 all day long no matter what I did to it. I locked the convertor once and saw the boost drop from 26 to 21 psi. It felt like it *really* lugged the car and I thought for sure I was going to get a slower timeslip. But it was the same 12.5 as the rest. I really didn't like the feel of the car locking the convertor manually so I left it the rest of the day. Tired and frustrated that my car was running the same ET all day long despite numerous significant changes, I decided to finally put the boots to it so to speak. I pulled up to the line and did a boost launch with it. I do not recall the exact psi I left at. In retrospect it couldn't have been much (if any but I'll get to that soon). The car *instantly* bounced off the rev limiter. In one of those moments of poor judgement we are sometimes subject to in the heat of the moment I kept my foot in it and bounced off the limiter again on the 2-3 shift. And, not surprisingly, I stoppped by the timing booth to collect another 12.3 @ 112 with a 1.87 60'. Tired and frustrated, and realizing my better judgement was leaving me, I decided to put the car in the hauler and call it a day before I did some real damage.
The car sat in the hauler while I went on holidays for a few weeks. I talked to some friends to try to sort it out. Now you have to understand that all but one of my Buick buddys live at least five hours for me. So trying to sort things out being given a description from someone who isn't the best at explaining all things automotive isn't an easy task. Nonetheless everyone thought it was the convertor being so loose that there was a pile of HP loss through it.
Encouraged by the possibilty, I resolved to do something I should have done when I first put it in....verify that the thing was properly matched to my combo. So out I went to the Costco parking lot to check it. Those knowledgable on this forum seemed in agreement that the proper way to check stall is to simply raise the rpm and check when the wheels start spinning. With my knowledgeable Buick friend with me standing to the side of the car watching the back wheels I started trying to build boost. Oddly the rpm was climbing in a drastic hurry. I wound up watching the laptop more than the boost guage, though I am sure I never built any boost. I bounced off the rev limiter with my foot barely into the throttle! We went back through the file. 5850 rpm with a tps of 1.82 volts (yes the tps is set properly).
I cannot even imagine how one would classify this convertor. 8000 stall? Who knows. I think TCS messed up big time. Good thing I get one free restall. I think I'll be asking for two. In the meantime I look forward to putting the D5 back in. It may be laggy but it should wail on the big end. And hopefully my car will start to run the times the combo is capable of.
Sorry if I wasted anyones time with a longwinded boring story. If anyone has any feedback it'd be appreciated. DS files of everything are available. Cheers.
My car ran 13.0 @ 107 last Fall as a peg leg that was all stock except for a V4. Not stellar but solid for a car running at altitude with 2.0 60's. Anyways, over the winter I completed quite a few modifications which can be seen here . A good friend and GM service tech beefed up my tranny using all Bruce's parts (thanks Bruce
) and a convertor ordered from TCS up here in Canada (apparently not the same company as in the States according to some threads I have read). I talked to several friends with more knowledge in this area than myself and we decided on a 3500 stall for my application. I cannot talk to the guy who ordered the convertor right now as he is at the SyTy Nationals in Kansas City. But I have to assume he gave TCS good, solid information regarding my build and the expected power levels...he is a SyTy owner and a fellow Buick fan.I put the car together and worked out a few bugs with the car. This is by far the most powerful auto I have owned so this is virgin territory for me and I didn't know what to expect. The car certainly isn't as smooth as the stock setup was, but I expected to lose some comfort with a fairly whizzy build. The car is very driveable on the street although it shifts a bit late like the TV needs adjusting even though its been done. I think it also has a bit of shudder from the convertor, but again not knowing what I am looking for I could be wrong. Another friend/Buick owner who has helped me a lot with the work on the car summed it up well. It's an awesome car but I don't think that convertor is for me. Meanwhile *his* good friend, yet another turbo Buick owner and a tranny guy by profession is telling him a 3500 stall convertor would be the hot ticket for his car. lol.
A few weeks ago I took the car to the track and ran it WOT for the first time. I was happy to see the car run a 12.2 @ 113 the first time down the track without a boost launch. Then things got interesting. I started adding to the base timing on the translator. By the end of the day I had advanced base timing 10 degrees. The result? Nothing. The car ran 12.2 - 12.5 all day long no matter what I did to it. I locked the convertor once and saw the boost drop from 26 to 21 psi. It felt like it *really* lugged the car and I thought for sure I was going to get a slower timeslip. But it was the same 12.5 as the rest. I really didn't like the feel of the car locking the convertor manually so I left it the rest of the day. Tired and frustrated that my car was running the same ET all day long despite numerous significant changes, I decided to finally put the boots to it so to speak. I pulled up to the line and did a boost launch with it. I do not recall the exact psi I left at. In retrospect it couldn't have been much (if any but I'll get to that soon). The car *instantly* bounced off the rev limiter. In one of those moments of poor judgement we are sometimes subject to in the heat of the moment I kept my foot in it and bounced off the limiter again on the 2-3 shift. And, not surprisingly, I stoppped by the timing booth to collect another 12.3 @ 112 with a 1.87 60'. Tired and frustrated, and realizing my better judgement was leaving me, I decided to put the car in the hauler and call it a day before I did some real damage.
The car sat in the hauler while I went on holidays for a few weeks. I talked to some friends to try to sort it out. Now you have to understand that all but one of my Buick buddys live at least five hours for me. So trying to sort things out being given a description from someone who isn't the best at explaining all things automotive isn't an easy task. Nonetheless everyone thought it was the convertor being so loose that there was a pile of HP loss through it.
Encouraged by the possibilty, I resolved to do something I should have done when I first put it in....verify that the thing was properly matched to my combo. So out I went to the Costco parking lot to check it. Those knowledgable on this forum seemed in agreement that the proper way to check stall is to simply raise the rpm and check when the wheels start spinning. With my knowledgeable Buick friend with me standing to the side of the car watching the back wheels I started trying to build boost. Oddly the rpm was climbing in a drastic hurry. I wound up watching the laptop more than the boost guage, though I am sure I never built any boost. I bounced off the rev limiter with my foot barely into the throttle! We went back through the file. 5850 rpm with a tps of 1.82 volts (yes the tps is set properly
).I cannot even imagine how one would classify this convertor. 8000 stall? Who knows. I think TCS messed up big time. Good thing I get one free restall. I think I'll be asking for two. In the meantime I look forward to putting the D5 back in. It may be laggy but it should wail on the big end. And hopefully my car will start to run the times the combo is capable of.
Sorry if I wasted anyones time with a longwinded boring story. If anyone has any feedback it'd be appreciated. DS files of everything are available. Cheers.
. All tuning parameters were correct. 
