I had a well known guy build my 2004R in my 87 GN, It had a Art Carr no lock in it for years so he put all harden parts that wasn't already in it and a new PI lockup converter, The guy that works on my car hates the 2004R and tried to talk me into putting a T400 in it but it is not a all out race car, It only had 6,000 miles on it when I got it and still has the plastic on the dash and looks like a new car but it does run pretty good, 11.40's at 131 at 20-22 psi, Well the transmission when out and after pulling it the converter was bad, We only had 30-40 runs on it, We sent it back to PI and they rebuilt it, Cost $100 to ship and $550 to rebuild it, Got it back but no way will it fit on the shaft, Called PI and they said well when you put harden shaft in and my friend said no it is just the way it was so they told him to stand it on it's end and it takes some force at first, Said we tested it on a stock 2004 shaft before we sent it out, So no way it will go on and my friend says he knows what PI will do keep the converter a couple weeks and send it back and say there is nothing wrong with it, I am out another $100 and still a converter that won't go on, He said maybe send it to someone else but I paid PI $550 so what to do
Just getting some ideas
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Dave Dunbar
Member
- Joined
- Sep 10, 2012
What do you mean, won't go on? Sometimes it takes a lot of "jiggling" to make it seat in the pump. Put the trans up against a wall or a Ford and spin the converter while tapping it in with your free hand. It can take some doing but it will go. Once in, it will spin easily and your fingers will not fit between the converter and pump.
Sent from my A110
Sent from my A110
I never have till now, I have a vigilante in my SSR and never had a problem, We have tried that putting the tranny up against a wall and you couldn't beat it on with a hammer, I wouldn't do that but they are no way it will go, They said they try a shaft in every converter and said if you changed to a harden shaft and the guy working on it said no it come out of this tranny, It had no problem the first time, The guy working on it called the guy that put the clutched in and he tried and said this is not right, Had the guy that built the engine as he builds transmissions to and he said no way will it go on, The guy said he could take the tranny and the converter to Coan and they said they would do what ever needed done but I m out $650 to Precision and now have to pay Coan, Just not right
I honestly dont understand one thing your writing. What i do understand is that soneone sold you that converter and you sent it in to be freshened? That doesnt seem to be Vigilantes fault they refreshened something you sent them. If you sent them a converter for a different thrans ofcourse what youll get back wont go on right. I think you need a new mechanic 200s are perfect for your application . I have never had issues putting a converter on it should slide right in and not give you a hassle. Whoever is telling you to hammer it on a wall is ridiculous.
The converter yoh sent in im pretty sure there was a part# on it. Check the converter for the same part#.
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The converter yoh sent in im pretty sure there was a part# on it. Check the converter for the same part#.
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No I will see if I can explain this better, The guy I got to build my transmission put all hardened parts and better parts and said while I have your transmission apart PI has a good deal on a good PI lockup converter that would be a lot better than the Art Carr you have now so he got the converter from PI and him and the guy working on it now put it in the car, No problems, He was racing the car at Norwalk and the tranny messed up so when he got it home and pulled the tranny the converter was in bad shape, He called PI and they said send it to them insured, So we did and they fixed it and said it would be $550, The converter was for this car, A 2004R and went in this car, They rebuilt the converter and now it won't go in this car
87chriss the 200r4 with all the billet/hardened parts and the precision converter was assembled and ran as a complete unit and raced for 3-4 seasons (40-45 runs) at the nmca Norwalk race this year 3rd gear started slipping which is a trait of these trans. But on my last pass if the weekend while staging I noticed I was stalling to about 4000-4100 which seemed off being its a 3400-3600 stall. Out comes the trans and converter is sent to pi to get checked out. Pi said I had bent all the fins inside the converter which caused the stall change and the lockup clutches were slighly burnt. Converter gets rebuilt and sent back. I will say other than the 3rd gear clutches the trans looked like brand new. The input has no burrs,missing splines, nothing. The converter will not go onto the input shaft. Not even to the pump engagement yet. It's the same spline count. Now if this unit was all together before and after refreshing the converter it doesn't fit. am I crazy to think something is wrong? Especially when the trans has the same pieces. Hope this clears up the confusion. And for the record the car has ran 10.40s@131 not 11.40 (typo)
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- Joined
- May 26, 2001
We have had many issues with the Vigilante converter.
And as you will find out, they are never wrong, it is your fault?
I guess it all depends on what experience you have with some products, ive read of RA runing high 8s on a VIG mult disk. Ive ran a Vigilante before and i had no issues with them. Not saying they are the best converters to run, but I guess it all boil down to one's experience using a certain product and your feedback on the product. If you want to bash a product then by all means do so.
In my experience i have never had a problem, maybe you can call PI and see what's the problem is possibly they sent you a wrong converter in error.
In my experience i have never had a problem, maybe you can call PI and see what's the problem is possibly they sent you a wrong converter in error.
- Joined
- May 26, 2001
I do NOT "bash" anyone's product or work, but I will post my experiences good or bad, and the owners can make their own decision?
My first "bad" experience with a Vigilante was in 1999 with one of the GN's Red tuned, and the damn thing completely locked up, and we had a hell of a time getting it off the trailer so we could remove the trans at the track.
Some of my customer cars had that same problem with it locking internally, as well as converter fit on a few occasions.
turbo nasty
Turbo Dojo / MNTR
- Joined
- Jul 19, 2001
Sometimes the aftermarket inputs have very tight splines and can be tricky
BARRACUDA1968
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- May 4, 2011
I just went through this with my new converter. I have two friends that have a lot of experience with tranny's and both are mechanics by trade. It took us an hour to get the converter to slide in. The old converter went on easy as pie but we fought the new one almost to the point that we were going to call the company who made it. We stood the tranny on end and took turns trying to get it in. When I say it took and hour I mean it. We took the input shaft seal off just to see if that was somehow interfering and the damn thing dropped in. I don't think the seal had anything to do with it but now we had to pull it off to put the seal back on and start over. It took just a few minutes and we were back in business. The two guy's helping me said in 20 years they've never had one go on so hard.
Maybe that's were you're at? We almost gave up too.
I don't think the seal had anything to do with it but now we had to pull it off to put the seal back on and start over. It took just a few minutes and we were back in business. The two guy's helping me said in 20 years they've never had one go on so hard.Maybe that's were you're at? We almost gave up too.
Dusty Bradford
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- May 24, 2001
The tolerances on some if the inputs and the splines which are installed in the converter are very tight. We have had to add an extra machining step to help spline alignment due to these issues.
Yes that's where we are at. I spent 4 hours just on installing the converter. 4 flipping hours!!! Tried it every way but upside down. I loaded it up and took it to a local trans shop to have a tech that I trust try. Same result. I called the guy that showed me how to wrench growing up to come try. Same result. Between the 3-4 guys involved you are talking 50-60 years experience. I understand pi has tight tolerances. But not this tight. I was searching for answers which led me to call Coan (they are about an hour north of me) they said bring it up. We'll fix it. Maybe they can get it to slip on? If so. Great! But they have to means to check the converter and cut it apart if necessary. I'll also add that I'm in no way bashing anyone. That wasn't the point of this post. I'm just trying to figure out why the f@$&'n converter won't go onto the trans. Thanks to everyone that chimed in. Nice to see I'm not the only one that's went through this
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