possibly blowing thru conv.??

[ApullinV6]

it;s been a while since running my car so I don't have the definite #'s, but me and my buddy were playing around one night at the strip and our two cars were almost identical at 60', 330, and at the end 1/8' he was a tenth faster and about 4-5 mph faster. I worked with fuel pressure and boost but results were always the same. My car has a te61/82 housing turbo with 60# injectors, cam, slightly ported heads and matched intake, stretched intercooler and a pats 3200 conv. He has a stock block/cam te44/63 housing turbo,stretched intercooler and a orange stripe convertor from Cotton. Both of us were running around 25# boost and 100 oct with a T.T. chip.


I hadn't really given it much thought until I read a post on here about someone possibly blowing thru their convertor. All I have is a scan master so no way of going back and looking at my runs. Is my convertor possibly to small?

 

[SCOOBY DOO]

This might help. Plug in your numbers and you'll be able to tell how much your convertor is slipping. TCI - TECHNICAL INFORMATION: Racing Calculators

 

[V6POWER]

I don't think the TCI calculator will be accurate if only using the 1/8 mile.

 

[bison]

I don't think the TCI calculator will be accurate if only using the 1/8 mile.

If you have the data from both cars you can compare the slip % at the same mph with the calculator.

 

[Dusty Bradford]

There's no doubt the 3200 is much looser than the orange stripe and it could be the difference. Valve springs can also cause the issue.

 

[blackplague]

it;s been a while since running my car so I don't have the definite #'s, but me and my buddy were playing around one night at the strip and our two cars were almost identical at 60', 330, and at the end 1/8' he was a tenth faster and about 4-5 mph faster. I worked with fuel pressure and boost but results were always the same. My car has a te61/82 housing turbo with 60# injectors, cam, slightly ported heads and matched intake, stretched intercooler and a pats 3200 conv. He has a stock block/cam te44/63 housing turbo,stretched intercooler and a orange stripe convertor from Cotton. Both of us were running around 25# boost and 100 oct with a T.T. chip.


I hadn't really given it much thought until I read a post on here about someone possibly blowing thru their convertor. All I have is a scan master so no way of going back and looking at my runs. Is my convertor possibly to small?

If that were true about blowing thru the converter your rpm's would never fall back on the gear shifts. 3200 should be ok for a 61.

 

[Dusty Bradford]

Depends on where he shifts at. A lot of these buicks with wore out springs or issues with the shift calibration will shift at 5200 rpm and the 3200's will never catch up.

 

[wickedtt]

Depends on where he shifts at. A lot of these buicks with wore out springs or issues with the shift calibration will shift at 5200 rpm and the 3200's will never catch up.

So your saying if it was shifing later like at 5700-5800 it might catchup?

 

[87NAT]

Get a PTC 10" LU 2800 from Dusty and see what a difference it makes.

 

[Dusty Bradford]

So your saying if it was shifing later like at 5700-5800 it might catchup?

Yes. If your converter falls back to 5000rpm when shifting at 5400, you have 400 rpm worth of drop. If you shift at 5800 it will drop back to 5000 and now you have 800 rpm worth of drop. The converter slip will be lower just by turning it more rpm. The 3200's are fine but they need to go at least 5600 before shifting.

This is why Buicks can be such a headache. The low shift rpms cause issues unless you run a small enough turbo to allow a tighter converter. For top performance, turbo and converter need to match the rpm range of the engine.

 

[ApullinV6]

Car is shifting around 5500-5600, haven't really noticed fall back. I got a tack that I need to get put in the car to give me a more accurate reading though. All I have is digtal stock tach and scanmaster. Will get tach put in to see what car is actually doing.

Springs are new, less than 500 miles on them. 100# springs and high rev lifters from poston. I guess there o.k.

As far as convertor, I know that it made a big difference when I put it in car with a stock turbo..before car would chirp second but wouldn't really break tire loose. With Pats, it would just scorch the tires before, during and after 2nd gear shift.

Before changing convertor, I'd be interested in swapping out for a TE44 or equivalent turbo with a 63 housing. Would this 3200 support it?

 

[Dusty Bradford]

The TE-44 is a smaller turbo than the TE-61. The 44 has a 58mm compressor wheel, yours has a 61mm so yes, it will support it. Do the stall test to see what rpm your at when the boost/vacuum is at 0#. Your 3200 may be 3600 and could be way too inefficient. Check the true stall 1st and go from there.