Street/Strip Torque Converter Test - Stalling For E.T.S

Many of us have heard that a rollerized transmission will not waste as much power as a stock nonrollerized transmission. Typically, gains in the area of 1/10 of a second in the quarter-mile are common. We took the R/T's tranny to Dynamic Converters/ Pro-Formance Transmissions in Newark, Delaware, to be freshened and given the rollerizing treatment. Even after 10,000 hard street miles and more than 200 runs down the track, the TorqueFlite still worked perfectly-proof that a well-built and serviced transmission is worth the extra coin over a junkyard piece.

Transmission specialist Sean Wiley took the time to show us the machine work that goes into the planetary assembly for the placement of the rollers that eliminate the thrust washers. Sean was amazed at the condition of the 727's clutches and plates. Once the box was back together, Shawn had me spin the input and output shaft, and I couldn't believe how much easier they turned. Next, it was time to put the TorqueFlite to the dyno test. All Pro-Formance transmissions are dyno-tested for shifting, fluid pressure, and leaks.

Back in the garage, the refreshed and rollerized transmission, with its new 9 1/2-inch converter, was returned to the R/T. The tranny was filled with regular Type F lubricant and driven around town. Next, the stock pan was replaced with a deep-finned aluminum piece that would hold four extra quarts of Red Line racing ATF. Now the 727 was ready for the local stomping grounds to check out stall, shift points, and maybe a brand X to blow away. All systems were a "go," and a test date was scheduled at E-Town.

For the R/T's baseline we'll refer back to its last outing ("Spaced Out With Carb-O-Nation", August 2002 Mopar Muscle) where it ran a best e.t. of 11.77 at 114.42 mph, and posted a 1.67 60-foot time. At E-Town, the weather conditions were fairly close to that earlier outing, averaging out the temperature, humidity and barometer. The same test weight and 26x9 Hoosier slicks were retained for a fair comparison. We must note that on this test we were putting Dynamic's own 10-inch converter against their new 9 1/2-inch unit. For our first pass we ran an 11.67 e.t. at 114.23 mph with a 1.62 60-foot time-a great start, showing us improved times across the board. We hot-lapped the car and ran an 11.68 at 114.14 with another 1.62 short time. Before the next blast, the ol' Dodge would receive a half-hour cool-down. The next pass would turn out to be the best of the day-an 11.60 e.t. at 115.06 mph. A good converter will always reduce elapsed times, and this one also increased the trap speed. The rollerized 727 and 9 1/2-inch combo rewarded us with 11.6-second runs all day, with one poor-traction run of 11.70 seconds. All the runs had 1.61-1.67 60-foot times. With the newly added torque multiplication, we should have brought our 28x9 slicks (better footprint), but we never had traction problems before.

Being happy with picking up nearly 2/10 in the quarter-mile, I called Frank Lupo the next day with our results. When Frank asked about the flash stall and trap rpm, I told him our flash was up 1,000 rpm and trap rpm was up 400. Frank thought the converter was a tad loose for our combo and apologized. He felt he should have sent us a converter with less stall. Frank also said we should have picked up 3/10, and asked if we would like to try a tighter 9 1/2-inch unit. Sounds like a good idea!