Lockup Converters


Will Hanna

Member
I was told by someone very fast that you could only really use a lock up on a really good track. I was also told by someone currently running one they are worth about .02 in the 1/8. Both of these guys were talking about screw blown.

Obviously some of the Pro Boost guys are really hauling ass with a lock up. One tuner swears by it.

As far as ring gear life goes, the low life must be associated with the blown combo primarily. The turbo and nitrous guys have been using lock ups for a while now and you don't hear about it as much from them. Nobody wants to put the weight on, but I'm sure the next answer is going to be going to a bigger rear like the MW 11" or Strange 10.5 or ??
 

Brad Schmidt

New Member
You should see more than .02 with a properly working lockup. We see more like .05 and 4 to 6 mph. When we first put the lockup in Kevin's corvette, we went from VMP and a 3.79 @195 and went to Tulsa in the spring and went 3.75 @ 201. Same engine and blower and no testing. As far as ring gear life, any time you put a solid locked drivetrain in the combo, you are going to have more stress on the ring gear. Our unit will lock up with zero slippage. Engine and driveshaft will be 1 to 1, with less than 10 rpm difference. You can run the lockup on any track condition. Like anything else, it is up to the tuner to make it go down the track. Our unit is the only dual stage lockup, so there is extra tunability with have a semi lock and a solid lock stage. Hope this helps!
 

Mike Canter

Member
Brad, thanks for the info. With your experience how much life can one expect out of a 10" ring gear in a Strange Billet third member. Did you guys make the dual stage lockup? What about the motor while using a lockup. Does it effect bearing life especially the thrust bearing
 
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Mike_Lucas

New Member
We run ¼ mile so see significantly more improvement in ET & speed. We haven't had any issues yet with rear gears but did have issues with flexplates. We ran a CSR billet aluminum plate and it tore the crap out of it after only a handful of passes. We now run the Meziere heavy duty billet steel plate and had them machine it for 8 bolts. We removed the crank flange dowel and had the hole machined to ½" & counter-bored it...same for the flange hole straight across from it & used a longer shoulder bolt in each of those two holes. Meziere calls it the "Musi" pattern and charges an extra $60 for machining. The other thing we learned is to ensure to chamfer the flexplate bolt holes if you are using ARP bolts as they have a small radial under the head. If you don't, there isn't room for the radius and you will not get a full grip when torqueing.

 

Mike Canter

Member
Mike from what I have found out so far is that nitrous motors don't have as big of a problem as blower motors. Don't know why. Most hemi blower motors use what is called a top fuel crankshaft hub and matching flexplate using top fuel ARP bolts so we don't have a problem there so it moved somewhere else such as the ring gear and bearings.
 

Mike_Lucas

New Member
We use ½" Hemi bolts but with only 6 it still wants to move a little. You are right, it always seems like a never-ending game moving from one weak link to the next and there's never a point where all the weak links are fixed! LOL
 

Brad Schmidt

New Member
Mike from what I have found out so far is that nitrous motors don't have as big of a problem as blower motors. Don't know why. Most hemi blower motors use what is called a top fuel crankshaft hub and matching flexplate using top fuel ARP bolts so we don't have a problem there so it moved somewhere else such as the ring gear and bearings.
Why do blower cars have that problem.... the answer is MORE POWA!!!!!!
 

Mike_Lucas

New Member
Agree you should see 4-5 numbers in 1/8 mile and of course more in ¼. A friend of mine runs an Outlaw 10.5 nitrous car with the same M&M lockup T400/converter as we run and he picked up .04 & several MPH. It's easy to see on the G-Meter. Of course a lot depends on when you get it locked also.
 
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