700r4 TCI lockup need it or no??
 

Hey everyone i have a 1991 camaro that originally came with a 305 tpi engine. In the last year the 305 was on its last life and that forced me to swap engines. I have a GM 350 crate engine with vortec heads, cam, pulleys, 670 vacuum sec carb, and full exhaust. Im still the one that reads to learn so i havent really looked into the install on a TCI lockup for overdrive. Im pretty scared that i might mess up when spliceing wires or mix a wire up, so i have a question. With all the mods ive named along with the way the engines built would you suggest putting the lockup kit in or just use my 3 gears on the tranny. I have 2.73 gears and for the most part this will be my everyday car. There will be a mix of city and highway driving, the reason i ask is because the tranny has or the odometer says 111,000 miles and i think it wont last very long especially with the new engine but i could be wrong. If someone has installed this kit would you mind giving me some directions on what to do? I might consider doing it myself or dropping it off by a friend that has alittle more knowledge then me. If no one has installed one, for thos that have carb engines would you recommend doing this or leaving it alone? This is my last step before i can drop the engine in, but im to the point were ive spent enough money on all the parts and getting the engine built up that i really have no more money to get this installed by a shop especially when half of them are rip off's or they do a crap job. All help is needed, thanks.

Re: 700r4 TCI lockup need it or no??
 

You dont have to run it.

It has nothing to do with overdrive. You will have overdrive without the TCC being locked up.

I recommend running it. You can wire it up later and run without it for now.

Go to the "Carb" forum on here. In the stickys at the top there is one for the TCC control wiring. Read that. Ton of information on it.

Now the TV cable you MUST run it. And it must be setup correctly.

Re: 700r4 TCI lockup need it or no??
 

Have been daily driving mine for years with no TCC lockup, with no problems. Though that drive only includes about 10 mins of OD driving, if traffic's good.

By all accounts I've read, if you're doing a long trip it should be working, or the trans may overheat and reduce it's life in the long term. Gets a little better fuel economy too.

Re: 700r4 TCI lockup need it or no??
 

If you recommend doing it now, id rather wire it up now since its out of the car. That thread about the TCC lockup was good but didnt really explain how to do this. Knowing how much i can drive in one day, id probably overheat this tranny up pretty quickly. Besides the instructions they give, does anyone have a write up of what to do? I tend to follow someones instructions better than a piece of paper with a million pictures on it. Thanks

Re: 700r4 TCI lockup need it or no??
 

having the converter constantly slipping and not locked up will heat the tranny fluid more than when its locked up. If you get a higher stall converter to match that performance engine, then I would advise a lockup kit if you value your tranny life.

Re: 700r4 TCI lockup need it or no??
 

I agree. I didn't see high temperatures running without lockup, but it definitely made the car not feel as mushy after I did put in the lockup. I drove few hundred miles without lockup. I drive mostly 20-25 mile city/highway each way and never saw higher than 165* but I use a large cooler.

It only takes about $10 to do a vacuum switch lockup if your transmission has the Normally Open valve like in Apeiron's TCC Control Sticky. IMO the TCI Kit is a rip off. I spent $20 on mine. It uses the same vacuum switch and I even have an idicator light from AutoZone figured in the price.

Overall it took me longer to find a place to mount the vacuum switch than it did to take apart the wiring and solder it together again.

Re: 700r4 TCI lockup need it or no??
 

I just recall one time going for a hour and half drive to a friends camp with the bolt on L98 with 2800 stall. I started beating on the car, carving up the twisty mountain roads and it was a blast, but the converter stayed MOSTLY open and never had a chance to lock up... It must have overheated and i started to feel things slipping in the trans. I stopped to let it cool down for 15-20 min and then took it easy the rest of the way to camp and the trans felt fine. Thats even with the factory trans cooler.

So just be careful with out lockup...thats all I am saying. Need a good cooler. My TH400 with huge stall feels fine on the street with a big cooler but I havent really pushed it to hard yet

Re: 700r4 TCI lockup need it or no??
 

I have the kit in my garage, since i rushed everything before and didnt read the threads about how to do your own lockup kit i screwed myself alittle there. These are my questions would it be better to just install the thing and have it automatically lockup or put a switch in and do it manually, also im using the stock converter? I really dont understand converters with higher stall, im clueless. Second thing is i have 111,000 miles on the car and read a few threads about flushing the tranny fluid out of there. I dont know the history of thr car, ive owned it for two years and put about 1000 miles on it because of the engine failure. When put this TCI lockup kit in wont i have to drain all the old fluid out and refill with new? Most of the threads ive read say to just leave the tranny fluid in there. And last im needing the help with installing, they give this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-mXIikOeCU but they kind of fly through the process. Also when they say install a drain plug, im not sure if the stock 700r4 pan has a plug on there but if not would i need one?

Re: 700r4 TCI lockup need it or no??
 

The parts i somewhat get are the cutting of the old harness and splicing of the new, then the pressure switch. Where do the rest of the things go? Like the outter harness, what does that connect to?

Re: 700r4 TCI lockup need it or no??
 

Hear are the instructions for the kit that you have. http://static.summitracing.com/globa...tci-376600.pdf
Hope that this will help.
Rob

Re: 700r4 TCI lockup need it or no??
 

Stock 700-r4 pan does not have a drain plug on it.

A vacuum switch would be better than manual lockup in my opinion. Probuilt once told me after a few times forgetting a regular converter (small clutch pack) was lockup and going to WOT it would eventually burn out the converter. Vacuum switch just makes it automatically lockup once a certain level has been reached normally 8.0-10.0 vacuum in 4th gear, which depending on your gear setup can even include some in town driving.

Your terminal A,B,C,D they are referring to is the 4 pin connector on the outside of the transmission case on the drivers side. Pin C if I recall correctly is not used on that connector. From there Step 4 describes the wiring. When vacuum gets over a certain point through the external switch it basically just grounding out the 4th gear internal switch which will pass that to the solenoid if it's in 4th gear to the lockup solenoid internally. For the additional options only #3 the immediate unlocking of a converter with braking is useful IMO. This will help prevent stalling/stumbling if you have a braking issue at highway speeds, such as a deer running out infront of you. As soon as you hit the brake pedal the converter will unlock allowing the motor to rev/idle freely. That's how the stock setup worked with FI. You might not even have to change anything for that since your car had the TPI wiring before. I don't recall having to change anything for mine to work properly.


Converters are basically described by there flash speed. If you go from dead stop to WOT the converters "flash" to a certain RPM. The stock converter is pretty low say aorund 1200-1400 RPM. The motor will be allowed to rev up to that RPM before it starts to really move the internals of the transmission. Aftermarket ones are normally much higher which allows the motor to be at peak torque output when leaving the line if it's a dragstrip application or allow it keep it's RPM in the powerband of the camshaft easier.

Re: 700r4 TCI lockup need it or no??
 

Fireturd350 is right a few time forgetting to unlock the converter and you won't have to worrie about it. When my customers ask what to use I tell them the painless lock up kit. It has everything and is easy to install and it also works. http://static.summitracing.com/globa.../prf-60109.pdf Not to mention if you get in traffic and have to do a sudden stop and forget to unlock the converter it could push you into the car in front of you.
Hope that this helps
Rob

Re: 700r4 TCI lockup need it or no??
 

I made an experimental switch box for playing with tcc lockup. Decided a while ago to get my lockup working (engine's been swapped, no computer) - wanted to see exactly what options were really necessary.

I can have tcc off, locked in 2,3,OD, or OD only. Conclusions so far:

* Definely in OD only. Won't come to a stop without lugging badly or stalling, before trans goes back to 1st or N.

* Absolutely needs the brake unlock as mentioned above.

* Really needs the vacuum unlock, otherwise light throttle OD overtaking is not nice. Having trouble sourcing a vac switch locally, but don't want to spend the hundreds of dollar for the Painless kit just to get this. Thinking maybe I can use a old map sensor with an appropriate driver circuit.

* Really needs the underspeed unlock as well, or engine will lug too much at lower rpms in OD. Unlock under about 70 kph would feel about right.

* You really want all this controlled automatically - no fun to keep switching endlessly by hand, you'll just end up leaving it off pretty quick.

As I understand it from what I've read, the computer normally provides for all these conditions, as well as monitoring a tps percentage for unlock. After experimenting, I would say it's all necessary for good behaviour.

Re: 700r4 TCI lockup need it or no??
 

You're making the switch way to complicated. Go to http://www.designflexswitches.com/ and get the free switch. You want a PSF-109. I got mine with low port 3/16" ID and lugs to bolt it to a bracket. I even requested it to be setup to 8.0" to 10.0" set point. I had to make a simple drawing to get the switch. I can include that later if you want. Switch arrived free of charge and it's the same one TCI kit uses!

They told me PSF102 even though it was a switched ground could see the 0.5 amps and was not the best for the application. They recommended the PSF-109 which appears to be rated to 15A 125/250V AC.

Re: 700r4 TCI lockup need it or no??
 

Yeah, I know - mixture of mild desperation and cheapness! I though this would have been an easy generic type part to get, but can't find any part shops around here that stock one, nothing on ebay, Summit etc either. Only one I did find was for a Toyota or some such, I think for around the $100 mark. Found a few that go the other way - applying a current to switch a vacuum source.

That switch looks reeaall nice - but I bet they won't ship free stuff across the pond! What's the catch for the freebie - endless spam?

Re: 700r4 TCI lockup need it or no??
 

Nope just have to pretend your a business. Theydo it because they figure if you get a switch from them and like it you'll order more in bulk. Maybe they would ship it if you gave them some for shipping. It does work great and it's suppose to be adjustable.

Re: 700r4 TCI lockup need it or no??
 

Cool - I'm self employed, so I'm pretty used to pretending I'm a business! Will check it out.

Re: 700r4 TCI lockup need it or no??
 

I looked at very long list in the Carb forum area but can not locate the "Stickeys" you reference. I need that info/help as the inside of a 700R4 is a mystery to me. Wish to install a TCI 376600 Lock up kit. Don't see much difference between the Kit and what is already in my newly overhauled 700R4 (but old wiring) with new 2000-24000 Stall. Can you refer me more precisely to the Stickey source?