I borrowed a friends laptop over the weekend and hooked it up to my car just to see how it ran. In first gear and 2nd gear it accelerates pretty good. My car shifts at 5000 rpm in 2nd gear and when it hits 3rd gear at 80 mph the rpms go down to 3500 and then drop to 3200 rpm. My car's speed drops to 77mph, then the rpms slowly increase to about 3500 rpm and then the power kicks in again but not quite as much as in 1st and second. Its like my car runs into a wall and loses all power. I'm losing probably 1.5 to 2 tenths right there.

A friend of mine has an 86 Olds 442 w/200R4 tranny. He said that on his car, he could, if he wanted to, remove the plug in that has three wires (one for ecm, ground, power), to prevent the torque convertor from locking up. Is it the same on 700R4s and is this a safe thing to do (I would only do it at the track). I don't want to screw anything up with my car. I don't have my car here so I can't check but I plan on racing it on Friday.

If I were to get a custom burned chip, I could set the torque convertor to lock up at a higher speed, right?

Thanks for the help.

 

It's a 4-pin connector on the 700-R4 but yes you can unhook it safely. Just don't forget to hook it back up because if you get out on the highway you'll heat the converter up big time.

 

Just one of the many advantages to burning your own PROMs is never having to deal with TCC behavior you don't like.

BTW, another way around this is to install a manual lock up switch so that you lock the TCC as soon as you shift to second. With the TCC already locked you don't get an excessive RPM drop when you hit the 75mph TCC unlock prevention threshhold. Usually worth a tenth/mph or 2 with a stock converter.