I am ready to buy a converter, and Dana at ProBuilt stopped selling ACT's. Apparently you can purchase them straight from ACT, is this the best bet. Their price is $569.00.

I would assume this is the cheapest bet, but you never know, just want other opinions.

 

Dana must have a reason if he stopped selling ACT converters considering how high he used to be on them. I wonder what happened?

Anyhow, i've always been of the inclination that if you're going to spend almost $600 on a converter from a generic brand, why not save / spend a little more and get a part that more fast cars run like a vigilante or yank.

From what i have seen (as in with my own eyes), the ACT converters are unimpressive. It's built on some kind of remanufactured FWD core with adapters welded to it to mate to a V8 flywheel / tranny. The one i saw ate itself behind a stock TBI car while just driving down the highway.

 

Maybe it is worth the extra $130 for a vigilante. I am not sure why dana stopped selling them wither, but when I posted a thread about which trans kit and converter to get, he said ACT and Yank and Precision industries are where it's at. that was only like 2 weeks ago.

Maybe he said that cause he was still carrying them then!!! LOL!!!! j/k

 

Continental would get my money if I had to buy another. I'm using their 9 inch converter right now and it's been great. My little 305 could make it stall up to 3,000 rpm and on Dana's site they list the stalls at 3,300 to 7,000. Probably the S98 steel converter since the engine it was bolted to before was making over 1000 hp.

 

One bad apple doesn't ruin the barrel. No matter how well built, parts failure is always a possibility, there is no way around it.

My converter did lose its lockup function, and I did get it fixed under warranty and it has worked fine ever since. I'd be very curious as to why Dana stopped selling them.

 

The other guys got replaced under warranty too. Doesn't do much to make up for the car being down while it was shipped back and forth, or the work itself.

but right, i wonder why Dana stopped selling them. Maybe he was getting a lot of problems. Or maybe it was just simple business.

 

Any one use Fairbanks? I've never used one of their convertors myself, but they seem to be very well made from the specs I've read.

 

Not that I'm experienced with torque converters but I know two people with them(the ACT that is), both around 3K stalls.

VERY good street manners..both are behind 11 second 355's...they've lasted a while now.

Just figured I'd add that in

Ed, maybe it was just a business deal with him and ACT.

 

As of right now, I will not carry them (A.C.T. 9.5") till the lockup problems are "solved". I have not had any problems with Vigilante, so Vigilante is the 9.5" torque converter that I will carry as of now. I have been approached by others to carry their TC's, but their TC's are pretty much the same as A.C.T.'s, in the lockup area, except for Yank.

 

Wish I had know about that 4 month ago when I got my trany and TC (A.C.T.).
I was told the A.C.T. was in line with the big two.

 

I am not having problems with all of them, just a few. But I want this problem (lockup) resolved completely if possible, if I am going to represent/carry them. If you have any problems?, let me know? Sal (A.C.T.) tells me he is working on a solution for this, and with the vast majority I have not had any problems, but I want the problems with this to be less than 5% total, and this is not easy to do. True, nothing is 100% trouble free, but I always try to achieve this if possible. Once I am satisfied with the fixes, I will bring it back.

 

So what exactly is wrong with the Lock-up? When I sent mine in, you and Sal were convinced that it was the tranny and NOT the converter, even though the one sent back restored the lock-up funtion.

 

I've been using my 2400 ACT on the street now for about 1.5 years. It's still working fine. Guess I wasn't in that flaw'd group (yet). ;-)

 

So since the lockup area isn't as big, does this mean that I should not beat on it in 4th or when it is locked up?

Just curious how to avoid being part of the "defect" crowd...

 

With A.C.T. or the Vigilante, you want the torque converter clutch to disengage when you start to give it a lot of throttle. There is only one torque converter (in full lockup) that is designed to run at WOT, that is the "multi-clutch" Vigilante. You should not have any problems in this area.

 

Yep. Lockup should disenage by itself if you're the stock type lockup transmission (hopefully). Now if you're using a manual switch then that's a little more tricky.