weird question

[cowboy4x4n]

guys,

I happened to have a discussion with my step father over the holidays regarding chargers.  He mentioned he had a 69 similar to mine with a 383 and auto trans.  He mentioned he bought the car when it was 8 years old it had a factory optioned torque convertor.  He described the torque convertor as having special veins inside that flexed or some kind of motion that made the car go faster at top end.  Now I just wrote this off as my old man telling tall tales and there was nothing special in the trans but I figured id ask.  Was there this option in the convertor and if so what was it.

Thanks

[Cooter]

Think he's getting a high stall converter confused somehow. You would Not believe how many people do not understand how a stall converter, or a plain torque converter works. While some explanations "Sound" plausible, they are simply that, someone's "Explaination" according to them.

[resq302]

and at 88 miles per hour, did his car time travel too?       Just kidding.

[cowboy4x4n]

lol told you it was a weird question.  i figured high stall just wasn't sure about this one.

[cdr]

gm had what they called a switch pitch torque converter,seems like it was in Buicks  



In 1964 GM came out with its Turbo Hydomatic 400 transmission. Buick called it the Super Turbine 400. In 1965, a feature was added to those transmissions that lasted through 1967, at which time the bean counters said "drop it."

The vanes in the converter could be "switched" to one of two positions via and electronic solenoid inside the transmission. Switching the vanes in the converter would change the stall speed of the transmission (the engine could be brought up to higher RPM's without the car wanting to creep forward.) BOP used this feature for two reasons: 1) It helped the engine reach a better rpm when engaging the passing gear - switch on the carb linkage, and 2) it kept the car from creeping at idle when stopped at a stop sign or stop light (any time the car was in gear but not moving.) It did this using a switch activated by movement of the brake pedal. Nowday, guys will rewire the converter solenoid so they can manually determine when they want the vanes in the converter to be in high or low stall. They are using the high stall to allow them to bring the engine to a higher rpm while holding the car still. In drag racing, this allows the engine to be closer to max power when launching from a dead stop. As soon as the car has launched under power and the engine rpms are in the power band where the greatest hp / torque is being produced, the driver will switch the converter into low stall so the transmission is not experiencing as much slippage. Here are some articles from various magazines that can perhaps better explain the full features of a switch pitch transmission

[Wicked72]

thats some awsome info never knew that existed.