converter swap?

[Aint Skeered]

I have a 64chevy II Nova with a 347ls1 . 11.63/1 compression with milled 5.3 heads ported with 2.0 / 1.6 valves. Car weighs in at 2660 with me in it, th 350 trans with a 8" BTE converter. Rear tires were 31x13x15 MT slicks with 4.11 gears.

Ok I had a thread with dyno numbers, with 11.5 psi it went 357 rwhp and went up to 15 psi in tires it went up to 389 rwhp.

Should have been a tad over 400 with radials, Who cares though. THe point is , my converter is flashing to 4600 or so but has 15% slip on the big end.

I am wanting around 5400 with around 9% slip going by 2 different converter company's.

My question is I can send the bte back and let them redo the one I have or sell it and go with someone else, I talked to FTI in florida and CIrcle D.

ANy of you have experience with either of them and would you reuse BTE or get a knew one ? The converter was built for a friends lt1 that was PUlling 1.28 60 ft's (Ben Moore) Naturally aspirated. but just aint right for my setup. Bte said they would stall it to where I need it and change the stator to suite my needs for $300. WHat are you all's experience's?

[IllusionalTA]

give it a shot... what's the worst that could happen? they'll work w/ ya to get it right.. i've never dealt w/ BTE before.. but from the sounds of it on your buddies car.. worked well..

[Aint Skeered]

IT worked well for him which is why I got it from him. I guess I will give it a restall

[IllusionalTA]

Can't take a "custom" converter like yours and move it from a 3400lb car to a 2600lb car and vice versa..... They're like shoes.. just cause michael jordan plays well in his sneakers.. don't mean your going to do the same wearing his shoes.. ? Cheezy analogy i know.. but sounded good about 30 second ago...

[V6 Bird]

IT worked well for him which is why I got it from him. I guess I will give it a restall

BTE is a MUCH better converter quality then the other 2 choices. Circle D is hit or miss in quality, and FTI I've never heard of.

If I wanted to do this right and the first time, there's no other choice but a Neil Chance converter.

[Aint Skeered]

i am going to try the car with the shorter rear tires and then if I still dont like whats going on, i am going to send mine to BTE. THanks guy's.

My car was built to go fast for cheap, that leaves out neil CHance

[IllusionalTA]

Spend the $$ where it counts... ;) how tall of a tire you running now?

[Aint Skeered]

i had 31x13x15 slicks on the car and just swapped over to a set of 29x12 Hoosiers. I already had the tires so $20 to swap them over is well worth trying to see how the extra gear works for the car. The tires weigh less then half of the bigger tire.


The extra affective gear ratio will help make the converter more efficient on the big end too.