Automatic Top Alcohol Dragsters

With the way converters are going, allot of screw blown Promods in ADRL Pro Extreme are making the switch and in Pro Nitrous as well. If someone put one of these latest torque converters in a NHRA TAD would everyone have to have one.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DoM1dNMTJcM
some would at least have to move the mid plate upright and move the motor forward a little and probably would have to back half because the 3 speed converterdrive is longer than a 3 speed clutch. Could they avoid doing bodywork?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMc9YaOVoPw

Marty

 

Brandon Booher has been doing this for some time now , sure he will chime in soon . Don't forget the ADRL px cars are 2 spds and only running 1/8th mile .

 

I definitely hear three gears, some might have 2 speeds but Im sure most of them are 3 speed. They're saying 200-300rpm converter slip in the 1/8. They have deeper gear put I bet its not more than that in the 1/4 with '56s. My dads low 8 pontiac powered powerglide gto turns the driveshaft 50rpm less than the motor in the lights with 4.71s

Marty

 

We run this setup in our Spitzer TAD, and the setup does show a lot of potential. The problem is getting the car to run on the back half. Down low the converter setup makes all the power you could ask for. We pull 14 degrees out for .9 - 1.0 and still .88x - .910 60' times. At Chicago this year I believe we were #1 at every increment until past the 1/8th. At the 1/8th mile we were around #10 or #11 in mph. The gearsets aren't available to make the car manageable down low and then still pull without bogging down on the top half. We have run 5.42x - 5.47x on 30+ runs this year, not a single one over 260mph. We have some big plans for next year to improve the backhalf but when you're the only one out there with a SMALL budget, it makes it tough. The ADRL guys run a suspended chassis with a 5.00 gear in the 1/8th mile. I have shared thoughts/ideas with teams but you're really trying to sew an apple to an orange. If I could afford to throw motors in it then I believe we could get to low/mid .3x's in the first race or two...hell could go "testing" and do it even quicker. The one very nice thing is that we can come back and service our car in 15 mins. or less with minimal crew. Larry Snyder pioneered this deal and now has his knowledge over in the ADRL, I think their performance reflects his knowledge of the setup. We have talked with Lenco and Snyder about a 2 spd., I truly believe you'd be pushing 11,xxx RPM through the lights if you did this in a 1/4 mile setup. Perhaps I'm wrong on the aforementioned but I don't want to guinnea pig that one The Gators will be our first race, we'll run around 15-17 races next year between divisionals and nationals as long as work stays busy. We're hoping some ideas we've gained over last season (the latter half was a real "LEARNING" period) come together and show up on the scoreboard.


Happy Holidays,

Brandon Booher
NHRA TAD #34

 

Brandon, I'm curious about a couple of small things. Do you run with or without sprag in the converter? How much % slip do you typically see in the back half or at the top end? If you are okay with stating, what brand converter and rear gear?

I agree that the converter deal sounds attractive due to the low maintenance and crew count, but it's pretty hard to give up on the back half as you say in the 1/4. We're neutral right now, but one day soon we have to decide clutch/converter.

Thanks for any feedback.

 

I really can't say for brandon but I would say spragless I also run the converter deal and been very pleased BUT im with Brandon on the 1/8 to the 1/4 that is were we hurt also I will say 1 thing anything the booher's do they will perfect it they have ran fast with all there cars..Dave

 

We have ran both, and see little difference. We have ran every rear end, saw a huge difference in 1, that's all I'll say. Coan is the convertor to use, that's one item we won't consider changing. We could have a different convertor to use for free, don't go there. When you get serious and buy a transmission from Synder he will lead you in the right direction, until then I don't think you will get much useful help. Larry will not desert you after the sale he has the desire to make his set-up work. I can say this Lenco-drive is easy to maintain at national and divisioal events. Buy it new or you are on your own, trust me you don't want to spend all the time and money testing what we have already found out the hard way. If you see our mph over 260 you'll know our test is successful, and we'll be closer to the clutch cars.

--
Aaron

 

Aaron/Brandon, I'm surprised that you saw little difference with/out the sprag in the back half?

I agree totally on buying new. Have talked at length with both Snyder and Coan (and a bit with others) already, and was most impressed overall by the advise from M&J at Snyder & Coan.

Offline, I would be curious what you are seeing for slip. Do you run their 280mm converter? That would be my baseline.

To your earlier post, why not trip the lights at 11K rpm ...

Thanks.

 

The slippage was less but it brought the motor down at the flashpoint. We generally see 8-10% slippage after 3rd gear. We run the Coan all billet setup, I'm not 100% sure on what exact mm it is. as far as lights at 11k, send me your company check and logo for wrap and we'll let her eat

Brandon Booher
NHRA TAD #34

Sent from my IPad

 

Im wondering how much difference is there in converter exhaust (this is the cooler and lube circuit on oem automatics ) between the b&j converterdrive and the lencodrive and is it adjustable? Is the b&j accepted by NHRA for TAD; its got an electric transbrake. Ive seen as much as 500 stall speed difference between ringless and various other powerglide shafts on a gas carbureted pontiac. I only get about 400 rpm difference between a loose converter and 4.71 and a tight converter and 4.3, 4.10 slows the motor down though. Loose converter never mph's tight converter mph's best with 4.71.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsCYLu9Fhk0

Marty

 

Brandon, you have a PM...

 

I am getting 1-2% slippage in high gear with my coan/lencodrive set up (after some converter mods from a friend of mine).
Brandon your saying you dont get the mph but killer 60ft times , so it seems to me that if you tightened the converter to slip less on the big end you could pull less timing at the hit and not pull the motor down so much and keep the 60ft times where they are?