What budget torque converter?

-
Why do all converter discussions go from "don't care" to "$700" in under 12 seconds? 95% of the folks on this site would be happy with a stock 340 converter. But lots of guys have full size converters in their Dusters and wonder why their car is doggy. The problem as I see it..... Stock hi-stall 340 convertersa are NLA. Anybody know a source? Or even a hi-stall Dodge truck converter? Ones they put behind small blocks in low-geared trucks? Places like O'Reilleys used to have them for under $100.
Because anyone that knows what day it is, knows converter technology is like Star Trek compared to days of yore. If you think a $100 dollar converter will make you happy, buy one. But let the rest of us decide for ourselves, mmmkay?
 
Probably the “ best” economical convertor I would consider would be the 9.5 from PTC
Know several guys happy with them in street strip applications

Put one behind my 5.9 Magnum build. I like it. 3 years ago it cost $525 plus shipping.
 
Is it still okay for anyone on here to decide on a stock 340 hi-stall converter on their own...or do we become part of the cancel culture? Tolerance for thee, but not for me??
 
Is it still okay for anyone on here to decide on a stock 340 hi-stall converter on their own...or do we become part of the cancel culture? Tolerance for thee, but not for me??

probably the single biggest thing you can do to wake up a small block Mopar at the track is a quality torque convertor.
I doubt anybody here really cares what you buy, but having the experience I have, the last place I would cut corners if my desire was to have an “ unpoochy” ride would be convertor.
Now back to regularly scheduled programming..lol
 
Is it still okay for anyone on here to decide on a stock 340 hi-stall converter on their own...or do we become part of the cancel culture? Tolerance for thee, but not for me??

i guess it all depends if you want just ok or do you want it right.

unless you have driven the same car with an "ok" convertor and with a "good" convertor then its really hard to explain. the difference is just incredible. i didn't know until my yellow dart needed a trans (front seal was shot and it was old but still shifted great). a friend talked me into ordering a custom convertor from dynamic in Delaware. the only difference to the cars combo was that dynamic convertor. the difference was insane. it would cruise around on the street like a stock set up. get the ***** to the track and bring it up on the convertor some and it launched like it was shot out of a cannon.

funny thing that happened is after the convertor change i took the car to my buddy that does my transmissions and front end alignments. he took the car for a drive, came back and screamed holy ****! , what the **** did you do to this thing. lol. he couldn't believe how much different the car was. he went out and bought a dynamic converter for his drag car shortly afterwards. :)
 
Last edited:
Is it still okay for anyone on here to decide on a stock 340 hi-stall converter on their own...or do we become part of the cancel culture? Tolerance for thee, but not for me??
Yeah. See my last post. I said it was fine. Run what you want.
 
The thing about recommending a cheap converter is that we have no idea of the quality of the cheap converter. A hundred dollar converter may be a quality part and work fine. On the other hand, a two hundred dollar eBay special might be complete garbage.
I'm very happy with my used 340 converter in my big block, but I knew the person well, I knew the car he took it out of, cause I was there.
How would I know if some rebuilder special is any good? How could I recommend something I know nothing about. A converter is a mysterious item. You can't look at it, inspect it, measure it, to determine if it's good, bad, or what it's claimed to be (other than physical size).
If I make a recommendation of a known quality converter specialty company, I can expect a pleasant outcome.
 
The thing about recommending a cheap converter is that we have no idea of the quality of the cheap converter. A hundred dollar converter may be a quality part and work fine. On the other hand, a two hundred dollar eBay special might be complete garbage.
I'm very happy with my used 340 converter in my big block, but I knew the person well, I knew the car he took it out of, cause I was there.
How would I know if some rebuilder special is any good? How could I recommend something I know nothing about. A converter is a mysterious item. You can't look at it, inspect it, measure it, to determine if it's good, bad, or what it's claimed to be (other than physical size).
If I make a recommendation of a known quality converter specialty company, I can expect a pleasant outcome.
This ^^^^^
 
So...spend money cuz you don't know who to trust?? is that it? I know how to check a converter without taking it apart. Am I the only one? And, my point is: most of the readers here have daily drivers, not track cars. Trying to get a dd person to spend money on a track converter isn't very helpful. $600 on a converter is way overkill for 98.6% of the folks on here. Get real.
 
So...spend money cuz you don't know who to trust?? is that it? I know how to check a converter without taking it apart. Am I the only one? And, my point is: most of the readers here have daily drivers, not track cars. Trying to get a dd person to spend money on a track converter isn't very helpful. $600 on a converter is way overkill for 98.6% of the folks on here. Get real.
No, spend money because you want what you want. Holy crap man. If you were local to me, I'd never bring you a damn thing to work on and I'd tell all my friends the same thing. Jerk.
 
So...spend money cuz you don't know who to trust?? is that it? I know how to check a converter without taking it apart. Am I the only one? And, my point is: most of the readers here have daily drivers, not track cars. Trying to get a dd person to spend money on a track converter isn't very helpful. $600 on a converter is way overkill for 98.6% of the folks on here. Get real.
My point is: How do you know most of the readers here have daily drivers? I bet most of the readers here are NOT daily driving their old Mopars. Besides, a 9.5 inch 3500 stall converter is not a TRACK converter, it's a street/strip converter. Most real track cars have much higher stall speeds than 3500. Get real.
 
"Street/strip" is not street. a 9.5 converter is a strip converter. Not daily driving is not the same as track.
 
"I know how to check a converter without taking it apart". Really? Care to enlighten us? Can you see through solid walls too?
Couldn't tell what this one looked like inside from the outside.....

20180908_091303.jpg


20180908_091309.jpg
 
Anybody who couldn't tell that converter was junk without cutting it apart is beyond any sort of "enlightenment". I can't have your business? OHNO...I'm three weeks behind cuz I install a Kevlar band for 2nd and FIVE Red Eagles in every 727 direct drum, plus shift upgrades in every rebuild for a flat $600...but you'd prefer a $1500 TCI I'm sure...
 
"Street/strip" is not street. a 9.5 converter is a strip converter. Not daily driving is not the same as track.
Idk
I drive my car every day
In fact it's my only vehicle
340 , 904 , 9.5" 3500 Dynamic converter
Drives like a stock one (well better everywhere.)
But when you get on it then it really comes alive!
By far the best bang for the buck I've done
And it was $795
I absolutely would buy another.
It's really hard to put into words how much better the car runs/drives.
I highly recommend a Good converter
Call around all the higher end converter companies.
Just like you would shopping camshafts.
My opinion anyway

Oh and I've also done the $100 transmission warehouse rebuilt crap., the B & M $200 crap., the Hughes 2500 $300 crap.,
I even had Hughes build me a special non lockup converter out of a factory lockup unit
For a previous 904 electric lockup that was bypassed. It was also crap.
I'm saying all that because I tried all those budget converters that were terrible.
Plus that's taking the transmission out 4 or 5 times!
If I had known how a real converter drives I would never gone through all that.
You truly get what you pay for here.
 
Last edited:
It's really hard to put into words how much better the car runs/drives.

and that there is the biggest issue. unless you have experienced the real world difference its hard to understand. i still see way too many people all over the interned quoting the 50 year old bullshit of you should never go over a 3000 stall for a street car..

its a shame that there has really been no articles on modern converter technology. maybe some would understand it better then.. i know of one article that was in mopar enthusiast magazine a while back but can't find that article anywhere anymore.

i laugh when i see on various forums/pages of guys that trow ungodly amounts of money into their motor, trans, rearend, ignition system fuel system and then cheap out on the converter.. its just unbelievable to me.. a converter can and will make or break a combination..
 
Man you guys, a few years back the converter in my 340 **** the bed and I was lucky a friend had a Hughes 2500 stall and gave it to me for FREE! it worked fine, but since I rebuilt my motor with some upgrades it doesn't seem to have the same off the line get up and go, don't get me wrong it's fast but seems like it's lacking from a dead stop. A lot of you seem to like the Dynamic 9.5, I'm going to make some calls and I'll probably be selling some stuff to finance a new converter, just had my trans out too!
 
Man you guys, a few years back the converter in my 340 **** the bed and I was lucky a friend had a Hughes 2500 stall and gave it to me for FREE! it worked fine, but since I rebuilt my motor with some upgrades it doesn't seem to have the same off the line get up and go, don't get me wrong it's fast but seems like it's lacking from a dead stop. A lot of you seem to like the Dynamic 9.5, I'm going to make some calls and I'll probably be selling some stuff to finance a new converter, just had my trans out too!
There is no better time to get a modern converter for your combo. First time I did a(9.5 inch) 3500 stall there was such an improvement of power and torque it was truely amazing. Street drivability was a lot nicer too. I also ran a 4200 on the street for many thousands of miles. Kim
 
Just another plug for Dynamic converters. Picked up 4 tenths over a re-stalled factory converter. That was going to an 8” though, which I don’t recommend for street. Just giving a frame of reference. Hard to do that for $900 without nitrous, AND without the potential for the engine damage.

Most important thing will be to give the details of your entire combination to the company you end up going with. Converters behave VERY different from one setup to another. An off the shelf converter will give you off the shelf performance, ie generic. It MAY end up better than what you have, but won’t be optimized. If you’re okay with that then proceed at your risk.

There’s two ways to do things - right, and over. A lot of people are trying to steer you toward the former of the two because we’ve already done the latter and wish we would have listened ourselves. My best to you on your endeavor.
 
There is no doubt that the right converter makes all the difference in the world. And that's great news for those fortunate enough to have picked the right one initially. But read all these stories about guys trying different converters to finally get the right one; spending thousands of dollars. Just because a converter company has a polite salesman who SEEMS knowledgeable, doesn't mean you're going to be happy with what he recommends. What; keep trying? That's expensive. I was hoping that there would be at least a few posters on this thread with stories about how they have x hp, x trans, x weight, x gear ratio, x tires;..with a PART number. Not just "Do your own research and go with a reputable manufacturer"...that's just encouraging more mistakes. Most of the posts on this thread are worthless.
 
So......
"hand me an answer, so I don't have to do any work, and most of the posts are worthless cause they don't agree with me"?
Okay, I get it now.....
 
I don't like to use the red x, I wish there was a thumbs down, I have gotten tons of good info off this site. There are a lot of folks whose
There is no doubt that the right converter makes all the difference in the world. And that's great news for those fortunate enough to have picked the right one initially. But read all these stories about guys trying different converters to finally get the right one; spending thousands of dollars. Just because a converter company has a polite salesman who SEEMS knowledgeable, doesn't mean you're going to be happy with what he recommends. What; keep trying? That's expensive. I was hoping that there would be at least a few posters on this thread with stories about how they have x hp, x trans, x weight, x gear ratio, x tires;..with a PART number. Not just "Do your own research and go with a reputable manufacturer"...that's just encouraging more mistakes. Most of the posts on this thread are worthless.

opinion I trust.
 
I agree with needing all the information
About the cars combo.
But just like ordering a custom cam for your combo there is No part number
They are made specifically for you.
(That's the Custom part.)
Dynamic does not have converters on the shelf they are made to order.
Again with all the cars info...
It took 3 weeks to get mine and I couldn't be Happier!
 
-
Back
Top