A few days ago, I installed my Edge Racing high stall torque converter. I went with Edge Racing b/c they were able to custom build me and test a TC that's right for MY car. All Protorque could do is just offer an 'off the shelf' TC. They didn't even ask me stuff about my car. All they saw was 3L auto Maxima.

We were shooting for a TRUE stall of 3400, but we didn't quite achieve that. I bet I have a true stall of 3000-3200. True stall is going to be about 600 rpm higher than the flash stall you see on your tach. My STR (Stall Torque Ratio) was raise from the stock 1.6 to around 2.0-2.2. Which will multiply torque MUCH better than stock.

My stock stall on my tach was 1700-1800. Now my stall is 2400 with full traction. When I spin, it flashes as high as 2700. With this new converter, it should slip more and more over the next 3-4K miles, which will give me a stall of about 200rpm higher. It happens with every new converter.

My thoughts? WOW! It's BY FAR the best NA mod you can possibly do to any Maxima. The low end power is there! And even after the launch, you can tell the torque has been multiplied a little higher. 0-20mph hasn't felt so good before. I have no idea what kind of time it can shave off my 60', but with traction, it will get better. I was getting low 2.3s before. I bet I am capable of 2.1s pretty easily with TC and my 195/45R15 Toyos. We'll see soon enough when I hit the track. I might decide to get BFG DRs if I still spin off the line. Which I'm sure I will.

Oh yeah, I have pictures of the install that I did in my garage and videos of before and after the torque converter. I raced on the same road with the same mods as before except that I lost my loud straight thru muffler and got a TC. Enjoy!

http://www.littlebabywebs.com/maxima/maximalbw.html

In the PICS section is the TC pics and in the VIDEOS section are the videos.

 

Sweet!!!

Glad everything worked out well.

Time to watch the videos

 

Just curious, is there a reason why you didn't use a synthetic ATF?

 

$$$ I went to Walmart, bought fluid for $14. 10 quarts.

Also, I didn't see any reason to go synthetic since I ALWAYS have my fluid in brand new condition. Plus, I have my original tranny with over 140K miles on it. I just stuck with what I know.

 

the videos look good

 

Good stuff Aaron, now I can't wait to see your new numbers.

 

I think it's safe to expect only mid 14s right now if I still can't get this ECU tuned the way I want. After that, then it's low/mid 14s.

 

Best of luck to you in achieving better times.

 

you're still slower than me.

 

Aaron,
Nice work. If you don't mind me asking... what was the price range from Edge Racing? @ $300 - $400? Also, can you feel the higher stall working in conjunction with your valve body recalibration?

 

looks good Aaron, watching the vids now

btw how is the ecu tuning going?

 

On everything except for 1/4 mile, I am.

First off, I paid a little under $400 shipped. 2nd, I guess you are not familar with exactly what a torque converter does. A VB mod ONLY firms up the shifts. It won't make you faster and it won't make more power to the wheels. The TC can allow you to actually make for fw torque due to the torque multiplication JUST on the launch. And due to the higher stall, I'm able to launch in a higher rpm that allows me to launch with even more torque. So, to answer your question, "can you feel the higher stall working in conjunction with your valve body recalibration?", I don't understand what you mean.

I put the Zemulator stuff on hold for right now until I can get to the track again. I am still having low end power issues just on the launch. As soon as I go WOT, it hesitates a little and then launches as normal. That is only with the 300zx ECU installed. It's obviously causing slight problems that I can't figure out. So I am waiting for Ash to come out with the Zemulator that can work with the VE ECU. Then I'll go from there.

But, right now, my plan is to make it to the track with this TC and test it out with the stock ECU where I KNOW I am capable of good 60's. After a few runs, I will swap in the 300zx, MAFS, and Zemulator and make a few more runs and go from there. I will see if my 60' is still being hurt with the higher stall. So the only questions I have to answer is, "Is the 300zx hurting me from 1800-2200?" or "Is the 300zx ECU hurting me on that initial launch reguardless of rpm range?" or "Is the loss of low end due to me not being able to properly tune my car in the low end range?".

I think when I hit the track, I should be able to answer most of those questions. We'll see.

 

is there anytime frame on that ?

 

Really?

I guess a 14.73 is slower than a 14.82?

 

It is where I come from. haha jk But I am hoping to get 3 tenths faster with this torque converter. But who knows what will happen. Matt, you have minimal 'go fast' mods and you are able to pull some NICE 60's and ETs. It HAS to be your suspension that enables you to get traction. You have good tires too? If you want, you have a good enough setup to do mid/high 13s NA EASILY. But I know you have other plans. Everyone doesn't want to mess with NA b/c it's too slow and too expensive.


There isn't an official timeframe on this. But it's IN THE WORKS. It's actually being made right now. When Ash gets the prototype back and tests it out on a 95/96 z32 TT 5spd, he will know for certain that it will work with almost ANY Nissan ECU. But the GUESS that he could give me is a few months. We'll see. I hope it comes out tomorrow.

But this is how it's suppose to work... First off, the 90-94 z32 has an ECU that has a daughterboard. If you have a daughterboard, I believe it usually means that you have an EPROM. The Zemulator simply emulates this EPROM. Since the 95/96 z32 doesn't have a daughterboard, they dont have an EPROM to emulate. So the Zemulator won't work. So Ash has already found a way to somehow solder a daughterboard in the 95/96 z32 ECU and enable it to work with an EPROM. The same Zemulator is now able to work in the 95/96 z32. Well, us VE guys come in to play b/c we do not have an EPROM. We basically have the same ECU as the 95/96 z32 guys.

We will see in the next few months how this works out for me. Once I test it and have good results, Ash will get his hands on a VE 5spd and tune it and create several programs for it. Then us VE guys will have a cheap and better ECU upgrade than JWT could ever do for a stupid 4 door granny car. And SEVERAL other Nissan guys will be effected by this discovery. 240sx, 200sx, Sentras, MAYBE VG 3rd gens, not sure on the 4th gen Maximas or 5th genners, but this will all come in due time.

 

just represent 92 se autos, craig he is .11 secs slower than you and you have a 5spd, most autos lose anywhere from .5 to 1.0 in the quarter just because their automatic. for him to be .11 is really nice

 

That is the advantage of the VB mod, it removes the slipshift that is built in from the factory.

 

how much was the stall convertor

 

Actually, VB mod isn't it. VB mod was probably my hardest mod to tell in 1/4 ET. I believe I only shaved one tenth with VB mod. I just have WAY WAY WAY more 'go fast' mods than Matt. That is why I am .11 behind him instead of a full second.

 

yadadadada

 

First off, I paid a little under $400 shipped. 2nd, I guess you are not familar with exactly what a torque converter does. A VB mod ONLY firms up the shifts. It won't make you faster and it won't make more power to the wheels. The TC can allow you to actually make for fw torque due to the torque multiplication JUST on the launch. And due to the higher stall, I'm able to launch in a higher rpm that allows me to launch with even more torque. So, to answer your question, "can you feel the higher stall working in conjunction with your valve body recalibration?", I don't understand what you mean.

Aaron,
Thanks for the response. Actually I did understand the difference in the functions of the TQ and VB, but perhaps my question was not worded correctly... I was trying to ask how are the shifts now (with the VB mod) and TQ since your gaining higher RPM's per shift? Are the shift points any different?

 

Since a TC has NOTHING to do with shifts, I'd have to say my shifts are exactly the same as before the TC install. I am not gaining "higher RPM's" per shift. My shifts points are the same.

A TC can be a complicated component. This link can help explain what a TC does:

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/torque-converter.htm

 

thnx sry i should of read more often

 

Bump... I spent a lot of time taking photos and videos and setting up my webpage for this huge project. I want as many people to see this.

 

I just added 2 more videos to my collection. I put on my smaller and lighter track wheels and took some videos of how well the TC does with them. It's pretty amazing how fast my car is. lol Check them out on my webpage:

http://www.littlebabywebs.com/maxima/maximalbw.html

It's the last two videos in the Video section.

 

I was meaning to ask, could you take a video of just you daily driving. I know your a track junkie but I doubt you power brake at every stop light

 

I don't ever power brake on the street. I use to power brake on the track with my stock TC, but I now realize that power braking only amounts to less torque multiplication and slower 60's. If you suddenly shock the tranny, that is where the torque will spike the most and you will get a higher flash stall AND more torque multiplication.

In ALL my videos, I launched off of idle. In some of them, it does seem that I torque brake, but that is me just spinning on the launch.

 

Bump. I hope this reaches new people b/c a TC is the best mod you can possibly do to any NA automatic. And since the stupid search function is down, this thread will just die and nobody will ever see it again. I would rather have a slow USEFUL site that allows you to search, then a fast POS site that doesn't allow you to search. Sorry, just venting.

 

you gotta donate to search, but bump anyways, you could ask jeff to make it a sticky but then no one would read it

 

Your right. I don't think it's sticky material since it doesn't really affect more than 5% of the Maxima community. But I just want to make sure a lot of people see this thread since this is only the 2nd TC thread on the org. From what I've seen. Calsonic did the first TC thread. And yes it helped me in making my decision. But the thread that really helped me the most was a thread found on g35driver.com when a guy named Gurgen put a custom built EdgeRacing TC in his g35 and had great results.

 

Aaron nice job! I really wanna see some gains at the track dude!

Hey, How much fun was it removing the tranny and doing the TC?

 

You will see gains.

Removing my tranny for the first time ever was a very exhausting experience. I can't imagine doing this job without a tranny jack. And also, since I did this job by myself, it probably doubled the labor. It took me 24 actual labor hours to complete the project. I did spend a long time cleaning the rear main oil seal retainer and driving to the dealership to get extra gaskets. But once the tranny was sitting on the floor, you simply pull of the old TC and slide the new one on. So easy! Oh yeah, it took me 2 hours to fill up the new TC with fluid. haha It takes a while for the fluid to make itself into all areas of the TC.

If I had to do swap my TC out again and not worry about any seals, then I bet I could do the entire project in 10 hours. One day by myself! It was a great learning experience for me.