Thread: Not sure?

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Ok I have had this question in my head for weeks or months now and thought that I might as well throw it up here and see what you guy's say about this.... I was watching horsepower tv or something like that and they were talking about something like a Trans Brake or something of that sort and they said it's something where it holds fuel somewhere (I think that's what they said) and it has like 3 shifters in the car and it helps with starts and things like that and when you launch off the start you pull one shifter after another.... Can anyone explain this to me about how it works, what it does, etc?
Thanks for the help.

Dont know about the different shifters,that sounds like lenco stuff right there but as for a trans brake.....

A trans brake works by pushing the trans brake button and that engages both drive&reverse at the same time so you can rev the motor to lets say 5000 RPM and the car will not move untill you release the button....then your coming off the line at 5000 RPM wheels high,pinned to the seat

BG

Yeah that's what it is exactly, your right, it's got the button and they said it holds it to some certain high RPM. Thanks man. About the shifter, I am not sure on that. Is it hard to put on a car?
Would you need it for a manual? Haha just messing on the manual question. lol
Also while I am at it, I just remembered. Say I wan't to build me a nice hot rod for street and drag (mostly drag). What would be better, a manual or automatic and what's their advantages and disadvantages? There are kids at my school all the time saying how they see fast hot rods fixed up and they laugh and say they have automatics and I tell them how they are stupid because tons of people have automatics and it's not like it's going to make it slower.... plus you can count on having good straight shifts all the time. But any explaination on those things would help a lot.
Thanks a ton.

Some guys like manuals others like auto but my opinion is auto all the way for many reasons. They are WAY more consistant than a manual in every aspect.

Dont get me wrong for a under 500hp street car a manual is a blast to drive but for a high HP drag car especialy if were talkin bracket racing then the auto is much better.

auto trans technology has come a loooong was over the years so tell your buddies too go ta the track with you on any given weekend and take a look inside the cars running 8-10 seconds in the 1/4....i guarentee you that 9 out of 10 of them will be autos....and many of them will be power glides(2 spd's)

BG

Is that why at the tracks when there are auto's out there they are sitting there at the start revved up and jump off the start so fast is because of the trans brake?

You got it! that and a high stall torque converter make for hard leaving cars!

Stupid question but I can't think of it.... what's the torqu conv. again?

Torque converter is what slides over the shaft on the trans and bolts to the flex plate. Torque converters are a bit hard to describe as to how they work but basiclly they multiply the torque of the motor to get the car moving.

The "stall speed" of a converter is a rating for the RPM that the car will launch at if the pedal is floored more or less...also called "flash" by some people.

Example: if you have a 8" converter that has a stall speed of say 5500 rpm and your sitting at a dead stop and floor it the motor will jump to 5500 rpm before the power will nail the rear tires. (kinda like poppin the clutch in a manual trans car).

BG

I get it... it's like those B&M shift kits where you can set the RPM ratings or whatever and set the RPMs to shift higher and all and at the start you punch the gas and it takes a bit for the car to jump ahead.... Wouldn't you want to to jump off at lower RPM's then so it jumps off faster or just have it wait until the RPM's are high and get a stronger start?

You want the stall speed to match the rpm where your motor is making power.

if you have a motor that makes say 500HP but the power band of the motor is from say 4000rpm to 7200rpm then if you have a converter that has a stall speed of 2500rpm the car will come of the line at 2500rpm and fall on its face.

So if you put a smaller diamiter converter in and it's stall is around 4500rpm the car will come of the line at about 4500 rpm which is 500rpm over where the motor is making power and it will launch the car hard.

sounds complicated but really its not.

BG

I get what you mean man. Thanks a lot for explaining this for me.... I don't know a lot of stuff on that kind of thing because I am not like all the older people here who have worked with all kinds of engines and all. It's hard to learn about all kinds of engines and parts just off of a forums and mags. It's like with dirtbikes.... I have been riding and fixing my own bikes for so long and worked with a lot of different kinds of bikes and have problems with them and know how to fix them now so I know what a problem is with something if someone told me what the bike is doing or I know what part works best with what and so on. Thanks again.

Shift kits are a bit different. A shift kit makes it shift harder/at higher RPMs/Lower rpms, however you want to set it. If it is taking a few seconds for your car to launch, thats a lack of fluid getting to the clutches, Not good. A torque convertor with a stall allows you to keep the RPMs up and then climb right out at high RPMs. For example, you keep the motor @4500 rpms at the yellow, you only have to climb 1000 RPMs and you launch like mad. After that, the fluid has been flung around the converter and it acts human again.

Ohhhh ok I see what your talking about then. Yeah your right with the shift kit, I didn't really mean it that way because I know how the shift kits will shift hard at whatever RPM you shift it to and it will make the wheels squeek or just give it a jerky shift. But I am getting the idea a bit better now. Thanks.

Originally posted by FMXhellraiser
I get what you mean man. Thanks a lot for explaining this for me.... I don't know a lot of stuff on that kind of thing because I am not like all the older people here who have worked with all kinds of engines and all. It's hard to learn about all kinds of engines and parts just off of a forums and mags. It's like with dirtbikes.... I have been riding and fixing my own bikes for so long and worked with a lot of different kinds of bikes and have problems with them and know how to fix them now so I know what a problem is with something if someone told me what the bike is doing or I know what part works best with what and so on. Thanks again.

No problem FMX asking how something works is the only way to learn. when i was younger (mid teens) i never asked how things worked because i didnt want other guys that were into cars to think i didnt know what i was talkin about.

But now at my age (32) i'm smart enough to know if i dont understand something i'll just come right out and say...."how the hell does this thing work?"

BG

A lot of reading helps too. Remember, im 19. However, ive been in to books since i was 8, under the hood since 12