Yeah, I talked to the guy this morning, conveying my concerns about eliminating the lock up.
He claims he does this for all the local Vette guys and they love it. He replaces the entire valve body with one that no longer directs fluid to the now non existant lock up converter, so there is no danger of toasting the tranny. He is providing a 12 month/12,000 mile warranty. And said he would discount the cost of restoring the lockup if I really hate it. He does have an excellent reputation locally
He says since I am already running 3.08 rear end, and 31.5" tires. (I've been turning about 2900 rpm @ 70mph with the THM350, that gets me about 13 mpg in fuel economy department) that the 250-300 rpm difference(he insists that is the correct figure, I'll never know for certain)will be hardly noticeable and couldnt possibly result in any huge loss of fuel economy. Seems reasonable that with or without lock up I'll see a substantial decrease in fuel consumption, so I guess I'll be the guinea pig and see how it plays out.
He says the tranny will be ready to pick up by Thursday, but it will likely be around the first of May before I get time to install and take it back to him to dial in the TV cable. I want to have the heads gone thru, and install the new intake along with the tranny all at the same time, to see what impact all of it has on fuel economy. I'll add the serpentine belt system later, when the AC system is ready to go in. I'll post my thoughts on the tranny mods when I get it on the road first part of May. Thanks for your input.
