Who builds a good torque converter in Southern Ontario? My 340 has a shake that starts at idle and never gets any better. We've ruled out any ignition stuff, so we're thinking converter. The whole set up was purchased used, I was told it was a 2800 stall. Any suggestions?

go see John Hutchison at Hutch's transmissions in London he is a artist when it comes to trannys and torque converters only builds preformance trannys and stuff.call him @519-453-4318

Thanks Savoy, he's got a good website but I'm up in Barrie, London's a bit out of my way. Anybody know of anyone in the Toronto area?

Steel crank?? does your torque converter have weights that should not be there or if it is a cast does it have weights omitted??

You could go with SMR in Bradford Pats pretty good.
http://smrtrans.tripod.com/smrtransmissionsintro/index.html

Brian at BDR built a nice one for my hemi car. He builds them for Warren Johnson and those funny car guys. He's in Buffalo. http://stores.bdrtorqueconverters.com/StoreFront.bok

Funny you mention that Dodgem, there is a weight on the converter. It's a 1969 motor, so internally balanced. The tranny comes out this weekend, try and get to the bottom of this. Any thoughts on a B&M Holeshot 3000 stall converter?

get under there and chizel that weight off you will be amazed!


M&M should be fine. Pats 3000's from SMR work good too!

Take the inspection cover off the transmission and if the motor has internal balancing then turn the motor over by hand and look for the rectangular weights that could be on the convertor usually near the drain hole if applicable to that convertor. You have nothing to loose by knocking the weights off and seeing if at idle the vibration goes away.

Do you know what flex plate is inbetween the motor and transmission. It could be a factory plate or it could be a balanced flex plate for a 318 or 360 that would also toss the weight off.

Great suggestion guys, I'm gonna knock that weight off and see what I've got. Not sure about the flex plate now, how would I tell the difference?

Dodgem, I've talked with Pat at SMR, good guy and very knowledgeable just a little spendy for my snack bracket

Yea he aint cheap. Why I do most of my one stuff now. climb under there and knock that weight off probably fix you right up!

Gone till Friday now, I'll get to the car on the weekend. I'll post an update then

Update, no weight on the converter, so tranny came out, installed a B&M Holeshot, also no weight on that one. Their description http://bmracing.com/?wpsc-product=chrysl...orqueflite-a-72 doesn't mention cast vs forged crank or internal vs external balancing. Motor still has a shake, but it's a bit better. My local old school transmission shop looked up a converter for my motor (1969 340), his book shows only one, with 2 weights, for a cast crank motor, he thinks I put in the wrong converter What's the deal, did 69' motors use cast cranks? and do I need a converter with weights or not?

There are two types of cranks in a Chrysler from the factory, a cast crank and a steel crank. Determine which crank your engine has, and order the matching converter. I don't care whose converter you buy or where you buy it from, but one of the first questions you should be asked by your supplier: is it a cast or steel crank. If they don't ask you that question, run don't walk from that supplier, as they don't know squat (unless it's a Chebbie) about converters.
I've dealt with Pat at SMR in the past, and he has a wealth of knowledge on Mopars, he will make sure you get the proper converter for your application.
There are 4 common mounting (flex) plates from Chrysler. 2 for the 11" converter and 2 for the 12" converters that they used. They also have two different bolt patterns to mount the plate to the crank, so make sure you check that out before changing the mounting plate for the converter. If you want, I can get you more accurate information tommorrow.
Also, are you sure you want 2800 RPM stall? A high stall converter properly applied is a great addition but an impoperly applied high stall is one of the worst performance investments you can make.
Graham

I was going to suggest SMR also....
What are you driving? Do you make it out to cruize nights? I ask as I'm in Barrie also.

Thanks Graham, I ended up going with a 2400 stall. 11" converter, bolted up fine. Stock crank in the motor so I'm assuming forged for a 69" and the balancer looks correct but I still got that shake

Yup, I'm in Barrie, think I saw your car last night down by the lake. Nice ride I haven't been out this year yet, want to get these gremlins sorted out.

Thanks Graham, may have figured this out. Upon closer inspection, I've got the wrong damper on this thing. Looks like a 360 damper, came on the motor. Found a correct one locally, gonna clean it up, splash a little paint and get it on there. On the road for four days now so I'll post with results when I get back. Thanks for all the replys

If it has a an external balance damper on it don't be surprised if you find out that you have bought a cast crank 340 or 360 even. This may come as a shock but sellers have been known to enhance the truth a little to make a sale.

'69 340 is one of those buzzwords that seem to wind up in A-body ads 'cause everybody knows 69 was the good one. Just like ads for 440 HP blocks that ask a premium for the HP when in fact there is no difference between a non HP and an HP.

The only way to properly diagnose this IMHO is to confirm whether it has a cast or forged crank, so the pan needs to come off. If it has a cast crank, B+M makes a flexplate that is balanced so you can use a neutral balance converter like you have.

If it has a steel crank just get a neutral balance front damper and you should be golden but you need to confirm which crank it has. If you change the damper and it has a cast crank it will just shake harder.

Kevin

Thanks Twostick, block says 340-6 so I think I'm ok, but I know what your saying! Here's the update, pulled the damper, casting number starts with a 40 which I think is for late 70' 360, it's the one that came on it Pulled the damper of my 70' steel crank 318, local Mopar scrap yard says same part number for 69' 340, cleaned it up, a splash of paint, on it went, motor is now smooooooth thanks to all for your help.