8" converter on the street???

Who runs a 8" converter on the street and drives 50-80 mile trips???

I do.. 4800 stall with a 4.10 gear and OD

I have, 5000 stall. Better have a good trans cooler. Highest sump temp in traffic was 210. Driving down the highway 190.

As long as you buy a good quality converter, you won't have any issues at all. I've been running a 9" 5,000 stall on the street since 2003 w/ no trouble at all. Never had a combo that could use an 8".

15+ years so far and never even freshened or adjusted.............CONTINENTAL 5500+...........

had an 8" ATI converter 5yrs now, mostly street miles with a trip to the track now and then

Just saying that might be the 5.9x your looking for

Very possible and we'll see soon enuff but not tonight as planned cos my scoop hasn't arrived yet and as soon as she feels good, off to the track............

Thanks for all the input. I have run an 8" for a few years but never drove the car more than 25 miles before stopping for a few hrs. Now I want to go 50-60 miles.👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

Just have a good cooler.. you might want
to run a temp gauge on the trans so you
cant watch the temp for a while

I ran an 8" TA for a couple years on the street that stalled 6200rpm. Run a good cooler as Mike said.Dave

If you can make it 25 miles without overhearing the tranny I'd say you're good for the 50-60 your after now

I have a Hughes 8" in my BB Dart Sport. It only goes about 4,200 behind this low power thing but it's a lot of fun! Went to 5,900 behind the 493 in my Challenger. Hughes said that's as tight as it goes. Seems to be fine cruising at 23-25 hun rpm. It doesn't like the hills much and you have to get the rpm over 3,000. Just getting into it without tipping the secondary it pulls hard and only goes up to about 3,400 with a 3.23 gear. No trans. cooler.

I've ran several different 8 and 9 inch good brand converters on the street with no issues at light throttle crusing
They will break away and rev up under harder throttle action but seem to stay lock up at light throttle very well
I have had two bad 8 inch converters, a older (1975 era) Art Carr and a GER Neither one of them was worth owning

I have an 8" Turbo Action 4500 converter in my car. It has seen 5 drag weeks and is about 16 years old. I do not run a temp gauge, and going down the highway on drag week the car is about 4100lbs with two occupants and cargo. I haven't changed the fluid in a very very long time and it still looks and smells fine. I am sure it could use a freshen up soon because it does drain back when the car sits for a week or so but it is still performing well, I got a new best 60ft last weekend.

There is guys on drag week that run 6000+RPM converters and pull a trailer. I worry about mine a lot less after seeing some of that going on.

8" 7200 from Lenny at Ultimate in my Dart. 2.10 Turbo 400, 5.14 rear gear, with a 104 rollout tire. About 2580# with driver, in street trim.

30mi drives have been no issue.

Buy a good 8 inch, you will be glad you did. I have a "tight" 8" 4800 stall A-1 converter that Dave Smith from Pro Trans spec'd out for me with A-1. Absolutely love it, drives like a modern car at part throttle (no noticeable slip or slushy feel), then when you punch it, the engine immediately flashes right to 4800 rpm, and your moving! It was not cheap, but works beautifully. I have the biggest B&M trans cooler you can get. I remember Dave telling me it is a bunch of BS that people think you can't run a 8 inch converter on the street. His answer was, do you want a fast car or not? If you do, run a 8 inch and be done with it. A tight 8 inch is much more efficient than a loose 9.5 inch. My combo: 4:10 Dana 60, full manual pro trans 727, 505 max wedge stroker, 620 HP, 620 tq, 4000 lbs with driver. All street driving so far, very fun.

I drove mine for about a 25 mile jaunt again tonight and the slip isn't as bad as I thought. I am always just too much on the throttle. It will actually go up hills pretty good under 3,000. I just have to remember to get it in third and drive normally. It's a fast car for what it is and I enjoy the heck out of it! This car will fry the tires at will and will rev to 7,000 no problem.

Have an 8" Dynamic behind my 505.
3.54 gear
B&M 11 x 11 x 1-1/2 tranny cooler mounted in front of the radiator. 3/8" line in and out.

About 400-500 miles last year.

Highway with 3.54, 28" tire is:
3,200 = 67-68 mph
3,300 = 69-70 mph

Would I drive it to California from NY...probably not.

Would I drive it to work, the gym, afternoon cruise..... sure do.

I notice it will wind out more than my 9-1/2 from a dead stop and hills on the highway, I attribute some of that to the weight of the car and the 3.5 gear.....but flat or mild inclines are fine.

ATI gave me the hard sell on an 8" when my junk was an 11.0 car. I didn't bite at the time, but do wonder if a GOOD one would be a better match for the way the car will be when it's back on the street & track again. My drives to the track are 60 to 100+ miles one way, not just puttin' around the local cruise-ins.

heat will be your enemy - as long as you cover that issue well - should not be a problem

BradH! I have about the same distance to the track and I wouldn't drive the car there. I get better mileage and less pita towing it to the track. I took my Dart to the track at Sonoma and broke the rear u-joint so I was glad to just push it in the trailer and go home. With a deep pan and not doing full throttle romps everywhere, I don't think my car is broiling the fluid even without a cooler. My Challenger doesn't have a tranny cooler either.

If fluid temperature doesn't rise in 20 miles, it won't move unless you power up.
I don't trust the fan-equipped coolers, too many reports of failure in 6 months etc.
I have a big cooler, read more here:
http://www.victorylibrary.com/Toyota/A340E-c.htm#temp

Jeff Paradise of Dice Converters is doing a lot of their stuff now I've heard...both great companies.

Ya heard the same out here in the Desert..............Driven mine 90+ minutes at a time and no heating issues w/a B&M honeycomb trans cooler and no more that 190 temps..........

Same here, I did it. MPG (or lack of) was my biggest issue!

I run an 8" Ultimate. Stalls at 5200 behind my 468.
3.91 gears, 40 miles at a time no problems so far.
I called Lenny and talked to him, told him it was going to see many street miles.
I basically said "build me what you think will work best".
It's been great.

Since I run OD I had Lenny tighten my 5000 stall
TA conv up a couple hundred rpm so it would be
a bit easier on the conv when in OD and keep the
slippage down.. he did a nice job on it... at that
time I had him cut off the mounting lugs and weld
on new ones.. my old ones were starting to strip out

GER was just glorified mini van convertors that were converted to run with 727/904's. I had one years ago that the local convertor shop wouldn't even touch after just seeing me walk in the door with it. Ironically it was the same as my 98 sebring convertor and you could see where the original mounts were ground off.

Back n the 90's I was running a 10in. GER convertor and I was hearing they were bad convertors. I bought a Coan 10in. race convertor ( over $600 back then) and my Demon slowed down over a tenth in the 1/8. Boy was I disappointed.

I had a ger YEARS ago... it was a POS.. any conv company
can miss on there set up..but now days they are better
but can still miss the set up
EDIT
The main reason it was a POS was the quality
of the parts... why do you think MOST conv
companies wont touch a GER cov

Using a Turbo Action 3800 8" converter on the street and was the same converter we used at the track. No problems with it and I use a big trans cooler. 3.90 gear with a 30.7" tall tire.

Thank you for all the replies. I feel comfortable now to run my 8" converter.

Been doing it for years and seen zero ill affects.