For what its worth my aluminum drum has been zero maintenance. I went from a billet steel drum to a lightened sun shell and aluminum drum and saw a solid .10@1 mph in the 1/8. This was with a relatively high torque engine to boot, 14.8-1 572. 904 wouldn't scare me either except for the converter hub. I would use the flat pump drive to prevent cracking. The input shaft is pretty small diameter. Maybe a good upgrade as well depending on power level.
Doug

We were losing a crisp 2nd gear apply due to the band polishing the drum. We are trying bands with different friction materials. Also we were seeing uneven wear on the wide bands, due to the apply lugs not being centered on the band. So at this time we are trying the narrow band, different friction material, and a higher ratio arm to see if it helps maintain a crisp 2nd gear longer.

Yeah - raising the stall is part of the plan. Who do you recommend for modifying the converter?

Transmission Specialities switched my last two rebuilds over to spragless in my powerglide combos. My last two 727 converters were bought from a Moparts member who was switching over to a nitrous converter. Matt broke his 904 converter (5600 stall) so we put my 727 in his car to make some points races. The car slowed from 10.60's to 11.10 with my 727 and a 4500 stall converter behind his 360 engine. We pulled the 727 and installed a 5600 converter I had sitting here and it soon ran a new best 10.50's. He sat out this year till the Halloween Classic and we installed my 408 in his Duster and he ran 6.40 with the 727 trans and 5600 stall converter footbraking. That should be a very low 10 second pass in the 1/4 mile. I just looked back at my old email from these converters and one was freshed by PTC and one by TCI.

Lenny at Ultimate, he has redone both my T/A 8 inch 904 convertors and the lockup for the 518 in my 92 D150.

Have you compared the cost of the trans "upgrades" to the cost of other mods that would yield the same ET gain?

I'm sorry I messed up on that. PTC redid the TCI and the other one that's in his car is a Turbo Action.

I'm using the red material on a hard band with a 4.2 lever. Never checked the line PSI but it's a old Turbo-Action valve body so I'd guess 100-125 psi. Both the band and drum looked like new when I had it apart after aprox 150 passes. No engine flare on the tach replay either. I even reused the 50 run Wall Mart Dexron, lol.
Doug

Lofgren Auto Specialties does awesome trans work. They are in the Twin cities, his specialty is Mopars. And Lenny at Ultimate is great with converters

Good to hear there are still some options for converter vendors.

It doesn't seem like many are using the ultra bell instead of a shield. It seems to me the cost difference would be worth it? Is that not the case?

80arrow - thanks for the heads up!

pro trans if you have the cash.

Hi John - you bring up a good point. I just went through the engine and suspension and now it's onto the rest of the drivetrain. I figure since I'm going through the trans and converter now is the time to change.

Of course I'm all ears if you have suggestions for other mods. Might warrant a new thread as I'm sure there will be plenty of interest in the subject!

I'll agree with 80Arrow.... you'll save a ton on shipping charges and Chuck is one fine detail oriented trans builder. With someone like him in your backyard I can't see looking elsewhere..... I'm pretty sure he's still using Lenny (Ultimate Converters) as his "go to" guy for torque converters. That's where we started using his stuff back in the early 90's.

Dave and Darren are awesome people.... he's gotten me out a torqueflight bind a couple of times over the years. I recently had him "fix" the trans that was in the car when my dad was still racing it. Takes 200 rpm to make the shifts now.... Works great and I'm glad I'm only a 4hr drive from them. We actually discussed some 904 options when I was over there. Maybe someday, got quite a bit into the 727 so we'll just beat on what we have for awhile.