[Money Pit]

Originally Posted by Lee

The WORST converter I ever had was a custom $1,200 Circle D. A buddy who did a lot of LS work introduced us.

It was a lock-up, supposed to stall at 4,000, to replace another converter that stalled at about 3,500 (from another source).

I took the old converter to Chris at Circle D (he is somewhat local), to see if he could tweak it for more stall. He sneered at it, talked about how ugly it was, and how I REALLY NEEDED one of his custom billet converters.

I had times slips, chassis dyno printouts, and all sorts of info to help him dial in the converter.

First installation - it was so tight that the car would not idle, WAY tighter than the old converter. I thought maybe the clutch was dragging. After discussing it with him, I pulled it and took it back. Claimed the clutch was fine, did some tweaking, gave it back to me.

Second installation - I couldn't tell he did anything, Still dragged the motor down, did not perform as well as the old converter, still. Didn't feel like pulling it again, so lived with it for awhile. Had some unrelated tranny problems, took it to a shop and they pulled the tranny to repair. While it was out, I sent it back to Circle D again.

Third Installation - Chris charged $200! He said that he gives on free 're-stall' with his converters, and charges 200 after that. I contended that it never performed even close to what it was supposed to, so more of a warranty issue than a tweak to the stall speed.

After 3 shots to get it right, his converter STILL did not perform as well as the "ugly" converter I started with. I ended up selling the car soon after, so never did get the converter sorted out.

I had actually bought TWO converters from him at the start. The other project was delayed, and I had never installed that converter. After all those issues, I sold the other Circle D and bought a Hughes for the project.

I'll never spend another dollar with Circle D. Hughes has been great for me, in comparison - they just aren't local. Hughes missed my target stall one time, and NAILED it on the second try.

Pete Nichols was the man at Hughes. He is now the man at Circle D. All the no prep guys love there converters.

I myself been using PTC. Last converter was way off. Had it restarted for the new 528. Haven't been out to test yet. Hope it's in the ball park.