Torque Convertor Lockup kits, Good or Bad technical discussion.

[Mundy55]

I am struggling to see how a slipping mechanical friction clutch can multiply torque output to the gear box.
.......OJ.

OJ, surely this was sarcasm, was it not NJ?

M

[old Jack]

OJ, surely this was sarcasm, was it not NJ?

M

No sarcasm from me.
A mechanical friction clutch is designed to transmit up to 100% of the engine power and torque from the engine crankshaft to the gearbox input shaft. The amount of energy transfer is limited by the clamping force of the pressure plate and the coefficient of friction of the clutch plate friction material. The clutch is used to disengage the engine from the gearbox to enable smooth gear changes. All a slipping clutch can do is to reduce the load off the engine so it does not stall when the external forces of moving the vehicle are greater than the engine torque.

OJ.

[nj swb]

OJ, surely this was sarcasm, was it not NJ?

M

Sarcasm? Me?

Never!

[Mundy55]

No sarcasm from me.
A mechanical friction clutch is designed to transmit up to 100% of the engine power and torque from the engine crankshaft to the gearbox input shaft. The amount of energy transfer is limited by the clamping force of the pressure plate and the coefficient of friction of the clutch plate friction material. The clutch is used to disengage the engine from the gearbox to enable smooth gear changes. All a slipping clutch can do is to reduce the load off the engine so it does not stall when the external forces of moving the vehicle are greater than the engine torque.

OJ.

Not from you, OJ, from NJ! Sorry if I offended you. Obviously more care needed in written word when you can't hear my intonation or see my smile.

[old Jack]

Not from you, OJ, from NJ! Sorry if I offended you. Obviously more care needed in written word when you can't hear my intonation or see my smile.

No offence taken Mundy. Obviously my sarcasm radar is not finely tuned or was not on at the time, as I did not interrupt NJswb's post as sarcastic, I interrupted it as incorrect information and responded to correct the information on the thread.

We all make mistakes or even have the incorrect understanding of things we think we know only later to discover we were wrong.
There is no shame in being wrong if you admit it and not hide it.
We all continue learn if we have an open mind and question what we think, are told or read.

OJ.

[Mundy55]

Well, after 5 months or so, with the weather now cooling, having plenty of time on my hands and having finally got up the courage I have just installed the auto-mate. Thanks to Denmonkey for his install video which is very helpful. I got the same test readouts as he did, so looks like its all ok. Test run tomorrow.

The instructions say 2 hours to install. Well, I didn't quite believe that but was surprised it took me 6! I don't quite have the flexibility as I did 30 years ago. Longest step was trying to drill and then screw the resister to the sidewall. This thread, as much as anything else, encouraged me to get my act together.

Now I have an excuse to go for a drive tomorrow.

[old Jack]

Hi Mundy,

You will find it takes a little while for the INVECS II Adaptive Learning function of the AT ECU to adjust to Auto Mate fully, it is a few hundred gear changes. Same happens if you chose to adjust the offset levels, best to drive around for a week with each change to get the real feel of what is happening.

OJ.

[Mundy55]

Thanks, OJ.

[m_and_m]

The instructions say 2 hours to install. Well, I didn't quite believe that but was surprised it took me 6! I don't quite have the flexibility as I did 30 years ago. Longest step was trying to drill and then screw the resister to the sidewall.

I say to allow 2-3 hours, so you don’t rush it.
Best I’ve heard is 45 minutes
All depends on how familiar you are with the whole process and how many times you triple check.

[old Jack]

How many times you triple check.

Normally it is 3x if I triple check anything!

OJ.

[m_and_m]

Normally it is 3x if I triple check anything!

OJ.

Haha. I mean how many steps you decide to triple check.

[Ian H]

I took an hour just to make sure I was about to cut the right wires !!!

After that I got a second opinion and then thought about it for a while.

[Mundy55]

I was certainly being very careful and checked at least 3 times, if not more. I was very nervous about cutting the ECU wires and practised the soldering technique a few times before starting (great tip by the way). When I said I didn't believe 2 hours, I meant I didn't believe I could do it in that time. I agree that, if you know what you are doing and have confidence to do every thing first time, 2 hours should be ok.

On a different but related matter, what do those of you with Automates do when you take your vehicles in for service at a dealer or mechanic? Do you unplug the controller or just tell them about the lockup kit and to work around it? My car is out of warranty so I won't have any warranty arguments if something were to occur but don't particularly want to have to unplug the system when I get it serviced.

[old Jack]

My Challenger is still under the 10 year/160,000km warranty and has had 3 services with either Lockup or Auto Mate fitted, all I do is turn off the switch on the A pillar.
Not once have I been asked about it.

They unplug the Y splitter plug from the OBD2 port connect their MUT III do what they need to do and replug the splitter cable back.

OJ.

[MM4X4]

On a different but related matter, what do those of you with Automates do when you take your vehicles in for service at a dealer or mechanic? Do you unplug the controller or just tell them about the lockup kit and to work around it? My car is out of warranty so I won't have any warranty arguments if something were to occur but don't particularly want to have to unplug the system when I get it serviced.

No need tell them anything. Just unplug the OBD2 cable which removes power from the auto-mate control unit. Internally, the relays revert to factory wiring. The car will be back to normal, and act like auto-mate isn't there.