There is a torque increase into the input shaft.

 

My neighbors dad when i was a kid had a 72 Torino with a cleveland. He bought it brand new from Norris ford with a c6 & one of these clutch setups. My dad argued with him that it didnt come that way until he found the paperwork from Norris. It was a ugly ass car but it was pretty quick.

 

Oooold school. This was from a time when converter technology still sucked and Lenco/etc transmissions were still big money.

For ~$2500, you can find a nice used Lenco CS1 along with MOST of what you'll need to get it going...You'll have a setup that is truly bullet-proof and will be a much easier sell when the time comes. http://www.racingjunk.com/Racing-Transmissions/182145538/Lenco-4-speed-clutch-can-and-flywheel.html

A traditional th400/350/glide setup with a good converter is just too easy to do now a days...No reason to mess with a clutch unless you really like to, or you're trying to squeeze every last bit of horsepower out of a setup...With the latter at least, you're in GForce/etc territory anyways...Not 40 year-old th400 technology.

 

anyone remember running pinto or Vega converters behind their race motors ??? , those converters would flash and launch hard but didn't last all that long unless it was reworked some

 

We have a 4-cylinder Chrysler converter floating around somewhere...It was restalled and setup to work in a th350/400. It came from some old guy at a swap meet or something years ago. We ran that bitch in everything...A few monster trucks, a BBC Mustang, a few LS1 Mustangs, etc...It never skipped a beat and LOVED nitrous. It still works(theoretically) to this day, I'm just not sure where it went...I hope it didn't get thrown out.

Here it is in action behind an oval-port 454 that basically had a 305h cam, Victor Jr intake, and a wide open -4 nitrous feed line:

 

I can't believe this thread has gone so long. Must of really peaked the old guys memories.

 

I'm glad I posted it! Haha! Hutch's comment about the jarring 2-3 shift had me rolling.

 

 

I actually did learn something in this thread....never too old to learn

 

COOL!!!

 

I sell the Winters Clutch Hydro kit for the 400. In the six years I have offered it, I have sold a total of 1 kit!
I can't count how many phone calls and emails I get each week asking about this kit and how it works. Mostly people building nostalgia cars.
Its dead technology. A good custom converter will blow these things away.
But, if you want a violent ride and have a strong left leg to hold down the clutch at stop lights and like to change drivetrain parts, feel free to purchase it!

 

there is no doubt there is a better way today, but with that being said and with the advancements in clutch tech that is available today, it can be made to work better now than it ever did then.

Would it be "best" no not even close, "fun" for a guy that likes to develop his own shit...possibly

 

Old school for sure!

 

I ran the B&M turbo-clutch for 9 years in my street/strip car. That set up was a blast for sure. It was hard on the front pump so occasionally I'd lose 1st & reverse and had to replace the pump. I was told that if I had it in a light car I wouldn't have that problem. Guys that weren't familiar with that set up thought I could bang gears like Don Nicolson and Bill Jenkins. I ran it in the 10.90 class and was pretty darn consistent. Now I'm back with the reverse pattern 400.

 

Winters has improved their original design. Billet mounting plate, hardened pump spider (most common part to break on the old designs) and they offer a vasco jet upgrade for the input shaft.

 

Couple of my buddies tried a Clutch Turbo in their '68 Camaro behind one of their pulling truck motors. Thing ran 12:20's@120. Wouldn't leave for shit, but had a lot of top end. I think they got 4 passes and it smoked the low gear clutches.

I have seen a kit for a ClutchFlite that used a power steering pump to keep line pressure when you had the clutch pushed in. It was a lot more civilized than a normal ClutchFlite, but I still wouldn't want to be anywhere near a 727 with a clutch in front of it.

 

Mr. Hipster, do you remember a cat by the name of "crazy" charlie smith? He was from around central illinois and drove the wheels off of a blue 69 camaro from 1970- until the mid 80's? Anyway my father in law owns the car now and is looking for a Doug Nash to put back in it. Pm me if you want to sell one.

 

Fuck ya. Lost to Charlie in the semi's of the Bracket Nationals in 82. He's detuned his shit but still had the Nash, I was foot braking the T-400, lost the coin flip and he put me in the tower lane, spun enough he had my ass @ 1200'. Next week got a glide, next race was Indy finals, I won that fucker, #31sp on the Orange Car. Charley came out to a NHRA point race one time, went 4 rounds in S/G treeing the dude and spindling. Last time I saw him he was screwing around with some T/S Dodge Dart or some shit, cat was a trip, ain't seen him many years. Ever run across Lonnie Gerry?

 

That was a killer setup back in its day, the problem was there were no aftermarket parts to make them live. With today's stuff, that could be an interesting setup.

 

The white Dodge in this video runs a set up similar to OP's add uses hand clutch to take off then auto after! Not saying the 1 in the add will handle the HP and Torque this Dodge makes tho?

 

6.06 is getting it done, I bet it weighs 6,000+

 

Truck has been 5.7's 6800 the best I recall?

 

Damn

 

The fuckers a hand full I think it made round 1200 hp with just the twins no nitrous!

 

Yea I got nothing for that truck, I he's got 2800lbs on me. lol.

 

Dad and Grandpa used to build ClutchFlites back in the day. They made a wood pattern and had their own shorty tailhousings cast and machined them in Grandpa's shop. They also machined their own shafts and front plates. Dad still has the pattern and a couple input shafts.

They do run cooler than an auto with a very loose converter.

 

We ran a clutchflite in this altered car in the late 60's. Even with a destroked 404 hemi, at 7lbs/cu. in. it was asking a lot of the unit to dump the clutch at 8500. It was a quick combination at the time. We had to tear that thing apart after every race. It blew through the steel safety blanket, through the floor board, broke the accelerator pedal, and broke my Dad's foot. That was the end of the clutchflites for us.

 

My dad ran one in his Vega. It had a 468 and 2-1050s back in the early 80's. Best thing he ever did was swap it for a powerglide. Called it a clutch turbo

 

The Winters ones had the tiger pattern paint scheme on them didn't they?

 

No, that was Fairbanks, gone but not forgotten, probably the lamest shit ever foisted on dumb ass racers.

 

It's My Trans and My for sale ads. It was behind my 88mm Turbo DOHC 5.4 '97 Mustang.

What would you like to know about it?

 

Nothing, just find the newbie thread!

 

No ass cactus , LOL ! Hard to believe that you youngins are just hearing about these .

 

Extreme Automatics still sells them.


http://extremeautomatics.com/clutchturbo400.php

Reverse Manual Shift
Aluminum Valve Body
Only Select cores are used
Billet Input Shaft
6 Clutch Forward Hi Energy
6 Clutch Direct Hi Energy
4 Clutch Intermediate
HD 34 Element Sprag
Torrington® Case Thrust
Rollerized Thrust Gear Set
CNC Intermediate snap ring support
Billet Clutch Hub
300M Main Shaft
Roller Direct Drum
No Core
Clutch Turbo 400 • Options
Aluminum Direct Drum $650

 

FYI, Winters aka Maverick Performance no longer offers the TH-400 kit.
They did up until the first of this year, but decided to drop it due to low sales.