Replace Torque Converter with a Clutch?

[XFi]

Thanks, I'm on a budget so I guess I'll stop thinking out loud and just get back to a realistic 5spd manual Trans.

Although some gear or final drive swappin' is definately happening.

[JanGeo]

I think the transmission pump is part of the torque converter isn't it? Taking it out would remove all the hydralic pressure that operates the gear clutches. Would be a great idea though because you would get a great coupling of engine power to the tranny and could shift at really low engine rpms and get some better engine braking too. I would still recommend using the clutch to shift at higher engine RPMs to save the gear clutches.

[usedgeo]

Below is an excerpt from Wikipedia for hydramatic.

The Automatic Safety Transmission was a tangent outgrowth of this work. The AST was a semi-automatic transmission using planetary gears and a conventional friction clutch, requiring the clutch to shift between forward & reverse gears, but not between the 2 forward gears. Oldsmobile offered the AST from 1937 to 1939; Buick offered it only in 1938. The results were not quite what GM Research had in mind.

Also,
Gm did produce a transmission in the 60's that had no external torque converter. It was direct coupled to the engine and used an internal fluid coupling for first and reverse. Otherwise it was as direct as a manual transmission. I changed one once that was in a Cadillac. I cannot seem to find the name of it though.

Ernie

[kamesama980]

-for the money, it'z 10x more cost effective to just swap a manual transmission in.
-VW/Audi DSGs are all manual gearboxes with a computer controlled clutch AND shifting
-as mentioned it's not the torque converter that loses most efficiency (it can lock up and only spends 20 seconds disengaged, it's the geartrain components. even at speed with the torque converter locked up, only the newest autos can compare...in toyota cressidas, which I'm most familiar with, cars with the manual transmission were actually geared higher (OD=.783 vs .705 for auto) but get 2-5 better mpg for everyone I've known thats kept track

Why did you want the autobox in the first place again? as for loss of efficiency while shifting...not significant. as for speed...I can give most gearboxes over 5 years old a run for their money