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ACC Performance "Boss Hog" Converters.."JUNK"

53K views 38 replies 23 participants last post by  BillyGman 
#1 ·
Well, I think its safe to say to stay away from ACC Performance and their boss hog converters. I experienced some severe converter slippage tonight at the track. My Chevelle with a TH400...3.73 gear and 26" tall tire went 90MPH in 3rd gear at 5400 rpms in the 1/8th. That calculates out to about 24% slippage. I watched my tach as it didnt even move 100 rpms when shifting from 1st to 2nd.
 
#22 ·
Well, opinons vary. I'm local to *******, AKA Art Carr, and I don't know one racer who is running one (N/A). I know several who have tried them, most gave up after R&Ring them multiple times to let them "fix" it. They just don't have the experience the bigger name companies have. They do have a few nitrous and one or two local turbo guys using them though. JMHO.

Its a shame that a thread started about a specific company also ends up trashing another. I must be one of the few that got a good converter from ******* ? Several here on this board are running them and very happy with them.

Just thought I would atleast tell another side to the story before people read this thread and assume ******* Performance is in the same boat with ACC Performance.
BTW since when is Art Carr lacking experience ?

To the OP - Glad your new converter picked up. Nice runs.
 
#6 ·
Well, opinons vary. I'm local to *******, AKA Art Carr, and I don't know one racer who is running one (N/A). I know several who have tried them, most gave up after R&Ring them multiple times to let them "fix" it. They just don't have the experience the bigger name companies have. They do have a few nitrous and one or two local turbo guys using them though. JMHO.
 
#4 ·
Well, I think its safe to say to stay away from ACC Performance and their boss hog converters. I experienced some severe converter slippage tonight at the track. My Chevelle with a TH400...3.73 gear and 26" tall tire went 90MPH in 3rd gear at 5400 rpms in the 1/8th. That calculates out to about 24% slippage. I watched my tach as it didnt even move 100 rpms when shifting from 1st to 2nd.
How can you say its the converter?

Maybe there is just not enough HP to pull the MPH

And they thought I was bashing Lunati :rolleyes:
 
#5 ·
What size is the converter? What is the stall? What size engine? Where is peak engine power?

I don't know if its fair to judge the converter without more info. I have experienced very good converters that have a high stall do the same thing in a heavy car, undergeared, running through the 1/8. If you ran though the 1/4 you most likely would have less slippage.

You could put a tighter converter in it and most likely the et would suffer.
 
#7 ·
About 1991 or 2 when supershops went or was going ,,we had Auto Sports Center .. they sold the boss hog converters...I just broke my $99TCI that was 400-600 over stock not recomended for big blocks.

The combo was a 350 with 245lbs cranking pressure i shifted at 6900 270h comp and a 9" with 370 gears and a clutch posi...around 3600lbs then.
Broke the stator in the TCI took about 3 months street driving...bought a 3000 stall boss hog and it felt good not too slippy.. but lasted 2 weeks

When they broke i had nothing no foreward or reverse...Then tear down the trans again and put in a B&M $99...worked great for over 60,000 miles

Just built the engine again after sitting a few years..3,030lb ride used another b&m and it lasted 8 miles....dang it!...had a local build me a converter and now i have over 600 miles on it and working fine so far,.

Luck of the draw i guess when it comes to the cheapies
Never broke any stock rebuilt daacos
 
#8 ·
Hell Im running a ******* 3500 and it works great! Not to mention the fast build and shipping! Great guys in my book!
 
#10 ·
And that's why we don't allow vendor bashing. Too many times it has come down to something else being wrong or some one-sided story.

So how do you know it wasn't the tranny slipping?
 
#11 ·
For starters I have been doing some research and I'm not the 1st one to have problems with their converters. I do believe my tranny is perfectly sound seeing as I didnt have a problem until I put this converter in. The Converter I'm using is a 2800-3200 rpm converter. I dont know as I would say that that is a "high stall" converter. I found a calculator online that computes converter slippage. It says I'm experiencing 24% slippage. When I was on the chassis dyno, one of the rpm graphs hinted that their was serious slippage all the way 5000 rpms. My buddys car puts down the same rear wheel hp with a TCI 2800-3200 converter and he runs 95mph. His car shows the typical 10% converter slippage using the calculator.
 
#13 ·
I don't have anything to say good or bad about Boss Hog, or *******. But when it comes to converters you are paying for a reputation. You pay and extra few hundred dollars for an ATI, but you get a very good converter for the money.

If you consider the time to R&R a converter on jacks stands in your garage or driveway I'll pay a little more to get one from a company that has a name on a national stage. Companies like ATI, Hughes, Coan, Neil Chance, BTE, have a name because they have been doing it right for years. Sure they miss from time to time, but for the most part your getting a converter that's going to work in your car.
 
#39 ·
I don't have anything to say good or bad about Boss Hog, or *******. But when it comes to converters you are paying for a reputation. You pay and extra few hundred dollars for an ATI, but you get a very good converter for the money.

If you consider the time to R&R a converter on jacks stands in your garage or driveway I'll pay a little more to get one from a company that has a name on a national stage..
I agree 100% with these^ statements above. Very well said.
 
#14 ·
Just wanted to update everyone that posted to this thread that is was 100% my converter that was causing the problems. The car went from running a 7.9@90 to a 7.05@98.48. Slippage has improved drastically. I wouldnt have posted a thread like this if I didnt know for sure that it was the problem.
 
#15 ·
Good info....

MANY years ago, I had a "Bogg Hogg" ACC 10", 2800-3200 converter behind a 406" pontiac...The car would leave real well for what it was, 1.58-1.62 60's but wouldn't MPH for sh*t.....I knew the converter was loose on the street....I kind of always figured it was hurting my MPH some but damn......Maybe that was my problem the whole time....:confused: I ran 11.90-12.0s but only at 107-108 mph... Eventually I tried a TCI 10" Super street fighter and the car would only 60' low 1.70s...I pulled that junk out after the first track trip and the boss hog went back in until I sold the car.....Never had the money to get a real converter back then. 1999....
 
#23 ·
I called them and there was no question asked. Just like it wasnt something new for them to have a customer call about a converter issue. They wanted me to send it back. I didnt want to wait that long. I bought the converter through work so I just defected it out. ATI said they where suprised that company was still in business.
 
#26 ·
A friend of mine has a Boss Hog. Monte with a mellow 454. Heavy old car, runs 8.30s in the 1/8. A real street car. But bracket raced quite a bit. I think he's had that converter for a couple of years now. They restalled it for him when he first got it. He's never had any problems with it and I'm sure he has a 100+ runs with DOT slicks. He's also run some nitrous with it. Probably 30+ runs there.

Just because your converter was bad, doesn't mean they all are. I mean, we are racing here, right?

But I don't know much about the company except for my one friend's experience. And I would hope that someone looking for a converter doesn't base his decision on a few people's experiences, good or bad. ATI is obviously a good company, since you see their converters being used by so many serious racers.

Also, I believe "Art Carr" is separate from the actual guy, Art Carr. I think he sold the company and started a new one, California Performance Transmissions. I talked to him on the phone a couple of months ago. Nice guy.
 
#31 ·
I went the ACC Boss Hog converter route at one point years ago. They are JUNK without a doubt. This was when my car was running 8.50's. The engine would rev to the shift point right off the line and on the shifts it would only fall a couple hundred rpm then hit the light again. Once in high gear it would stay in the shift light till the 1/8th mile mark but it would never over rev and hit the limiter. Just what strokd66 is describing. This was a supposed 10" converter to flash 4000 rpms. Took it out after one weekend of racing and put a 10" 4000 stall TCI in and car ran perfect. I have heard more than a few stories just like this with the ACC converters. ATI was the right place to call as I now run one of their Tree Master 8" converters and have had nothing but good results with it behind many different combos. It was dead on when I got it and even after a restall with the new combo they hit it dead nut a second time.
 
#32 ·
According to TCI. When a torque converter is manufactured, the converter endplay has a plus and minus tolerance range. As long as the endplay stays within the tolerance range, the converter will function properly. In other words, you measure a converter when it's new and record the dimensions. This is the baseline. Measure the converter during your regular maintenance schedule. If the endplay clearance has moved out of specification range, then the converter should be returned to the factory and checked.

The tool used to do your measurements is made by TCI. BTW..
 
#34 ·
As a wholesaler of these for over 9 years I have had good luck supplying customers with James product. The owner of this company was the shop foreman for Bill Taylor for many years until he sold TCI and James went out on his own. Now we are dealing with a manufactured part by humans and I have never met a human that was mistakeless. I would suggest getting a hold of the ACC and seeing what they say and I bet they will fix the problem.
 
#35 ·
Unless a car with a converter like the boss hawg one I had is wrung out at a dragstrip i could easily see how someone could mistakingly think that the way the car acts on the street is just "the nature of the beast". On the street the only thing I noticed was the limiting of the rpms, but I would have never chaulked that up to the converter. It did seem to slip a littl emore then normal, but again "nature of the beast". What I seem to be finding so far is that all th people who have had problems with them have raced their cars. I wouldnt be suprised if there is a ton of street cars out there that dont race, that have high slipping converters that just think its the "nature of the beast". I truly believe when it comes to torque converters, you get what you pay for.
 
#38 ·
The rpm's would hit a brick wall at 5300 under a load. It was very loose on the street. 1st to 2nd gear at the track showed 0 rpm change. I couldnt get the car to go any faster then 90mph. In drive at the track it would just stay around 53 or 5400 rpms. Car was wrung out in 3rd gear at half track of a 1/8 mile. On a chassis dyno hp and tq was exactly the same in every rpm.
 
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