Transmission technology has seen massive improvements over the past few years and that has led to epic performance gains at the drag strip. Torque converter dumps are one of the innovations that have helped boosted cars smash records, and now Hughes Performance offers a Dump Valve Kit you can install at home to take advantage of this technology.
The idea behind a torque converter dump is to manipulate the charge pressure of the converter via solenoids to increase the stall of the torque converter. This works well for boosted cars since they don’t make as much power down low, so changing the charge pressure makes the torque converter act looser than what it is. By doing this, the converter will reach its stall speed easier, and when the car starts to accelerate you can deactivate the solenoid to get full charge pressure and make the converter more efficient as the power comes in.
Kevin Kleineweber from Hughes Performance covers what its Dump Valve Kit comes with and how easy it is to install.
“We offer this in a single stage as well as a dual stage for the Powerglide and TH400 transmission. We have complete instructions included and all the lines come pre-made to make installation easier. There are just a few places where you need to drill and tap the transmission as part of the installation, but outside of that it’s just connecting the hoses and wiring everything up and you’re done. You can trigger the solenoid for the dump in many different ways, including off of a switch, a boost controller, or a 12-volt trigger from an ECU.”
The kit doesn’t require a higher capacity transmission pan and the solenoid only requires 12-volts to be activated. The kit includes Fragola fittings and a 5/16-inch jet that you can drill to change orifice size, depending on how much stall you’re looking for.