Attention: TDR Forum Junkies 
I first want to apologize to all of you that have been waiting for my response since I went to Colorado for the transmission swap.
For those that didn’t know, in my never-ending quest to reach an 11. 01 e. t. and more consistency in drag racing, I took the leap to the “other” side. That’s right, I took out a perfectly good 5-speed NV4500 and replaced it with a 47RE equipped with the ATS Diesel TripleLok torque converter.
I had been talking to several people, explaining the fact that I broke two transmissions within 1 week and I felt that an automatic might be the way to go. Piers Harry of Piers Diesel Research told me of a company named ATS looking for someone to sponsor. I hadn’t heard of them so I did not act upon the suggestion. Next time I talked with Piers he said he told Don Ramer at ATS about me and that I should at least call them and see what they had to offer. So after many conversations with Don Ramer and owner Clint Cannon, I decided to accept a sponsorship and planned a trip to Denver. Briar Hopper (Tom) agreed to accompany me to help with driving and to learn about automatic transmissions for his future venture.
Don worked closely with me on getting all of the parts and pieces together for the conversion. In hopes that this may soften the blow of any problems we would encounter.
A thread on the TDR discussion forums started about a challenge that a manual will flat out put more power to the ground than a “slushbox”. I thought my situation would be the perfect opportunity to prove that manuals could put more power to the ground by dynoing the truck prior to the swap and then right after we were done. I mentioned this to Don and he promptly scheduled me in to a shop with a dynamometer.
Tom and I arrived at ATS early Monday morning and Don arrived soon after us. He introduced us to the “purple crew”. I was amazed to meet not only a couple, but over a dozen transmission experts hard at work. When I say hard at work, I mean HARD! This shop is so busy with local business it’s a wonder that they have time to breathe! By walking into the showroom you would never know it, anyone of them will do what it takes to answer your questions. Whether you are looking for that 700R for your hot-rod or just a little tweak for your hot-rod hauler, you will find it and answers for all of your questions at ATS.
Clint started business in his garage back in 1991 and has worked diligently over the last 10 ½ years to make the company what it is today. Nowadays you’ll find an eight-bay shop, full production line for the converters, the transmissions, and the valve bodies. I figured out that Bob, an older gentleman found at the end of the production line upstairs, has the best job, he bonds the clutch surfaces with glue and a space-age material. They don’t even pay this man, he is so high on glue by the end of the day, he doesn’t need any money! LOL. Seriously, they bond all of their clutch surfaces in house. I don’t know if this is a standard, I know it impressed me. Truly a class-act operation of which I can say I have never been in a shop with such high morale as this one. They all contribute in making the product better, that’s evident. So when you look at their product, there are many faces behind it along with many late nights supporting its growth and development. After the tour I anxiously left to go dyno my truck at MPG Heads.
I arrived at the shop and after two hours Scott had my truck hooked up and ready to go. The dyno was a wheel dyno so it was necessary to remove my tires. After a dozen or so attempts we could not get the dyno to perform the pull down and the owner reluctantly set me on my way with no dyno numbers. (Side note: good thing because I found out with SAE correction I would have been over 1000hp LMAO!)
I made my way back to Wheat Ridge to the ATS facility so we could start the gruesome task.
In the meantime, Briar Hopper had been busy, learning how to assemble the valve bodies and the transmissions for both the Dodge and the Ford. He was really pumped as he showed me how slick the valve body modifications were, and how much fun it was to do them.
Don introduced us to the TripleLok (trademark protected) and I quickly understood why they were so confident that it wouldn’t slip or destroy transmissions. Tom and I asked Don many questions and he was great at answering them so a couple of manual guys could understand. From an engineer’s schematic (Clint with a napkin?) to the customer’s automatic transmission four years they have been blueprinting this converter. Many trial and error attempts with Clint, Don and the rest of the crew holding their breath just hoping that this is the one.
Moving on to the install; Ian Laughlin, an ex-Marine, was assigned the monumental task of switching the transmissions. While he removed the manual, Tom prepared my transmission and valve body. Like everything else with my truck, things did not go as planned and an inordinate amount of time was spent on little things, like the Lokar shifter. This piece looks so nice, but was not worth the hassle that Tom and Ian went through to get it to work on my truck. Despite the tough time and my moaning, Ian stayed late every night to do a superb job on the install. Thanks a million Ian!
We didn’t get the truck fired up until Saturday night and to no prevail could we get the dash to work. We did find out that the 1998 12 valve only uses that year’s PCM. So after much frustration, Tom and I had no choice but to drive back to Indiana with no gauges. Shortly after my return Don shipped me the Snap-on scanner so I could monitor progress as I installed the brand new PCM. Also a few more tweaks were necessary with the TPS along with the cable.
I have very little experience with an automatic transmission to speak of so if I don’t cover something important to an automatic enthusiast, please ask. I also do not know what the “standard” is for automatic tolerances so please bare with me. Obviously it feels like the truck is going into orbit without the break of the clutch. This transmission grabs the next gear and keeps moving forward. I feared turbo lag, and a “slush” start due to my 3. 55 gears coupled with 35” mud terrains. No such thing, the truck takes off and doesn’t look back. Lockup occurs around 30 mph whether I am in 1st or 2nd gear and it stays locked up through all of the gears. When I really laid into it, I finally familiarized myself with the term “torque steer”. The neatest thing I have experienced with the lockup is downshifting. You heard right, this converter stays locked up and downshifts through the gears. I rode in two trucks that were also equipped with exhaust brakes and this is just phenomenal.
I installed the new PCM, which finally gave me my dash back, but I lost lock-up, so I spent all morning with Don and Clint diagnosing this. David Lovell even lent me a hand as I searched to no end for part numbers. Clint and Don have a couple more things to try so I will get this fixed soon. I decided to test and tune in fluid coupling only but as I posted in the competition forum, the track did not open. Luck has got to turn for the better eventually. Keep your fingers crossed for me!
Where can you find this great product? Well, you can reach ATS on their new website, or call them on the phone. Briar Hopper is in the process of opening a shop in Cynthiana, Kentucky to service this side of the States. He hopes to open “Black Mountain Diesel” in early May. I want to thank Don, Clint, Tom, the ATS crew, BJ, Tom, Tim, Eric and Bill Swails (Earth Roamer) for all the sacrifices they made for me. Feel free to ask me for a ride when you see me!
For those that didn’t know, in my never-ending quest to reach an 11. 01 e. t. and more consistency in drag racing, I took the leap to the “other” side. That’s right, I took out a perfectly good 5-speed NV4500 and replaced it with a 47RE equipped with the ATS Diesel TripleLok torque converter.
I had been talking to several people, explaining the fact that I broke two transmissions within 1 week and I felt that an automatic might be the way to go. Piers Harry of Piers Diesel Research told me of a company named ATS looking for someone to sponsor. I hadn’t heard of them so I did not act upon the suggestion. Next time I talked with Piers he said he told Don Ramer at ATS about me and that I should at least call them and see what they had to offer. So after many conversations with Don Ramer and owner Clint Cannon, I decided to accept a sponsorship and planned a trip to Denver. Briar Hopper (Tom) agreed to accompany me to help with driving and to learn about automatic transmissions for his future venture.
Don worked closely with me on getting all of the parts and pieces together for the conversion. In hopes that this may soften the blow of any problems we would encounter.
A thread on the TDR discussion forums started about a challenge that a manual will flat out put more power to the ground than a “slushbox”. I thought my situation would be the perfect opportunity to prove that manuals could put more power to the ground by dynoing the truck prior to the swap and then right after we were done. I mentioned this to Don and he promptly scheduled me in to a shop with a dynamometer.
Tom and I arrived at ATS early Monday morning and Don arrived soon after us. He introduced us to the “purple crew”. I was amazed to meet not only a couple, but over a dozen transmission experts hard at work. When I say hard at work, I mean HARD! This shop is so busy with local business it’s a wonder that they have time to breathe! By walking into the showroom you would never know it, anyone of them will do what it takes to answer your questions. Whether you are looking for that 700R for your hot-rod or just a little tweak for your hot-rod hauler, you will find it and answers for all of your questions at ATS.
Clint started business in his garage back in 1991 and has worked diligently over the last 10 ½ years to make the company what it is today. Nowadays you’ll find an eight-bay shop, full production line for the converters, the transmissions, and the valve bodies. I figured out that Bob, an older gentleman found at the end of the production line upstairs, has the best job, he bonds the clutch surfaces with glue and a space-age material. They don’t even pay this man, he is so high on glue by the end of the day, he doesn’t need any money! LOL. Seriously, they bond all of their clutch surfaces in house. I don’t know if this is a standard, I know it impressed me. Truly a class-act operation of which I can say I have never been in a shop with such high morale as this one. They all contribute in making the product better, that’s evident. So when you look at their product, there are many faces behind it along with many late nights supporting its growth and development. After the tour I anxiously left to go dyno my truck at MPG Heads.
I arrived at the shop and after two hours Scott had my truck hooked up and ready to go. The dyno was a wheel dyno so it was necessary to remove my tires. After a dozen or so attempts we could not get the dyno to perform the pull down and the owner reluctantly set me on my way with no dyno numbers. (Side note: good thing because I found out with SAE correction I would have been over 1000hp LMAO!)
I made my way back to Wheat Ridge to the ATS facility so we could start the gruesome task.
In the meantime, Briar Hopper had been busy, learning how to assemble the valve bodies and the transmissions for both the Dodge and the Ford. He was really pumped as he showed me how slick the valve body modifications were, and how much fun it was to do them.
Don introduced us to the TripleLok (trademark protected) and I quickly understood why they were so confident that it wouldn’t slip or destroy transmissions. Tom and I asked Don many questions and he was great at answering them so a couple of manual guys could understand. From an engineer’s schematic (Clint with a napkin?) to the customer’s automatic transmission four years they have been blueprinting this converter. Many trial and error attempts with Clint, Don and the rest of the crew holding their breath just hoping that this is the one.
Moving on to the install; Ian Laughlin, an ex-Marine, was assigned the monumental task of switching the transmissions. While he removed the manual, Tom prepared my transmission and valve body. Like everything else with my truck, things did not go as planned and an inordinate amount of time was spent on little things, like the Lokar shifter. This piece looks so nice, but was not worth the hassle that Tom and Ian went through to get it to work on my truck. Despite the tough time and my moaning, Ian stayed late every night to do a superb job on the install. Thanks a million Ian!
We didn’t get the truck fired up until Saturday night and to no prevail could we get the dash to work. We did find out that the 1998 12 valve only uses that year’s PCM. So after much frustration, Tom and I had no choice but to drive back to Indiana with no gauges. Shortly after my return Don shipped me the Snap-on scanner so I could monitor progress as I installed the brand new PCM. Also a few more tweaks were necessary with the TPS along with the cable.
I have very little experience with an automatic transmission to speak of so if I don’t cover something important to an automatic enthusiast, please ask. I also do not know what the “standard” is for automatic tolerances so please bare with me. Obviously it feels like the truck is going into orbit without the break of the clutch. This transmission grabs the next gear and keeps moving forward. I feared turbo lag, and a “slush” start due to my 3. 55 gears coupled with 35” mud terrains. No such thing, the truck takes off and doesn’t look back. Lockup occurs around 30 mph whether I am in 1st or 2nd gear and it stays locked up through all of the gears. When I really laid into it, I finally familiarized myself with the term “torque steer”. The neatest thing I have experienced with the lockup is downshifting. You heard right, this converter stays locked up and downshifts through the gears. I rode in two trucks that were also equipped with exhaust brakes and this is just phenomenal.
I installed the new PCM, which finally gave me my dash back, but I lost lock-up, so I spent all morning with Don and Clint diagnosing this. David Lovell even lent me a hand as I searched to no end for part numbers. Clint and Don have a couple more things to try so I will get this fixed soon. I decided to test and tune in fluid coupling only but as I posted in the competition forum, the track did not open. Luck has got to turn for the better eventually. Keep your fingers crossed for me!
Where can you find this great product? Well, you can reach ATS on their new website, or call them on the phone. Briar Hopper is in the process of opening a shop in Cynthiana, Kentucky to service this side of the States. He hopes to open “Black Mountain Diesel” in early May. I want to thank Don, Clint, Tom, the ATS crew, BJ, Tom, Tim, Eric and Bill Swails (Earth Roamer) for all the sacrifices they made for me. Feel free to ask me for a ride when you see me!
