Former Torque Converter...
 

This is what happens when you put a street and strip converter behind a 6-71 blown SBC in a Model A street rod. The sprag rollers were completely gone, which means the were ground up and went through the trans.
I was able to save the T350 but there was a lot of damage in the front half.
How this relates to to S/SS , is that I suspect the converter was ballooning, and the rear most bearing popped out of place an disintegrated .That allowed the stator to slap back and forth and punch out the inner race and rollers, causing them to bend all the fins over.
Believe it or not ,there are still some 8 " units out there that are built in the old school way.

http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p...ps09d35461.jpg

Re: Former Torque Converter...
 

If that converter was ballooning, somebody better be checking the thrust bearing in that blown SBC!

Re: Former Torque Converter...
 

Good point, but the wear on the hub from the pump gear shows me that it had a lot of pull up,
but at this point we don't even know if it was 6.150 overall to start out..That might have saved the thrust.

Re: Former Torque Converter...
 

Billy is spot on. Everytime we broke a converter in our comp small block the thrust bearing was garbage.

Re: Former Torque Converter...
 

Mark
This is why I try to read all the posts in this section. What Billy said makes sense and is logical if you think about it but I'm not sure I would have thought to check the thrust if that was my converter. A lot of good info in this section, now if I can just remember it after I sleep. Never had a converter go like that. How noisy is it when its chewing itself up?

Re: Former Torque Converter...
 

Stewart, The sprag rollers were completely gone..unrecognizable .
But before they disintegrated into the trans, they must have made a hell of a racket.

Re: Former Torque Converter...
 

What were you breaking?
Generally when a sprag breaks, it expands the stator, stretching the case.
When the hub bottoms in the pump, and the pilot bottoms in the crank, then you could have thrust problems.
That's not what happened here though.