At 16:20 11/29/99 , Jay & Kim Schmidt wrote:
>PS: Please speak slowly. This is my first(and last) automatic and I don't
>understand what this TC is/does really.  Thank you!

A torque converter is something like a couple of grapefruit halves (with
segments removed but the membranes still intact) facing each other in a
bowl of oil.  The motor spins one which pumps the oil around and imparts a
torque to the other one (which tries to turn the transmission).  This is
what substitutes for the clutch in an auto-transmission setup.  There are
some internal losses, so nowadays a lot of cars have a clutch which locks
up the torque converter when the car exceeds a certain speed.

david
David Beierl - Providence, RI
  http://pws.prserv.net/synergy/Vanagon/
'84 Westy "Dutiful Passage"
'85 GL "Poor Relation"