I guess they really can't tell! Are they saying not to follow their instructions?

Supposedly there are different noises associated with the TC being too far out and either causing pump damage or wobbling. Not sure about the noise you described. Did you look at the pump?

 

I agree 100%. A lot of guys say to, PI says to in their instructions (although they told me not to in a phone call based upon seeing the verter that had not been shimmed.) I couldn't pin down FLT to say shim it. They are gonna talk to PI first.

I just want to understand the reasons to deviate from what appears to be normal GM clearance (at least in my case) and will do so if the reasons are sound and the guys I've given 4 grand will stand behind their products if I do.

A thought on my part is the seeminly large clearance is in there to account for some balooning that the stock verters may have and should not be an issue with the PI and the billet front covers.

How many miles do you have on the truck after the verter install?

 

If the converters are absolutely identical in every dimension I can't see a reason to shim. Unfortunately, I didn't notice the space until I had the tranny bolted up so I didn't measure them both. Although I have seen the "don't pull the TC out more than 1/16-1/8 inch" guideline in many places. I have also read that the current GM TCs are fatter than on the previous generation trannies. One size fits all would require production of only the thinner TC?? I hope that there is a better reason for the spacing though.

I'm not firing it up until you take yours for a spin!

 

I ran the TC unshimmed for months and gave it plenty of hell. The noise only came about recently.

No I haven't looked at the pump. It is due to be shipped back for the exchange and FLT has graciously agreed to looking at it. I don't know crap about the A4. Made a feeble attempt at pulling it and it wouldn't budge. It's a lot more involved to pull than I thought. I'm out of space, time and patience.

 

I am gonna pull out my calipers and do a better job of measuring. My quick work with a scale has not found any obvious differences. I honestly think shimming is okay and may actually be a better route. I've tried the unshimmed route and may have damaged my tranny from it. I don't know. 45k miles on it. 30K under boost. It may just be an issue with the stock pump? Spin that puppy up. Gonna talk with PI and FLT again tomorrow. If they tell me to shim it I will.

 

I'm anxious to try out the Level 5. Waiting on some fuel system plumbing parts and the 90 mm TB though. Figured I might as well keep going while I was tearing things apart. No traction on the roads around here for another month or 2 anyway.

 

Doesn't the wear pattern look similar on your unshimmed PI TC and my stock TC? It does to me.The height of my stock TC is 6 5/8" as measured in the pic.

 

Yes it does. As does the wear pattern on my unshimmed PI to stock TC. The mark goes down about 9mm from end of snout on both. This is picture of the snout pump mark of my oem verter.

 

Spoke with Chuck at FLT yesterday. He had just gotten off the phone with Precision Industries. They now agree and recommend that I do not shim my converter. Also mentioned Percision Industries changing/clarifying or removing the instructions to shim converter if clearance greater than 1/8". Seems this is information from the older generation SBC and TH350's, 400's. About 5/16" clearance is a normal condition for the LS1/new gen trannies and old techniques were just passed along to the new generation assuming that same clearances.

 

Did you remove the check ball from the end of the input shaft prior to installing the PI converter?