[texanidiot25]

Instead of manually locking, have you looked into trying to reprogram the computer to lock at a lower point?

It would be interesting to try this on an older late-80s early-90s car, with simpler transmissions and electronic torque converter. I'll use the 200R4/700R4 as my example since I've been in the process of building one.

Converter locks up when it gets a signal from the transmission that it's in 4th, and that the motor vacuum is with in a certain range (engine load). It's a simple circuit, and is easily manipulated. All it takes is a 12v source to switch the converter manually, and it's still a very simple setup with a 3 position switch (Locked, Unlocked, Auto) so you can either manually locket, keep it unlocked, or let it operate like normal.

Give a call to summit, and get a manual valvebody kit, and you have full control of the transmission's shift points. Besides that, you can simply play with the governer weights to lower shift points if you wanted to do something quick and dirty.

This way you have a trans that you can either lower the shift points, or take control entirely to shift it most efficiently, and have the converter under your control too. Hell, if you really wanted to mess with it, wire the converter to a foot switch and treat it like a clutch..

And, all of these things can be done with the trans still in the car, and very easily under a day.