[me and my metro]

You are forcing the second gear clutches to carry all the load when you drive your car like this, the torque converter is a cushion when unlocked. The converter is not the weak link in this chain. Remember there is always a fuse in a circuit, you may be moving the point of failure to second gear from somewhere else. When I was a young man my pickup went through universal joints, entirely my fault due to abuse. I discussed this with my father and I suggested installing larger and stronger joints. This is when the fuse discussion occurred, if we move the point of failure to a more expensive part we really have not gained anything.