RB's84camaroF-41

my car stalls really low like 1600rpm. I ran a 16.2 with a bad trans and broken mount, then rebuilt trans and put a shift kit in, ran 15.7 What kind of improvement could I expect by going to a say 22-2400 stall convertor?

grumpygreaseape

if your motor has got the grunt and it gets to the tarmac-you will feel it as well as pull numbers. i had a non lockup art carr custom put in when he did my 700 a few years ago and it was one of the best, immediately noticable upgrades i have done-then in went the 400 and now its all tire smoke- still fun- you will like it if its built right.

AlkyIROC

Selecting the stall of a torque converter depends on many things. Engine design, differential gearing, car weight etc.

A typical stock converter only stalls at around 1200 rpm. As you improve the performance of an engine, you're moving the HP and torque curves up higher. By selecting a converter that stalls a few hundred of RPM below the peak torque curve will give the best results. Since many of us will never be able to put the engine on a dyno the best thing to do is as the converter manufacturer as to the best selection to use. A converter that stalls at 2200 rpm in your car may stall at 2500 in someone elses.

The idea of a higher stall converter is to allow the converter to slip at the lower rpms so that it will allow the engine to spool up quicker to it's powerband. All this slipping at lower rpms builds a lot of heat. Whenever you install a converter with a stall higher than stock, an aftermarket tranny cooler should be installed.

GTAlover

I know that if you get the Mega 10" 3500 stall you should shave 7 tenths off your ET

AlkyIROC

When I still had the 383 SBC a few years ago it had a bunch of things wrong with it.

The solid cam had around .550 lift. The heads were small valve unported smog heads with stock springs. I still had a 700R4 and stock converter. At the end of the season the car was running 14.0's

Over the winter I swapped out the 700R4 for a TH350 with a 3800 stall. The heads cam off and a set of heavily ported camel back heads with 2.02/1.60 valves and proper springs for the cam were installed. The old 750 vacuum secondary carb was scrapped for a new 850 DP Speed Demon.

First race in the spring and the car ran 12.0 on the first pass. 2 full seconds improvement but with a bunch of major parts changed it was hard to say what helped the most.