camaro87-alex

I am in the middle of a torque converter buying situation here.

I have an 1987 Camaro with some mods done to the car.
The car has a Lg4 engine which is converted to TPI.
-Bigger camshaft is installed (COMP 08-412-8) Duration is 264
-Hooker 2055HKR headers with Catco9118 and Magnaflow exhaust system
-L98 Vette heads which is just cleaned up (10088113)
-Auburn Eaton POSI diff with 3.42 gears
-MSD distributor cover,coil, spark-plug wires etc.
-Some custom tuning by burning chips.
-Rebuilt 700r4 transmission with lock-up converter

The car is beeing used as a daily driver. I am using the car mostly in nice weather conditions and have never done any racing with the car. But what I want is a car that has some power under the hood but still works good as a cruiser.

Anyway there is a story why I need a new converter so I would try to tell it shortly.

My stock transmission was overhauled some years ago. I installed a Summit racing converter that had 2000stall speed. I was going to take the car for a long summer road trip and came out for a transmission accident. The transmission was totally overheated because of a peace of gasket plugged one of the transmission cooler lines. I didn't have any transmission oil temp gauge installed in the car back then.

Anyway, I got a used 1991 model 700r4 here in Norway. I bought the transmission for a reasonable price and was told by the seller that it needed to be overhauled. I did an complete overhaul to that transmission to and installed several mods on the transmission. I also installed a transmission cooler and a oil temp gauge so I could watch that for the future.

So now comes the problem. The transmission doesn't work as it should and I think it is not the transmission itself. Everything has been inspected carefully and installed the proper way. Line pressures are where they should be and so.

What I do think myself, is that the converter got some damage after the overheat on the old transmission. We are talking serous heat here (Teflon seal on oil-pan drain plug was melted)

The transmission shifts fine but I feel it is slipping a lot. When I put full throttle the RPM jumps to around 2500 and stays there and MPH increases slowly (bad acceleration)...After 3000RPM it feels like everything is kicking in and the car accelerates great until it shifts.

I just want to try with a new converter because I am totally lost here. And therefor I am asking you guys if I should go with a stock converter or a street/performance converter from Edge,Vigilante etc.etc.

Like I said the car is beeing mostly used as a cruiser and a daily driver with some "power" accelerations out of crossroads :-)

Atilla the Fun

For that I'd order a B&M Holeshot 3000.

AlkyIROC

A stall speed with no more than 2500 will work very well with that camshaft. 2000-2400 is your best choice.

Ranchopower

Call ATI and spend the money! You will be years ahead of the rest of the BS converters, otherwise get used to the **** poor performance of $500 and cheaper junk converters that flood the market.

Next to the engine the convertor has the most important job of delivering power output.

I paid $750 for mine and I am very happy with it...

Javier

camaro87-alex

Thanks for responding guys. I have been looking at several brands of converters and after a lot of reading and advice from other people i think I am convinced that buying a cheap converter is not a good thing at all.

I guess that converter I bought from summit a few years back for about $200 wasn't the best investment I have done.

As for this time, I am looking at Edge converters. I have also looked a little bit at Vigilante converters. What I like about theese converter is the benefits you get of a lighter converter as well as the way they are built.

When it comes to the stall speed I agree to what AlkyIROC is saying.
I think 2000stall isn't a bad choise when thinking of the setup I've got now. I also looked in to the Camquest software from COMP cam and they recommend a torque converter with the same stall when using the camshaft I did choose from them.

So right now I am thinking of an investement of either a Edge converter or Vigilante. Edge is some cheaper though. I don't have to much money to spend either and the car is only used as a daily car in summer time.
No racing, even though I have been thinking of it sometimes. :-)

AlkyIROC

With torque converters, you really do get what you pay for however you can also pay more than what one is really worth. My race converter was close to $1500. I've broken a cheaper race converter because it still used basically OEM internal parts.

There's also nothing wrong with an inexpensive converter. Look how long an OEM converter will last in a car. Generally it's there for the life of the car. What you want out of a converter really comes down to what kind of abuse you're going to put it through. Converters can be damaged and not all internals are the same although the basic principles of how they work has never changed.

Ranchopower

When I order a converter I never mention stall speed, that is not for me to worry about.
I tell the converter manufacture all the specs of my car I can, then I tell him the intended use of the car, then he makes me the unit. I never mention stall speed. Dont have to. ATI is on top of the converter technology and they are the ones who make the Converter machine all the other manufactures use, on top of that they only use BRAND NEW parts on all their product's.


Javier

yaj15

iTrader: (3)

For a mild't modded TPI set up like you have a 2000rpm - 2500rpm stall speed should work well.

I have a mildly modified L98 TPI in my car and I have had a 2200rpm stall with and now a 2400rpm stall in my car. I liked both but, I think the 2400rpm stall works much better. The car accelerates through the rpm range (idle - 5500rpm) very smoothly and faster than stock. With the stall the car also stays in the best part of the torque curve when you are accelerating at all times, not just only at wide open throttle to.

Someone correct me if I am wrong but isn't stock stall around 1600rpm - 1700rpm?

AlkyIROC

Stock stall varies from engine to engine, model to model etc. It can be anywhere from 1500-1800. Some extreme cases, a stock stall can be just over 2000. How much a converter stalls depends on how much torque is put into it. The same converter put behind 2 different engines will stall at different speeds.

DeathStarr89

iTrader: (1)

I don't know the general opinion of Revmax converters but i've had good luck with them.

My original was $350 shipped and it was custom built, just had it re-stalled for 4K and i think that was $175. It's dead on and the guys are friendly.