Torque Converter? Where am I at? What is compromised?
- Thread starter Kent mosby
- Start date
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BigBlockMopar
BigBlockMember
My 2 cents;
Don't listen to dedicated 'dragracers' too much. They usually don't care at all for streetmanners.
Driving around with a loose convertor on the street is like your transmission is filled to the top with butter. Feels like a sloppy turd if you want to just go for an easy drive.
Big engine / much torque in a light car means it doesn't need much convertor at all. Just enough to keep the engine happy when idling.
I would get something in the high 2k-range. And make it a 'tight' convertor.
I used to have a 3800 Dynamic torque convertor in my '67 Newport with solidcammed 440. 3.9:1 gears. Flashed at 4300 in this car.
While it's great fun mashing the pedal every now and then, it was getting old quickly having to rev to about 2400 at every trafficlight just to keep up with normal traffic.
Don't listen to dedicated 'dragracers' too much. They usually don't care at all for streetmanners.
Driving around with a loose convertor on the street is like your transmission is filled to the top with butter. Feels like a sloppy turd if you want to just go for an easy drive.
Big engine / much torque in a light car means it doesn't need much convertor at all. Just enough to keep the engine happy when idling.
I would get something in the high 2k-range. And make it a 'tight' convertor.
I used to have a 3800 Dynamic torque convertor in my '67 Newport with solidcammed 440. 3.9:1 gears. Flashed at 4300 in this car.
While it's great fun mashing the pedal every now and then, it was getting old quickly having to rev to about 2400 at every trafficlight just to keep up with normal traffic.
famous bob
mopar misfit
Agree my 3500 stalls quite a bit higher than 3500--
I called one of the big convertor guys about my car, told him all of the details of it , he said it would take $975 to custom build me one , but , that my convertor sounded pretty close to what I need, when I picked it out , I matched it to the cam, read later that he sold out to an employee-----I `d hate to have to pull the trans at my age , spend the $ and not get much out of it . Laying on a concrete floor at my age aint much fun anymore ! lol
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famous bob
mopar misfit
Bewy , I run a victor intake on the street , port matched to my cnc heads, the TF intake is about a direct knock off of the victor , clean up the victor a hair and its hard to tell the diff. , the 505 has enough grunt to handle it , ----bob
famous bob
mopar misfit
Kent, I `ve kinda followed ur build all the way thru, since its so close to mine . Looks great to me !
Idle is set to 950rpm by the EFI tuner. I had it at 850 but he said to bump it up. It is not a lumpy cam but it sounds great to me. I can get a video of the idle on the weekend and will post here. Power is hard for me to assess as this is my first and only muscle car. What I can tell you is that it moves when called upon at any speed on the streets. No hesitation at all.
PRH
Well-Known Member
I guess a point that’s been lost in this thread is.......
Is the OP is pretty happy with how the car drives down the road as is?
The primary reason for a higher stall converter would be because you’re chasing ET.
Unless the current converter flat out sucks........ if it will flash to an honest 3k, and isn’t slipping horribly at the end of the 1/4...... then swapping it out for something that has 500+/- more flash stall isn’t going to be worth 3-4 tenths of ET in that combo.
“Most of the time”, chasing the converter set up goes hand in hand with chasing the ET.
Is the OP is pretty happy with how the car drives down the road as is?
The primary reason for a higher stall converter would be because you’re chasing ET.
Unless the current converter flat out sucks........ if it will flash to an honest 3k, and isn’t slipping horribly at the end of the 1/4...... then swapping it out for something that has 500+/- more flash stall isn’t going to be worth 3-4 tenths of ET in that combo.
“Most of the time”, chasing the converter set up goes hand in hand with chasing the ET.
Thanks Bob, I like how my TC handles street performance. I have not heard compelling evidence that it would be worth it for me to change what is working right now. Next year when the Drag Strip reopens, I will see how it performs. Maybe then my needs will be different and I will make a change.
This is at idle and a little throttle up to 3500 rpm.
https://youtube.com/shorts/pZLMZJbjWfM?feature=share
famous bob
mopar misfit
kick a$$ !!
Kent and Bob, this is a classic example of a car needing a custom converter. The Hughes converters are old slush box technology. The new technology converters will make u think u added nos, a supercharger or turbo to ur build. Night and day difference. Everyone builds the engine and rear and then cheaps out on a converter. It’s the single most important upgrade u can do to ur car. PTC, Ultimate, Dynamic or Precision of New Hampton are ur friends. Be totally honest with them. I agree a 38-4200 will make ur car a force to be reckoned with. U will be very happy. My 9.5 inch stalls at 4200 and drives like stock in town and on the highway. At the track it’s awesome. Kim
famous bob
mopar misfit
guess I`ll start saving the coin for that too----------lol
It will be the best money u ever spend on ur car bar none. Kim
The other thing is this.....you cannot really get an accurate measurement of stall but one way. That is if you have a manual valve body, with the car in high gear at a stand still and with your foot FIRMLY on the brake pedal, parking brake set if it's operational and slowly run the RPM up with it in high gear sitting still until you note where the tach stops going up. Whatever RPM that is, is your stall speed.
You can certainly do it in high gear rolling as described, but it will not be anywhere near as accurate.
And Kent, this isn't meant at you, because I think you get it, but there are a few in this discussion still thinking old school and confusing "loose" with "flash". Those are two totally different terms when speaking about converters, and modern technology has all but eliminated "loose".
You can certainly do it in high gear rolling as described, but it will not be anywhere near as accurate.
And Kent, this isn't meant at you, because I think you get it, but there are a few in this discussion still thinking old school and confusing "loose" with "flash". Those are two totally different terms when speaking about converters, and modern technology has all but eliminated "loose".
My buddy had a 3000 stall many years ago. He thought it worked pretty good. But his car was always overheating the longer and farther he drove it. Turned out the converter had too much slip and was heating up the coolant thru the rad and tranny cooler. Tried the coolers every way. Didn’t help. Changed the converter to a factory high stall the heating problem went away. Kim
PRH
Well-Known Member
I ran a factory high stall converter behind a mild 440 for a coupe years.
I thought it worked fantastic behind that motor.
It was an original converter out of a Lil Red Express. It still had the “hi stall” sticker on it.
I air chiseled the weight off the front of it and it was good to go.
It would flash right about 3000 behind that motor, but was nice and tight driving it around.
I thought it worked fantastic behind that motor.
It was an original converter out of a Lil Red Express. It still had the “hi stall” sticker on it.
I air chiseled the weight off the front of it and it was good to go.
It would flash right about 3000 behind that motor, but was nice and tight driving it around.
I understand. This will be added to the long list of winter projects. Along with lowering my silverado, Body work to prep for paint, Headliner, Replace Dash, Obtain and install console around my B&M shifter and anything else that pops up.
famous bob
mopar misfit
we b-m J convertors for a while in the old hemi car, had 2-3 good ones , and 2-3 bad ones , switched to turbo action and had better luck with them , back then..
Was manual shift of course, traction was our biggest problem , tires weren`t what they are now for sure.
Back to the Tick flow intake question , a big stroker engine has the grunt to handle it on the street , no low end problems at all-
512Stroker
We are all here because we are not all there.
Kent I would not change a thing it looks like you have a really well thought out setup. The 512 is a torque monster you do not need a high stall speed converter to go out and have fun. If it were a purpose bulit race car it's a different story.
I run a Hughes 3000 stall converter behind my little small block and I think it is great for the street. I also ran a 3000 stall in my 512 powered Satellite it also worked very well on the street. You have a Gear Venders dont worry about a little highway converter slippage.
Run it as is and if years form now you want to step up the game go with a custom converter as many here have suggested.
Happy motoring
cookietruck
Well-Known Member
since we're talking converters, are the units from Dynamic, PTC, Continental etc., better or higher tech than the Turbo Action converters. Like the S800 10" (17805).
Is there something magical in the units from the newer companies that aren't in the Turbo Action, I wonder when I see comments about getting a custom converter that will flash to 4200 and acts just like a stock converter when driving easy.
Is there something magical in the units from the newer companies that aren't in the Turbo Action, I wonder when I see comments about getting a custom converter that will flash to 4200 and acts just like a stock converter when driving easy.
Turbo Action are great converters for their intended purpose which is more race oriented. They may be building good street converters now, idk. The others have it down to a science so u can have your cake and eat it to. Kim
Martin Koiryohann
Well-Known Member
it gets u outof the hole but only if u brake torque it i use to have a 73 polara with s cammedc 400 it had a high stall convertor but i when back to stock i got 2200 out of it
Bret Tschacher
Well-Known Member
IMO, I call this a hell of a setup, with that engine in that little car, .2 sec in a 1/4. I could see 9's at 125, I say a lower trap speed as those short tires could hold speed down with your gears. Now if you intend to only run 1/8th, not a big deal if the car is a street/strip. Stall speed is nothing when you can't hold the rear tires from cutting loose. On the street you will be wasting rpm and making a lot of un necessary heat in the transmission. Now for street driving leaving stop lights converters have what is called a flash point rpm where they allow engines to briefly hit an rpm much higher than the stall rate. The ONLY reason for using a higher stall speed is to get the engine rpm closer to the lower limit of the power curve under any and all conditions. If you are running a trans brake and you have a cam that starts in at 3800 you would obviously want a converter close to that. Not advisable to go over because then you would be wasting torque and drive at the bottom. If your engine is happy idling at 1000 and power curve comes in a 3.2k I would be perfectly happy with a 3k or for that matter maybe even 2.8k if the car is a streeter. Having a converter with a higher stall lets you put it in gear at idle much easier as it will not load down the engine at lower rpm. Having a stall higher as I mentioned, at lower speeds you will be in a mode I call freewheeling where the engine is just running along basically wasting fuel and not pulling. It's like going down a hill with your foot on the gas, filling cylinders with fuel and not using that fuel to make power, you don't need it ! Of course if you are goin down a hill with a high stall, you won't have much engine braking affect either, you will simply coast along gaining speed until the rpm go up above some point of the rated stall. This makes you use your foot brakes more or shift into a lower gear and that's not good either. At one time many years ago, I was running a 440 with a cam that came on around 3.4k not a big cam but not a stocker either, it was an Erson grind. I was perfectly happy with it for the purpose, my car was a driver and would run mid 12's with street tires. I had a fair bit of work into the heads, intake and using 1-7/8 headers. I used a stock 11 inch 727 converter at the factory rated 2800 rpm. No trans brake and could cut a 60 ft time of 1.6 sec. The car left the line like it was shot from a rifle as long as I could hold the tires. Usually that was impossible and even blowing away, I cut the times. I never had a chance to run on slicks or real drag racing tires. I did spend some time around a few guys that were points champs for the S.W region of the nation while I had this car and they all were impressed with it for what it was, they did not expect it. Told me if I swapped on a set of 30 inch x 9 or 10's it wouldn't be likely to see the times reduced to near 1 with 1/4 knocking on 10's because I was smoking thru the lights in 3rd gear. That car was geared with 3.55's which only enforced the issue that everything worked good. I didn't have to sacrifice anything and although I would have liked to swapped in a set of 3:91's which would have necessitated a new set of tires for street use of much taller and that would have caused issues with rim width and off set. I didn't want to go narrower.
Thanks.. In a little while I will have the EFI setup perfected and will get it in for a Dyno and Dyno tune. With that info, I can tell when the cam starts to pull and can go from there. On paper this should be very powerful. I can then work on getting the power to the ground.
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