ARE PEOPLE HERE GETTING CONVERTERS TO BIG FOR THEIR CARS?IS 3400+ TO MUCH4 V6?

[SLOWBRAEATER]

I feel sorry for you jason morgan, just because you are moronic and someobody has a post with informative information, you just cant stand to see that so you have to make yourself feel better by knocking on others, i feel sorry for you. Please dont bother replying in this post, what you have to say is not only useless but not at all wellcome, i dont want this locked because you are a ignorant person! Please crawl back under your tiny rock

[Only4U]

ok, let's all calm down just a little bit and get back on topic...

in my honest opinion, the most important feature a torque converter can have is a high efficiency. high efficiency means less slippage in the tranny. less slippage is not only better for your transmission, but it also relays power that gets lost a lot of the time. for example, do you know why a manual transmission gets roughly 8 more hp to the ground over an automatic transmission? it's mainly because of slippage. manual transmissions are manual, that is the key; automatic trannies are so much more complex because they have so many more key factors to have worry about. so when buying a converter--make sure the efficiency is well over 94%. i am not sure what the stock torque converter efficiency is, but i think it is only ~90%.

now we'll talk str. as i and others have mentioned before, str is the torque multiplication factor, or the x rate that your torque is increasing per launch. usually, the higher the str, the better launch, but more slippage and then top end with a lower efficiency, which results in a killer 60ft. and a crappy mph/e.t. too low of an str is just the opposite and also pointless if you are "upgrading" your torque converter. james has some 2.8 str for his converter--his top end suffers a little from that NA. but with nitrous, 2.8 str is a very good multiplication factor.

stall speed. needless to say, stall speed is very much misunderstood. there are 3 different kinds of stalls. first of all, if you buy a 3200 vigilante converter, 3200 is the TRUE stall, meaning that exactly 3200 rpms can ONLY be reached by doing a transbrake. 4L60E=transbrake=really bad. so, we have to be aware that 3200 is NOT going to be the stall that we hit when we have our foot on the brake and reving the gas. that is called BRAKE stall--expect brake stall to be about 400 rpms less than TRUE stall. in other words, if you get a 3200 converter and it only stalls 2800, don't be disappointed. brake stall is very dependent on quality of brakes and also tires as well. flash stall is the stall that you will hit when you WOT from a stop without braking. this is usually the most common form of your stall that you'll be using (you won't use transbrake and won't brake stall much except at the track). depending on how tight your converter is built, your flash stall will probably be about 200 rpms less than that of your true stall.

stall speed is an important factor in choosing a converter. it should probably be discussed with a pro at PI or Yank or wherever you choose to go. 500-700 rpms below peak torque is merely a guideline. if you aren't using transbrake, a 3600-3800 stall converter can probably be just fine for you if you are looking at the most performance gain.

even though keith mentioned that it is hard to get the "right" converter for you, it really is not. efficiency must always be high; if you want killer launches and crappy end, you know the str you want, if you want the opposite, you also know the effects. then you pick a stall speed. any converter, regardless of it's stall speed can be built streetable as long as it has a lock-up. don't be fooled into thinking just because it has a 3600 stall it isn't going to be very streetable. knowing your **** and doing your homework is the most important thing about a modification.

[ October 03, 2002: Message edited by: Only4U ]</p>

[Magnus]

Also,..

Super effecient converters sometimes make for bad ET's. Killer ET's are usually had by sacraficing MPH and effeciency.

[ravenp]

You've clearly been doing some research. Thanks for the helpful, productive and informative posts Evan!

[AMinor65]

Thanks, Only4U! You've confirmed alot of things for me. To think that just a few months ago, we were helping you with gear selection. Now, look 'atcha!

Great work! Keep it up!

[Only4U]

anytime guys, thx for supporting me :D