LS-ONE_DAY

I currently have an SLP lid, ARH LTs and ORY, and a Borla catback. Up next I was planning on getting a stall converter with tranny cooler. The big mods up next that I am planning on doing are a cam swap, built trans, and a new rear end (still on stock 10 bolt). Problem is, I don't know if I should just right to the cam for power or if I should spend money to first upgrade the rear or the transmission...I'm sure this is a to each his own question but what're your opinions on where I should spend the money? Also, if I am going to be getting a built trans in the future, is a converter worth it right now in terms of $$ or should I hold off on a converter and do that at the same time as the built tranny? I know the converter will wake up the car.

msydow

if this is your daily driver that you depend on, i would do the converter and tranny first, then do the cam swap. if your car has 3.23's you should be alright with a pretty healthy cam. then if you decide you need gears, you can just upgrade the rearend. the 10 bolts go pretty far on automatic cars.

TransAmWS.6

Since you have an A4, the 10 bolt is really not a huge issue, you shouldn't have to worry about that for a while. But, if it were my car, I would go ahead and wait on the stall and cam but work towards getting the transmission built. That way once you're ready to get your cam in the car, or even go to power levels beyond what just a cam would yield, at least you know you're not likely to have major issues out of your transmission.

LS-ONE_DAY

Its a 2.73 gear car, I was thinking a 3200-3600 stall. For a cam I was looking for something with a smooth as possible idle but that has good mid power and tq with good higher gains too so all through the powerband, like 1800-6200 so I can shift by 6500 max. I keep forgetting the 10 bolt is stronger in the A4's because of the TC lol

arock24

iTrader: (4)

What is your mileage? If your tranny isn't having any issues, feel free to go ahead and go with the stall and tranny cooler. Tons of people (including myself) are going with a stall with cars over 100k. As long as you have a good tune, you won't have any issues. Ideally, you want to be able to do everything you listed, but it's all up to your budget.

udienow

iTrader: (18)

Get a stall first, 3600-4000 IMO. My buddy has a 3600 stall (with cooler) on a stock trans car (85k on it) on DR's with same mods as u now, and is running low 12's. Car moves out with 1.7 60 foots every time on a stock 10 bolt with 3.42s. He has had no tranny or rear issues thus far. I would imagine the 2.73s wouldnt be very good though for a stall so you might want to upgrade that too. My buddy had a 2.73 too he just swapped in a low milage rear out of an M6 car for like $200.

LS-ONE_DAY

My car has 24,250 miles

udienow

iTrader: (18)

Well then yeah, just get yourself a stall.... 3600-4000 (i wouldnt go less then 3600, even for a DD, but thats just IMO) maybe a new flexplate, and the tranny cooler. Now I am no expert on rears, but since hes got 2.73, its a 2 channel, and he cant just throw a 3.xx gear in there (like say my 3.42 out of my M6), right? I hope someone that knows more can chime in. But yeah the stall stuff and a gear is all id suggest for now.

LS-ONE_DAY

I was originally thinking a 3600 stall but the cams I am looking at are more for midrange than high top end, a power band between 1800-6200 so I was thinking maybe a 3200-3400 to give me a little more useable power. And yeah its a 2 channel so I can't just throw a 3.xx gear in there unless I get a special version that someone makes don't remember who though. I was going to just do gears with the 9" whenever I did that because I do a lot of highway driving so the 2.73's are nice for that lol

Spoke with the owner of a transmission shop down the road and he said for him to install a new TC with filter and fluid would be $450-$500. Is that a good price?
He said for him to install the trans cooler would be another $150-$200.

jimmyblue

iTrader: (11)

I will say that with all of that planned, you'd be crazy not
to get tuning capability in hand before stuff like cam, stall,
gears/rear. Especially if you are upgrading over time, tune
and retune will eat you up if you hire it done.

LS-ONE_DAY

As far as tuning I was planning on doing a Frost mail tune after the converter install. It will take a while to save for a built trans and/or rear with gears as well as the cam. I should probably do some suspension mods in between the stall and the big ticket items too. I have LCA's to install other than that I was thinking an aluminum DS, a DS safety loop, and subframes.

justin hover

Your also gonna like it when you get rid of those boring 2.73's, if you ever do....I did...