Can you tell the difference between a stock stall and a 4k one without being told? If someone brought you a car they thought was stock, but told you that something felt different and asked if you thought it had a stall, would you be able to tell whether the stall was stock or aftermarket?
Also, just out of curiosity, how long do transmissions usually last with a big stall and no cooler? If you want more info read on.


Background: In 2009 I installed a 98 LS1 & transmission in my car. It was a drop-out from a wrecked 98 SS. I was told the motor and tranny were stock, I had no reason to believe otherwise. Once the motor was installed I went and had it tuned. My dad said that he thought the transmission felt loose, and almost like it was slipping or it had a stall in it. I had a M5 V6 before the swap, so I had never driven an A4 Camaro and did not know what to expect from a 4L60E. When asked the tuner about this he said it was just GM's tq management system.

Over this past weekend we installed a Stage 2 PerformaBuilt tranny and a 2800 10.5" Billet stall. I checked out the "stock" stall we removed and looked up the ESRL8082 that was stamped on it. Come to find out it is a 4k racing stall from FTI .
The car feels drastically different. I immediately noticed the car moves forward/backwards far more easily, and the rpms don't jump up as high when I start to accelerate. Granted, this is my car and I know I just modified it, but that's just a difference between a 2800 and a 4000 stall. So should someone that deals with these cars for a living be able to notice something isn't right, especially if the customer asks about it?


Bottom Line: If make your living tuning LS vehicles, can you tell the difference between a stock stall and a 4k one without being told?

 

If it has a 4k stall you should be able to tell it has one. All stalls can be built different with different "str" or stall speed.A 4k stall can be built loose for all motor or tight for nitrous but either way you should be able to tell if is has one or not.

 

Yes.. at least I can and many other gearheads point it out easliy. I know the sound of a stalled car as soon as they start to accelerate because it holds more RPM when accelerating normally. My car has a 4000 stall and stays at 2000 rpm or more even with light throttle and will usually hold that rpm with steady throttle from one gear to another. I have an old video I made years back that shows it pretty well because it shows moving, the spedo, and tach.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLY9OB3nQoU

 

Ohh also to answer your question on a big stall with no cooler.. probably not long it will depend on how hot the trans gets and for how long. With a large cooler my 3600 vig stall and FLT trans lasted about 60K before it blew a seal someplace and started to **** fluid all over. If it lasts another 60K I'll be happy.

 

That's what I thought about noticing the stall. I'm wondering if my mpg is going to increase around town now that I won't have to be at a minimum of 3500rpm whenever I move forward.

My tranny lasted for ~50K miles with that 4k stall and no trans-cooler. I think it was still ok when I replaced it over the weekend. Well, I say that without looking inside it at any of the parts. Who knows, who cares? Not me I was mainly just curious about telling the difference between a stock stall and a big 4k one. Thanks for the responses. Any other input is still welcome.

 

whatever stall a convertor is,very easy to tell.
from a dead stop and brakes not applied(a typical burnout scenario),the tach will instantaneously jump to rated stall rpm,it happens/occurs very quickly and best recorded thru video. the rpm that it quickly jumps to is called 'flash' rpm.
factory tachs are not known for their accuacy,mine indicates 150rpm higher than actual.
my OEM 1800 flashed to 1800 rpm,my TCI 2800 flashed to 2800rpm,my Yank SS3600 flashes to 3600rpm. all verified thru video recording.

 

After driving the car for a few days, and not even having floored it, I can tell a huge difference in how the car drives. I'm no longer wondering if someone can tell the difference between a stock stall and an aftermarket one. Now wondering how they can't!

 

^^^exactly, they should be able to. I've given some old school hot rodders rides before and without telling them much, then mention it has a 4k converter, they say yeah I could tell there was one in there. They typically aren't used to having stalls that high though...

 

Yea I'm pretty sure if we happened to talk, I'd point out 'What stall you got in there?' if I even heard you drive by with a 4k stall. A non-stock exhaust makes it more obvious but regardless the stock stall is pretty tight and low compared to any 4k stall. I personally would never see/reccomend that tuner you saw, because it seems like he just didn't give a **** about your car and figured you were talking about a little slip during shifts or something.

 

lol, that's pretty funny.

I had LTs and full exhaust; it is anything but quiet. Now that I have a 2800 stall I kind of miss the 4000. I just assumed all F-bodies drove like that.
I don't know if I'm faster or not with the lower stall (wouldn't it be better matched now since I have a stock cam?), but the car sure sounded faster with the 4k stall. Sigh... to sound fast or be fast...I want both

As for going back to that tuner: I won't.

 

Unbelievable, and I agree, change your tuner they are clueless!

I run a 2800 and its more like 2500, but even so, it is chalk and cheese to a stock converter. The stock one would pull little more than idle rpm if driven very quietly, now I need over 2000rpm just to get up car park ramps etc. A 4000 would be even looser and sound manic at slow speeds.

I'm interested in the high stall - tight for NOS and loose for NA comment. According to my converter man, that is not possible, you can't tighten a high stall without losing stall. What I assume that comment means is that the NOS high stall requires a NOS hit to reach stall, and when driven on motor only it lacks the torque to reach stall speed so appears tighter off the NOS.