Been searching alot on the way aftermarket higher stall converters work and I'm still a little lost on how a stall drives exactly (in terms of light throttle for a DD).

Right now, with the stock stall and 3.42 gearing in the 4L65E I can get up to regular city speeds (max 35-40mph) with very light throttle and never going above 1200 rpms. It's nice when just taking it easy and not wanting to wake up the entire neighborhood.

From my understanding on aftermarket stalls, they 1) take more throttle to get moving and 2) they spin/flash the engine up higher depending on the stall speed.

So with say a "tight" 3200rpm converter, would I still be able to leave and drive around with relatively low rpm, or will it always keep them up to ~3000? I would hate to have to rev it up to 3000rpm just putting lightly around town.

 

a 3000 stall speced out right for your car would be great but your gunna be looking around a 1700-1800 rpm take off to do what you do now on 1200 roughly... and when you punch it it will flash up to 3000 and go from there. drive ability on a stall that small will be a little funny at first but youll get used to it and then fall totally in love. stalled converters make autos fun

 

^^^ pretty much exactly what he said ^^^

I have a 3600 that is a little bit tighter for spray. So I don't blow through it when I hit the squeeze. When I leave from a dead stop my RPM's go up to about 1800-2000 and stay there til I get up to speed and can let out of the throttle a touch.

To get moving you will use just a touch more throttle but you won't even notice it after a couple days of driving.

 

That's great to hear, I guess I kept watching youtube videos of people driving on stalls and even on slow acceleration their 32 or 3600 stalls just instantly shot up to ~3000rpm and stayed there...which was a little distubing trying to imagine doing that every time.

What brands and/or STRs do you guys have?

 

I have a yank SS3200 and it takes about 1700 rpms to get her movin, you have to learn to be light on the peddle if you want to keep your RPM's down

if you stomp on it though its going around 3000 instantly

i have 3.23 gears

 

Mike how do you like those gears with that stall?

 

I like em just fine, i do alot of freeway/traffic driving and didnt want to loose of a converter, the 3200 is what yank recommended. Its not too loose in traffic, I can cruise along slowly under 2000 RPMS , but when you punch it puts a big smile on your face

 

I just put a vigilante 3600 in mine with 3.23 gear and it's pretty loose. About 2800 barely pulling off until it gets to speed and locks up....gonna take getting use to for sure, but you stomp it and it will break your neck haha

 

Pulling away from a dead stop is not a big deal at all, [ss3600 w/a 2.5 str].
Where I notice the "lag time" is when I am rolling along at say 30-35 mph, and want to accelerate from that speed. The rpm's climb noticeably higher then what you had when stock to get the desired speed.

 

Performance Industries Vigilante 3600 with a 2.5 STR

 

Yank SS3600/3.73s here. Daily driven, I dont think Ive ever paid too much attention to exactly how many RPM it takes to get going. Just start it up, and go. It doesnt take 3000+ rpm to get her moving, I know that for sure though. Ive also had 2 different 4000 stalls with the same rear gear, and both of those were easy to drive as well.

Last time I averaged my mileage, I was getting about 19.5 mpg, thats combined city and highway. I get a little heavy on the loud pedal alot, or Im sure it would be even better.

 

That's where mine is most noticeable too it's a 2.5 STR also

 

I want mine tight. I have a 4l80e with a 6.0 (ls3 heads) in a 68 Camaro. I want to creep around the neighborhood at 1200 rpm, but with the stock converter it doesn't feel like the 400 hp car it is.

 

I have a stock 4L60E with 2.73 gears and I just had a custom built FTI SRLS3391 installed (~3500-3600) and let me tell you, it's a lot tighter than I thought it was going to be. My tuner increased idle rpm from 550 to 650 but yeah it feels good, it'll move under it's own power still, not a big difference from stock but you can tell it's there barely.

 

I had a PT4000 in my TA. Drivability is all in the tune not in the converter. Yes you will use more rpms but after a week you wont even notice.

 

This^^. I also dd an ss3600 and after a day or so I was used to it. With 3.23s it feels good. I'm sure a 3200 stall w/ your 3.42s will be pretty tight. It doesn't take more than 1500 or so rpms to get the car moving, it actually will start rolling if I just take my foot off the brakes.

 

You won't notice much difference in stop and go traffic, the only issue I have with torque converters is getting a good cruising speed. Seems like at 40mph the car won't hold enough to stay reasonable in fourth gear, or ride high in 3rd

 

Yea that does get annoying. When I had 3.73's 3rd gear would be too high in the RPMs. With the crap 2.73'd rear end I had to throw in as a bandaid its fine in 3rd, except it surges sometimes lol

when I first put in the SS3600 with the 3.73s I could barely tell there was a bigger stall in the car

 

I also have a Yank SS3600 with 3.42 rear. Around town easy driving I am never over 2500 rpms. With very easy throttle I can get to 60 mph without exceeding 2000 rpm. In contrast the TCI 3400 I had was very loose and inferior, and annoying to drive around town.

 

I got the Fti 3600 with 1.78 str awesome converter for the street.The lower the str the better the streetabililty. If you drag race a lot go with a high str. I like the Fti converter deadly from a roll street racing.The only bad thing about a low str and a bigger cam it wants to push through the brakes.