What's the right stall for my application
 

Good evening. I have a 2001 WS6 automatic with a 4L60E transmission. Engine mods are as follows:
Stock shortblock
243 heads
TSP 224/224 .581/.581 113 LSA cam
PRC .650 single behive springs
stock retainers
TSP 7.4 hardened chromoly pushrods
LS7 lifters and trays
Stainless longtube headers
SLP lid
HPTuners tune (I own the software)
high flow cats
TSP rumbler cat back exhaust.

Rear End
stock 10 bolt with 3.23 gears


I have some 4th gear overdrive slippage and plan to do a basic rebuild on the transmission. The bottom end of the car is no where near where it should be when flooring the gas. If I manually shift and keep RPMs up it runs like a beast. I need a stall converter recommendation that fits the application mods listed above. The car is not an everyday driver but is a street car. It isn't meant to hit the track all the time but to play on the streets and drive a few hundred miles one way here and there. Mainly only comes out of the garage when the weather is nice and I feel froggy. Runs pretty darn good on the highway against vettes and other hot rods. But around town it is sluggish.

I figure a shift kit, a stall converter, and a little more tuning will fix my problem. What are the recommendations with supporting reasons? I do not have enough stall converter knowledge right now to choose the right one and I only want to do this once. Again, the car is a street driver, not a track car. Thanks in advance for any replies.

id go with a 3000 - 3600 stall since you have stock gears in your 10 bolt but if you up grade to 3:73 gears then id definitely go with the 3600 stall for sure.

Are you going to run nitrous?

Do you want a street/strip, all out or something more on the streetable side?

Most say don't go with less than a 3600 stall. I had a SS3600 and it was definitely better than stock but it still left a lot to be desired.

I now have a Cricle D 4000-4200 stall.

Answering the first few questions will let us know if you want to go more extreme or something in the middle.

Also gears will help make a converter feel tighter, I noticed my SS3600 felt a bit looser when my 3.73 10 bolt ate a pinion gear and I had to go back to a 3.23 10 bolt but it wasn't horrible and I got used to it being a tad looser.

It's all about what you can deal with.

The car will never run nitrous. I'm big about running the streets with N/A. I'm looking for something more on the street side. I want to bring the power out from light to light or run the hell out of something at 150 on the highway. The car wouldn't go to the drag strip unless it was a hair up my ass weekend for bragging rights. So the strip is not a concern. I need it to run good around town and haul ass when the petal is smashed. The smaller cam was chosen based on cost and the car needs to be driven by the wife occasionaly also. I don't want something that she taps the gas and it gets all wild on her. I thought about going to 3.73 hears and another member stated it wasn't needed since I was going to have a custom shift kit made for it. I don't want to lose too much gas mileage and it has to make a few hundred mile trips here and there with no problems. Does that give you a bit more information for the recommendation?

I got better city MPGs with my 3.73s, highway was down and with the 3.23s it was the opposite.

I ran a 11.93 with a F13 230/232 cam only with a slipping 3rd gear. The SS3600 is a good have your cake and eat it too

But with 3.23s it wills till be a little loose. You can go with a 3200 stall, PTC, Yank and Circle D all have a non billet version of this stall that should work.

A 3200 will help your car out a decent amount, a 3600 will be better and a 4000 will run damn hard. But all have their pros & cons.

The 3200 will have better street manners and less overall performance
The 3600's street manners will be a little less but performance will be up
The 4000 will not be as streetable but will run super hard

Pick your poison

Yank SS4000 will absolutely rip with that cam, I know I've ran that combo before. They are made for each other.

3600 from FTI and a real tune.

I agree. But some feel a 4000 is just too much lol. Im not one of those people.:cheers:

In all honesty, I can't imagine a 3600 being much more street friendly than a 4k. A 4k with a 224 cam has power everywhere, you never hunt for it. Its a pretty amazing combo I think most over look. Don't need a lot of revs to get the power either. It will absolutely demolish street tires at will :D The SS series is tight, so tight I started with a 3200 (Edge), then went to an SS4k. My next converter will be a 4400 with a looser design. You can see for a weekend warrior something like an SS series is a middle ground. It really is a street oriented converter.

Thanks for all the recommendations. It looks like a Yank SS3600 or SS4000 will be in the works soon enough. Now the question is do I need a transgo shift kit with it or am I looking at hurting the rebuilt transmission? It isn't rebuilt but when I pull it for the stall I'll have it upgraded.

I've driven both, with similar cams and the same rear gear. The SS4000 was noticeably looser but at the same time it wasn't as loose as other stalls out there. If your car isn't a DD OP I'd honestly go with a 4000 stall.

As 01SSREDA4 said it'll rip. If staying NA I'd look into the PT4000 or Circle D's 2E. They'll be a little looser and require more pedal to get going but they'll run damn hard.

I agree....if not the DD then 4000 is the way to go....lots of you-tube vids out there to give you a feel.....it'll kinda drive normal until you whomp on it.

If you're trans is losing 4th...its probably on its last legs....you may want to have it rebuilt before the stall install....cuz that'll put more stress on the trans and push you a failure faster.

I have an SS3600.....bolted to an iron 6.1L and 3.73 gears and its a very fun car to drive......nittos help with the traction, but it'll fry those tires into
2nd gear if I whomp on it from a roll at 38mph.......Man I love doing that.
But if I just tootle around it drives normal.

Id say 3600 or 4000 as well.

There is a happy medium, The 4000 will fly but will drive what I would call sloppy. The 3600 will drive good. You can go with a 3800 that will drive fair but not ignorant. This may just fill the bill. This is a popular converter of ours. Couple this with a 3.73 gear and hang on!!!! Give me a call if I can help.

Greg

I wanna touch in two items. 1. The PT series, I almost moved to one. I picked Dave @ Yanks brain and he honestly steered me away from it. 2 reasons, one was my rpms were only dropping about 1k or so between shifts with the SS series and 2. He would like to see 7k shift points for that converter for it to really shine. My shifts were 6400ish at the time. 2. Most local shops would not disassemble a 100k mile trans without rebuilding it. They flat out said no. Thinking back, I don't blame them.

This may help: https://ls1tech.com/forums/multimedi...uge-shots.html

I've been asked more than once if my 3200 stall was stock.

I just got my car back from getting the transmission rebuilt (3-4 clutches went out and got a complete rebuild with better stuff throughout).

They installed my custom spec'd FTI 9.5 3800 stall billet lock-up converter that I ordered (thanks Greg!) I have only driven it last night and this morning but all I can say is WOW!!!! :burn: Mind you, I only have bolt-ons (headers, intake) stock motor LS1 with 2.73s! I cant imagine once I change the gears out and do other mods.

You wont regret going with FTI. The 3800 stall I got isnt bad at all, it takes a bit more to get going but not nearly as bad as other people make it seem. Maybe its cause I like the feel of a stall. I am still breaking in the transmission and I am going to install the trans cooler I bought also before I really get on it.

I plan to make a video also. Hope this helps with your decision! :cheers:

This is good info. I was thinking about the pt4000 for my next converter. Let me ask you this, did he strictly say go with the ss4000 over the pt based on just the shift extension and rpms or were there other factors such as streetability or str?

OP I have an ss3600 and my car wont see the track often and I think it drives great. Like Kingc8r said, theres more to be desired with it. FWIW I daily drove the car with that converter and 3.23s. I have a video on youtube I can add if youd like showing how it is driving around town.

I basically told him I was looking for more performance and I don't drive the car near as much as I thought I would. He asked me times, shift points etc etc and when I told him shift extension was about 1 to 1.1k he said that's exactly where you want to be. When I told him 6400 shift points he confirmed that in his opinion if I wasn't willing to turn near 7k I should keep what I have because its working well. I'm still wanting something bigger so I guess I will have to up my shifts :D