Stall converter for someone who doesn't like them.
 

Back in the day in the eighties I had a stall converter (I think it was a TCI 3000 stall) behind a Lingenfelter 383 with a cam in a '79 Corvette, and hated the loose feeling in daily driving. I'm now driving an '82 Corvette with an LS1 and a 4L60e with 3:55 gears that weighs about 3300 lbs. that I'm going to put in a Tick suggested 222/222 .605/.595 114.5+3 cam. Martin @ Tick says this one should have near stock off idle torque and would work with the stock converter. So my question is could I have a higher stall that wouldn't have that loose feeling, and would feel stock or near stock while driving normally?

Not really. You could bump it a tad in rpms and not notice too much but there won't be much performance gain. Its a catch 22, gotta give somewhere. Any stall that adds measureable performance will be noticeable. Period. Anyone that tells you different is a fool.

An old school TCI converter is probably a bit looser down low than a lot of the LS converters though.

I would think something like a Yank SS2800 or SS3200 would be a good fit. Or maybe even talk with them about their cheaper non billet converters since the stall speed you're looking for will be lower.

I had a TCI converter (3200?) which was annoyingly loose on the street.
However my later Yank SS3600 and now CircleD 3600 are much tighter and just fine for street driving.
I would suggest calling CircleD and asking for a tighter converter. They will likely start with their larger diameter one and max out the stall speed, which in a 3300lb car will come out around 3200-3400. The larger diameter converters tend to me tighter on the street, but cannot stall as high.

It's interesting to hear that converters in the 3600 rpm range are ok for the street, I was hoping that converter technology had improved in the years since I last had one. I'll have a conversation with Circle D if I feel that I've lost too much off the line after my cam swap. Thanks for your help with this, I'd sure hate to buy and install one as loose as that TCI converter was.

While I agree with the above statements other factors influence just HOW noticeable a stall is. A tight 3200 with a nice rear gear, steep first gear of the 4l60e, and quiet exhaust may be liveable for most people. Take away just one of those 3 and it can be annoying to someone who already is on the lookout.

I totally agree with this statement. My old combo; ls1/60e, GT2-3 cam with a yank ss3600 and 3.23's was not fun to drive around town with the electric cutout open because it sounded like I was trying to drag race every honda I run across at the traffic light. My current combo; 6.0/80e, much larger cam, same rear gear, with a bigger diameter NTV 3200 stall is much nicer to drive around town even with the cutout open. Close the cutout and the quiet magna flow catback almost seems to make the stall disappear due to not so much noise to get the car " up and moving" from a traffic light.

Not really a lot of magic in converters, higher stall, more loose down low
So much can change stall, esp if you have a custom conv. and change anything
OD trans w/lockup is pretty much the savior for street driving, and high stall
Even then, if a large cam you have to be up in RPM's to lock up, or it will buck
Back in 1965 Buick had a switch pitch turbo 400, and a large 13" dual stall converter-it was tech way ahead of its time-I run one now, in low stall it is really locked pretty tight, you don't get that slipping feel on slight grades
I have built a few 80E's, best overall setup I think, as opposed to trying to make a 60E live-but size hurts it, the problem I am running into now
I run 3.25 gears to help on the highway, thinking of building a new 400 with 2.75 1st gear, conv. on the tighter side

When I put in a TCI2800(3.23s'),it was loose,car would not move forward at idle from a stop as the OEM 1800 did. When I put 4.56s' in,tightness of the OEM 1800 came back with the TCI2800. Tightness was retained when I put in a Yank SS3600(4.56s'). Putting the 3.23 rearend back in,I considered tight as the car would still creep forward at idle from a stop.
I had a Buick Gran Sport with that variable pitch convertor. Loved it as I applied a manually controlled circuit to it. The pitch was controlled by a microswitch on the throttle linkage. At WOT,the switch would become actuated and the stall would go to a higher stall. I added two switches in its' circuit,one to keep the circuit open and one to close the circuit when I wanted a higher stall condition. That allowed me to set launch stall based upon street traction conditions. The 445 ft.lbs. advertised torque of the 401cu.in./325hp easily destroyed the crappy tires of the day back then.

I don't know how much power the S/P can take, I pretty much use it in a new build until I swap in an OD trans-I have been in the 10's with it, just not sure what it can take
A lot of guys use Gear Vendors OD on Drag Week, so I guess an option

Definitely not always true.
You could have a 3000 stall that is very loose at low throttle and a 4000 that drives way tighter comparatively.

Yeah, it depends upon things like the STR (Stall to Torque Ratio), which while difficult to measure, depends upon things like the style and angle of the stator blades and the quality of many parts.

My TCI and Yank were both about 3600 stall and could not have felt more different on the street. The TCI would barely move under 2000 RPM, while with the Yank I could accelerate briskly keeping revs under 2500.

While I cannot quickly find a good article on STR on this forum (I know it exists) I did find this one:
http://www.ls1gto.com/forums/showthread.php?t=349786

STR isn't the only factor. Something as simple as diameter plays a huge factor.

An 11" 3000 stall converter is going to feel like a sloppy pig compared to a 3600 9.5" converter at low rpms. The 9.5" gets it's stall because of the smaller diameter, the 11" has to be made somewhat inefficient to get the stall out of it.

I scoured the forums looking for that kind of info, and only found "I've got a ginormous cam, what stall should I use" posts. I'm now optimistic that if I need one I should be able to get a converter I can live with. To me the loose converter really epitomizes the slushbox, it feels like a variable ratio transmission must feel like. I like the responsiveness of a fairly tight converter and I like to feel the shifts too.

Not that you want to do it twice but most of the convertor manufacturers brought up in this thread offer 1 free re-stall as a customer satisfaction insurance. This allows you to go on the higher stall end of what you are thinking and know if you don't like it they will then be able to adjust to taste.

I also had some stalls in sbc cars in the 80's and I didn't mind them as I knew they would be sloppy going in but made that sacrifice to get the performance at the track , my 3600 vigilante feels way less loose than a 3000 stall did back then , add lock up to the equation and your not driving around feeling like your slipping all the time - technological advances in convertors over the last 30 years have been substantial. Your 355 gears will help tighten the feel as well compared to some members here with 273 or 323 gears , your pretty close to 373 which is recommended to help tighten the feel of a stall quite often around here.

Looking at the members that have given you advice here these are some guys that know their stuff and have been into cars long enough to know what your afraid of they wouldn't give you bad advice.

Didn't see if anybody asked but how will you be using the car? street/strip? more street then strip? bracket racing? Rear tire you will be running? Height?

What a great thread. I was saving up to buy a cam from Martin tick without a stall because of the same bad experiences everybody had back in the day. I've changed my mind and I am going to investigate a Yank or circle D 2800 stall first. My application is all street no track.

With your rear gear paired with a 9.5 converter you could probably go with a 3200-3400. I too was kind of apprehensive about a stall in my car but once I added the Yank SS3600 paired with my 3.73 gears I feel I gave up very little over stock drivability.

That being said when I had to put in a 3.23 rear to replace my broken 3.73 rear it did get noticeably looser.

As others have said you will notice a stall that adds any measurable amount of performance but I feel when setup correctly you won't have the experience you did before.

I upgraded mine to a 4200 from a 3600 btw

I mainly drive it on the street for fun, don't race it. 3:55 gears and the tires are 255/60 15's which are 27.04 inches tall. If I understand things correctly the relatively light weight of my car, 3:55 gears and 3.06 first gear would feel tighter than a heavier car etc. I love the responsive feel of the stock converter with the stock torquey cam which is why I went with the cam I did. When I install the heads and cam I'm going to have the throttle body ported which should make it a little snappier still off the line.