Pete: Was your PCM tuned for your EGR and Cat delete?
Your best bet might be to purchase HP Tuners. Even if you don't want to learn tuning, that way a US based tuner can email you a tune. I suspect eventually you will want to make a cam swap and then you definitely need a tune. In that case I would ask the tuner for an exact cam for which an accurate dyno tune had been performed.

EDIT: Looks like murphinator was posting similar advice in parallel with me.

 

plastic orange I am sure being in Scotland presents some challenges but there are many ways to get tuned remotely from someone with tuning software pulling your tune and you e mail it to a reputable tuner on this forum then they adjust for the stall and e mail it back to you so all you or the person you know with a tuning suite have to know how to do is pull a tune and flash a tune - not hard.

Or if you can have the car down for a bit while you are installing the stall you could ship the pcm to a tuner then they flash the updated tune on a board made for tuning pcm's out of the car then ship your pcm back to you when complete , it will be worth the effort you will be blown away with how effective a good stall convertor is in keeping the engine right in the meat of the powerband , it will absolutely feel like you have added a power adder !

 

Cheers for the advice guys. I did send my PCM to Craig at Dynotorque (400 miles away) for a VATS delete and egr delete, but he didn't know how to delete rear O2 sensors. I purchased an efi licence, but then subsequently realised I didn't need one for a 98 pcm. Craig said he wasn't used to such an early pcm.
It's a big job for a converter swap on my car as engine and box have to come out, and space is pretty tight, so i'll explore tuning options before touching a spanner. I may consider a cam at the same time if the gains are going to be worthwhile.

Pete

 

Just an FYI....1998 and '99-00 PCMs are not as sensitive to stall swaps as the '01+ PCM. You can do a stall speed in that general range (~3500) and not require tuning. Yes, I have personally done that. The only issue was some slight surge at idle while in gear, due to the higher stall "unloading" the engine compared to stock. Shift points were slightly off at WOT, not a huge issue though. Most of the bigger tuning concerns (such as DTCs and/or significant performance issues) are more of an '01+ problem in my experience.

 

Same concern here, do I need a tune for my 02 A4 TA with the higher stall ?...I'm leaning towards the 3600 2.1 STR, most likely a Circle D.

 

Check that, that is a 2000 A4 TA.

 

Years ago I put a Yank 3500 in my 2000 Trans Am with no tuning at all. As mentioned above, it was perfectly fine other than some slight idle surge in gear (which mostly went away after the PCM had some relearn time), and the WOT shift points being a tad bit too early. I drove it for about a year that way, before doing any kind of tuning (which was necessary for other modifications that took place later.)

 

Plastic, there are reputable tuners here in the US who can tune remotely, such as Pat G. You buy a wideband and tuning software from them and they load a base tune for your car. You then log with the software and the tuner will send updates via email. You go back and forth as needed.

 

Once again, thanks for the advice folks. Would i be better going for a 3200 stall to dodge tuning issues?

Cheers,

Pete

 

You're going to want to tune for any converter to get optimum performance and longevity. I tuned for both the 3000 and the 3600 stalls I've run. However, the 3000 stall never threw any trouble codes; those started to occur once I moved up to the 3600.

 

There was only one person who said that a trans temp gauge should be added. That is very important along with a trans cooler.
Generally, what is your engine RPM at normal driving speed? When you have a loose convertor, there is always some “slipping” until the engine RPM rises above the stall speed. So, if you are going to drive often in an RPM range that is below your stall speed, keep an eye on that temp gauge!

i really like my 3600 stall which came with the built 60e. It plays well the 12-bolt 4.10.
🍺🍺

 

That's what lockup is for, unless you are talking about stop and go driving. Gauge is a must in my book.

 

Call me weird, but I'm running a 3200 billet 9.5" lockup converter from a local reputable guy and I'm thinking of going back to a LOWER stall. I'm running a 400hp 5.3/4L80e naturally aspirated, with plans of going turbocharged, having come from a turbo Buick background. Car is fun as hell to drive, but compared to the old Pontiac 400 it no longer has that low-rpm (1200-1500rpm) puttering around mode and I miss it. Mainly, however, most of my fun driving is in the mountains, and I find that when the converter unlocks with moderate throttle around curves and up hills the thing is always revving 3-4 grand. The cam (Summit Ghost cam) was chosen so as to NOT lose the little bottom end the 5.3 has (compared to the Pontiac) and I feel that this converter pushes right past that midrange power.

Bottom line is the current setup is always in party mode, and this just isn't that kind of car. I'm kind of done with the quarter mile thing and maybe I'm just old, but I really think I'd be happier with about a 2400 stall and later on a smaller turbo that spools down low.