Well back when I had my '98 TransAm I spent about a year doing some research and enjoying my car stock before jumping into any mods...When I finally decided what mods to do they were Lid, Catback and Torque Converter with Nitto Drag Radials...After quite a bit of reading I decided on a Super Yank 3500 with an STR of 1.7(I believe)...Even with my 2.73 gears I loved it...Not too bad at all...It will wind up just a bit from stops, which only makes your exhaust growl a little more when you pull away...So if you do not mind having to give it just tad more gas when driving around slow and taking off from a stop a 3000-3500 shouldn't bother you a bit...With my converter, I did not notice any great loss in gas mileage but I also never keep track of that stuff because that's not why I buy these cars...*LOL*... What I did notice was a half second of my ET's and still very streetable!...

Good Luck!...

 

thats wut im looking for.. 12's which im close to and streetable... will it really hurt my transmission with daily driving and what not?

 

I'm DEFINTELY not an expert on this but from what I've seen, the tranny cooler is basically a must as it seems that is the best way to protect the tranny after converter install...I went with a B&M Super Cooler...I miss that old SY3500, it made the car SO much more fun to drive!...And with the lower STR I didn't have to worry about my tires going up in smoke...Drag radials were a very nice complement to the converter...Even from a roll the car was quicker as I believe a good high stall converter holds the RPMs up between shifts keeping the engine more in its powerband (please correct me if I'm not explaining properly)...Some people worry so much about the loose feeling of the higher stalls but to me that is part of the fun...It just gives the car a nice little hot rod feeling and it is kinda cool to make the exhaust rev up a bit pulling away from stops...*lol*...But even at 3500 the car was VERY streetable for me...As far as streetability and gas mileage for a daily driver I'd be more nervous about a cam swap than a converter swap...

One downside to that converter I had...It would occassionally throw a SES light on my car and suddenly the car would shift EXTREMELY hard at light throttle...And when I would let it sit it would many times go away...I was very nervous that I was overheating the tranny or something...But I sold the car before I ever had a chance to figure out what was going on...Thanks to LS1 tech I did some reading years later and it seems that problem is not unusual with a higher stall converter...I'm thinking this is where a computer tune is sometimes needed...I believe what was happening to my car was the computer was thinking my tranny was slipping and to compensate it would then set the line pressure at max which was why it would suddently shift so hard...At least this was my best theory because there used to be a sticky around here a while back which was explaining almost exactly what was happening with my car...You can do a search or see if the experts will chime in but I'm pretty sure that was basically the problem with my car...From what I remember it was a problem with cars that had a stall over 3200...I don't read about this problem much anymore, maybe the tuners know what is happening and take care of that much more easily with a tune now...Not sure...

I'm not too worried about that problem occuring again because New Era Peformance is very close to where I live and I will definitely get a tune the next time I buy a converter...And despite that little problem I had a 3500-4000 converter is almost certainly in my future again...

 

so i talked to this guy that i know who is one of the smartest people ive ever met when it comes to transmissions. He has a huge reputation and ive seen him do his work and its impressive. Hes also a very good friend of mine. Soo anyways. He told me that as long as im running a cooler (he suggested trucool or something?) that stall wont be a problem for the transmission.. the only thing he thinks is that i wont like it. But he says find out what i want and then tell him and he will get it real cheap for me. So lets figure this out.. i want 2800-3000 so itll be a good daily driver and it wont need a tune.. im really thinking 2800 but who knows. I noticed theres like a 1.6 or 1.7 str or something too.. wut does that number mean? and which one should i go for?

 

I live about 2 miles from New Era performance.

 

I'd recommend the Yank SS3200 to you. 2800-3000 range won't do enough for your car and that STR is too low in my opinion.

 

the str were just example numbers.. i dont know what it is and was wondering if someone could tell me. wont i need a tune for 3200?

 

If I lived 2 miles away from them, I'd be forever broke...*lol*...I just found out about that shop earlier this year doing a search for tuners using this board...I checked them out and they seemed like a pretty cool bunch of guys...As long as they keep doing the good work I'd definitely go back and continue to recommend them...I'm just deciding if I want to appearance mods, suspension mods, or performance mods next...

As far as tuning goes though someone at NYIRP told me they don't have the software to tune LT1s...Have you checked out the shop?...It's too bad if that's true, there's gotta be a few LT1 guys running around here that would go to them..Especially since they got a new dyno now!...

 

He has a LT1. 2800-3000 is where those motors want to be so getting a 3800 would not only be massive overkill but it might actually raise his ET instead of lowering it.

But for LS1 cars I agree with you completely.

 

okay so 2800-3000 stall it is.. no one has explained what STR is tho..and what i should look for in that.

 

Don't get a 3200 stall. If you had internal engine work then I would say get a bigger stall but your sig shows an internally stock LT1. You are correct that over 3000 would require a tune (so I have heard). That said I highly recommend you stay with your original idea of 2800-3000. That really is the best rpm range for your car at this time.

STR = stall torque ratio. The higher the number the greater the torque multiplication is from a dig. So basically the bigger the number, the harder your car will launch. You need to decide how your car is gonna be used before you can determine what STR best suits your needs.

1.6-1.9 is considered a small STR. This is good for street only cars that run around on street tires. Because street tires offer no traction it's better to keep the STR lower so your not burning the tires off everytime you try to take off hard from a light.

2.0-2.4 is considered a hard hitting STR. This is where a lot of people with street/strip cars and drag radials like to be. The traction on the street is still bad but with a decent burnout and track prep they will take off nicely at the track.

2.5+ is a very hard hitting STR. These converters tend to be less effiecient (causing more HP to be lost through the drivetrain) so they are usually picked to go into cars that are track only or a weekend warrior that spends considerable time at the track with slicks or cheater slicks.

I generally recommend 2.0-2.2 for most street/strip applications which works out nicely since alot of 2800-3500 off the shelf stalls come with 2.0, 2.2 or 2.5 STR's anyway.

Hope that helps and good luck.

 

Small world. I live about 7 miles away from New Era Performance.

 

thank you. So a 2800 stall with a 2.0 STR it is..thanks for all the help