ET reduction from long tubes and Hotcam
Headers - make more power everywhere, but it's louder and not as clean
Cam - more power up top in trade for some of your low end grunt
Converter - regain that lost power on the bottom, but kiss your mileage goodbye
Gears - get into your powerband sooner, but more wear and tear on the engine and even worse mileage
The list goes on and on....you get the idea. You can make a car with 2.73's and a stock converter fast, but you better have a lotta cubic inches and/or tons of torque.
96gt4.6 - hope you are getting a converter soon, cuz your buddy is going to be tough to reel in when he hooks it up.
I don't have an aftermarket converter because of the cost of the converter plus install. However, wear and tear isn't a great reason because it's actually easier on parts so long as you're not launching at 3,000 rpm's on drag radials. If you want your rear end to last, get the stock converter out of there and just don't launch at a high rpm. Launch at 2,000 rpm's at the track. It'll be easier than powerbraking at 1,600 rpm's with the stock stall and you'll still see an ET reduction.
Stalled autos are the very reason why 10-bolt's sometimes make it into the 10's on A4's.
Cam - more power up top in trade for some of your low end grunt
Converter - regain that lost power on the bottom, but kiss your mileage goodbye
Gears - get into your powerband sooner, but more wear and tear on the engine and even worse mileage
Headers - make more power everywhere, but it's louder and not as clean
Cam - more power up top in trade for some of your low end grunt
Converter - regain that lost power on the bottom, but kiss your mileage goodbye
Gears - get into your powerband sooner, but more wear and tear on the engine and even worse mileage
The list goes on and on....you get the idea. You can make a car with 2.73's and a stock converter fast, but you better have a lotta cubic inches and/or tons of torque.
96gt4.6 - hope you are getting a converter soon, cuz your buddy is going to be tough to reel in when he hooks it up.

I must admit though, the 2.73's make for one hell of a mean street car. I'm pretty much the only Fbody I know with my mods around here that can race with Hankook 245 radials in 15deg. weather and not have a peeling problem off the line at all.
But, i'd gladly trade that for a .8 or better reduction in E.T. at the strip.
The Best V8 Stories One Small Block at Time

But thank you for pointing out the compromise for everyone to see. I still manage 28 mpg on the highway on extended trips. I'm not saying I get that every time I leave the drive way, but until my wife got her honda, my LS1 got the best mileage of any car we owned.
To each his own....
Any sort of cam you put in later on will NEED the stall to get into the cam's powerband.
BTW with my PT4000 and 3.73s I still get decent mileage. 14-15 in town with some fun time
and about 25 on the highway.Oh and every single one of my 60's was 1.7 BEFORE the headers/ory/tune. I'm excited to see what the car can do now
. I did some LCA relocation brackets too. The tune really helped my car.. it was doing 12.7s before the headers/!cats and untuned, so I expect to see 12.2s or so. I'm planning on the cam before the first TT though.. we'll see.Stall/gears is definitely the way to do it. My car killed a lot higher hp cars at the track and in town. You noticed Al's car ran the same ETs with 5mph more after his cam. 2.73s with a stock converter + cam = blow
It will be badass stalled/geared You can ride/drive in my car on Sat when I come down for the meeting and see if you like the 4k stall

C'mon, isn't it good to shift 1-2 at 58MPH? Or shift to 3rd 2ft before the stripe?
Thank god i'm putting in the 3.73's............
Last edited by 96gt4.6; Jan 7, 2009 at 05:27 PM.
The stall, and March can't come soon enough






I think U have been smoking something if you are getting 21 MPG with a 4000 stall convertor. That is pretty good mileage.

