1 7/8 inch headers

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kornball426

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I know that's one of the primary things the converter manufacturers want to know is camshaft duration. Along with the weight of the car, tire size, and gearing, to determine what stall would be a good choice.

You guys have suggestions on who makes the best converters for the street? (I'll probably get ten different answers) Meaning not too much slippage. It's going to be painful on the wallet... I want converter lockup for a 4L80E... I'm betting it'll cost $800-1000 easily. What's the difference between single and triple disc lockup, besides a significant price jump for the triple?

I probably have close to ten grand in this car already and it's nowhere near done. Still gotta put it all together... And still need to buy new wheels and tires.
 

kornball426

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May 29, 2009
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Why no just go with a TH 400.

Because it's strictly a street car and I regularly drive it like 100+ miles in a day. I'm extremely tired of having the engine going about 3500 to do 55 and having a top speed of like 85... At about 5500 it does 80ish it would probably go a tiny bit faster if I kept it floored but since the redline on the stock tach is 5500 I don't dare push it much harder than that for long periods. I want to be able to cruise the thing down i95 at 70+ at a reasonable RPM, but still have enough power to put a smile on my face and embarrass some nice much newer sporty cars in impromptu stoplight drags.
 
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kornball426

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W/ 28's @3000 you would be going 73mph the 4L80E would have you @2250
That's with 3.42's? I believe the rear in the car is currently 3.73 but I don't want to re gear the 8.5 that's going in it if I don't have to. Lower the RPM on the highway the better in my opinion.
 
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lilbowtie

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I want to be able to cruise the thing down i95 at 70+ at a reasonable RPM, but still have enough power to put a smile on my face and embarrass some nice much newer sporty cars in impromptu stoplight drags.

Sounds like you want a racing engine and try using it on the street. Your whole set up has to complement each other for what you want to do. I'm afraid your not going to be smiling much.
 
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kornball426

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Sounds like you want a racing engine and try using it on the street. Your whole set up has to complement each other for what you want to do. I'm afraid your not going to be smiling much.
What does that have to do with choosing a 4L80e over a TH400 as you suggest? They have identical gearing 1-3 so I don't see what point you're trying to make.

If it's that the engine will be out of it's powerband at 2000-2500 rpm going down the highway... I look at it this way, it's still 406 cubic inches, by default it's going to be way more torquey than any 305 that came in these cars in front of a 700R4 or 2004R, and they have absolutely no problem going down the highway at relatively low RPM.

Is my logic flawed?
 
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81cutlass

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80e's are nice for street cars. Local guy was running high 7's in a turbo LS drag week style build with one. I remember he ate a few before going with a manual valve body since it couldn't hold 1500+ hp and shift on its own. TH400's got figured out 20 years ago for big power cars but 80e's are just getting out there for truly high HP stuff.

A triple disk gives you the option to lock up in high gear on the track under full power. Basically it reduces any slip and reduces power loss. Same thing as a single or twin disk clutch in a manual or adding another friction to a clutch pack in an auto, it just gives more area to hold the load.

PTC, Jake's, or Circle D are all good names in converters. I swear 90% of the really hot turbo guys claim they have to send their converters back multiple times dial it in for their combo. If you are chasing 0.2 seconds in an 8 second full weight street car I have heard first hand from many people who admit a converter is like tire pressure, you just have to play with it until it's right.

A 406 NA isn't going to have the power to smoke a lockup disk in a quality single disk converter.

Get a 3400-3800 ish stall 80e converter from any reputable shop in single disk and it should be fine.
 
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mccormack944

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What does that have to do with choosing a 4L80e over a TH400 as you suggest? They have identical gearing 1-3 so I don't see what point you're trying to make.

If it's that the engine will be out of it's powerband at 2000-2500 rpm going down the highway... I look at it this way, it's still 406 cubic inches, by default it's going to be way more torquey than any 305 that came in these cars in front of a 700R4 or 2004R, and they have absolutely no problem going down the highway at relatively low RPM.

Is my logic flawed?
the problem is the more aggressive of an engine you build, aggressive cam,rage runner head, single plane intake, etc the less an engine likes to lug around at low rpm. All those pieces are mean to horsepower aka high air flow seeing as hp is torque times rpm divided by 5252. You don’t tend to use those parts to make torque monsters that make power in the lower rpm range. Why? All about airflow dynamics. If you’re cruising at 15% throttle and 2k rpm your engine will use the same amount of air no matter how big or small your heads intake cam etc are. However the bigger the ports the slower the air speed becomes which is especially important with a Carb’d engine because you need air speed in order to keep the fuel suspended in the air and into the cylinder. Even with port injection you still want good velocity in order to have consistent air charge in the cylinder. This is part of why people run higher stall converters with built engines like this even if only on the street so it isn’t lugging the engine all the time. Lower rpm the better for cruising isn’t always accurate, a real bad example but I’ve got a 94 ranger with a 4.0 and that thing absolutely loves cruising at 2800-3000 rpm. Most diesels like around 2000 rpm because they effectively make torque at low rpm. Some engines idle at 8-900 others have to be at 14-1500 to over come the drawbacks of making higher rpm power. Where your idle cruise rpm will be is decided on your combination, not what you think you want.
 
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