Also, don't forget, these converters lock so they aren't slipping at cruising speeds.
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- Thread starter Gig
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Mine is reasonable tight cruising around. I only drop about 300rpm on the highway. I think that is the difference between a well made unit and something more affordable? I had a really good conversation with the guy at FTI before I ordered and they nailed it.
Yeah, it makes sense when you think about it. The 2.48 first gear and a motor that doesn't pulling stock below 3000 rpm, 3500 rpm makes sense with more cam and is probably very fun.
Bold and underlined - that is an issue with a budget, cheap, crappy converter. A well made converter will not do that ever if you advise the converter builder of how you intend to use it. That is the biggest misconception with higher stall converters. It's almost shameful due the performance difference between a budget converter vs a properly built one.
There are many companies that build a quality unit : Hughes, PTC, FTI, Circle D, FreakShow and so on. You'll spend an extra couple of hundred for a good unit, but it is worth it. My son's Cutlass is running a 9.5" FTI that I can't say enough about. We pulled a reworked stock 12" unit made by CK Performance. The 12" unit stalled to 2400 and I thought it was pretty good, but he decided to upgrade and after some research, we went with an FTI 9.5". It will dead stall to 2900-3000 and will flash to almost 4200 (if you don't know the difference between dead and flash, then say so). The car cruises between 2100-2400 and doesn't slip at all. When taking off from a stop, we can tell that it's not stock, but once to 1400 there is nothing noticeable. When cruising in the low 2000 range, I can knock it back a gear from 3rd to 2nd to pickup the rpm's to approx 3000-3200 and then mat the pedal .... 4000-4200 instantly and full boost by 4500 and leaving double rubber marks and a cloud of smoke at 40-50mph. And before you can say 'booh' 6500rpms and 85mph. The old converter would grab way too soon, slip through the flash and generally suck, even though we didn't know it.
Point being, don't fall prey to thought process of a stall converter builds crazy heat and fries your transmission.
I dont know when the factory tuned ecu hurt you, but I look forward to helping you on your road to recovery in believing the LS motors dont make torque below 3000.
We are all here for you, if you need to get your feelings out. 😘
Flash is what your tach blips to when you step on it correct? Please explain your method for dead stall? What are you guys paying for a quality 4L80E converter? I am correct only so much stall can be done with the larger diameter converter, seems a 10" minimum is needed on the 3000 up range.
Mine is also a 9.5" billet single disc unit from FTI. It was custom spec'd for my setup and was $850 shipped. They don't charge extra for doing a custom setup either.
wait,you mean the tach bouncing off the limiter outta the hole isn't the flash speed?
Dead stall - what the converter will slip to with no driveshaft rotation (no movement) and brakes applied. If you had a trans brake, where you hold the trans brake to before you break the transmission lol. The flash stall is, as you mentioned where the converter locks at when full power is applied from the motor. Ideally it will be at the same point all the time if you apply full power from below the flash stall point. The flash stall is tuned via different rotors in the TC - they are numbered and I have no idea of the numbering system.
Keep in mind that anything stock will dead stall very low and usually flash below 3200.
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Yeah, ok. I still don't get it. I need to practice on something.
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