Auto guys - Which mod is better: gears or a torque convertor?

[Voice of Reason]

I'm looking for my next mod and it's going to be one of these two but I don't know which one will work best for my situation. The car is an auto vert, not a daily driver, but when my wife drives it (about half the time it gets driven) it needs to behave and not feel loose/weird. Here are my current mods:

GT40Y heads
stock cam
1.7 RRs
Cobra intake
65mm TB
BBK equal length shorties
CAI
underdrive pullies
off road H
factory 3.27 gears
stock MAF, injectors, tune

The car pulls decient above 2k but below that it's a little doggy. I don't know if going with 3.73s or 4.10s to get me into the higher RPMs faster would be the best way to go or if getting a new torque convertor that gets me into my powerband faster is better.

With gears the downside as I see it is I know I would need to get a speedcal and possibly Tweecer if it had problems with the shift points. So these extra things makes the total price go up.

With the TC I think all I would need is just the TC, everything else would work without any modifications. The downside there is that I've never driven a car with an aftermarket TC and I'm afraid of it being too loose and around town driving will be annoying.

I've also never done a gear change myself or done any trans work. I've done all the work myself on the engine so I can turn a wrench, but for some reason am hesitant to do a gear swap myself but feel completely fine in dropping the trans to swap out the TC.

So, WWSND (What Would StangNet Do?)

 

[gcomfx.com]

You already have 3.27s and you have the engine set up for higher RPMs... I would go TC next.

Watch this video I made: http://www.100mphclub.com/movies/edgestall.mov

A 2800 -3000 will knock almost 1 second off your 1/4 times. It also behaves pretty good in traffic. I've only had issues on EXTREMELY steep hills. If you've heard of Branson, MO you will understand. I do recommend a transmission cooler. Aprox. $50

 

[Voice of Reason]

You already have 3.27s and you have the engine set up for higher RPMs... I would go TC next.

Watch this video I made: http://www.100mphclub.com/movies/edgestall.mov

A 2800 -3000 will knock almost 1 second off your 1/4 times. It also behaves pretty good in traffic. I've only had issues on EXTREMELY steep hills. If you've heard of Branson, MO you will understand. I do recommend a transmission cooler. Aprox. $50

1 second off my times would be good as it runs like crap at the track right now. I've only been able to get one pass in because it was crazy busy, but with a bogging launch it ran 14.6@97. I wanted to shoot the horse when I picked up my time slip.

And Branson? Definately heard of it. In fact the wife and I honeymooned at Big Cedar Lodge there almost 10 years ago. We go there every other Thanksgiving with her parents.

 

[Stanger007]

I'll second the convertor.

 

[Voice of Reason]

So is changing the TC as easy as dropping the trans, swapping the TC, and reinstalling the trans? Aside from being a little time consuming (mainly just because it would be my first one so I'd take my time) this doesn't seem like that hard of a job.

 

[Stanger007]

You are right, it's not that bad of a gig - just time consuming.

Unbolting and then monkeying the tranny into and out of the car is a bit of a pain - I bought a tranny jack and that made the job much easier.

It's a great time to bleed the system and add a tranny cooler.

Wes

 

[SN95StangMan]

You are right, it's not that bad of a gig - just time consuming.

Unbolting and then monkeying the tranny into and out of the car is a bit of a pain - I bought a tranny jack and that made the job much easier.

It's a great time to bleed the system and add a tranny cooler.

Wes

+1

its just time consuming. There's nothing really difficult about it.

 

[Voice of Reason]

Does anyone know the stall and STR of the stock TC? I'm curious just how bad it is.

 

[drakesdad]

Someone has this answer....when I had a 2300 stall I was told it was just a little over stock...or that mine felt a little over stock.........anyway.......yeah...do the stall yourself.....and then have someone do teh gear

 

[Voice of Reason]

For some reason I want to think the stock stall is 1600. But I'm not sure about the STR. Back when I had an automatic LS1 TA there were huge discussions on their boards around what stall was best and how the different STR options would make the car feel. It's too bad the auto Mustangs are stereotyped into the category of Mom's grocery getter and they never get any good discussion.

 

[gcomfx.com]

We are the red headed step children (AODE) of the red headed step children (94-95s).

And yeah the stock stall is 1600-1800. Which on nitrous is great. I could launch on the bottle and it would fly without really roasting the tires.

Now I have to launch, then turn on the juice. I say now... with the new engine. I may be waiting even longer to turn on the juice. Until I get some more suspension.

 

[GreenStangGT]

We are the red headed step children (AODE) of the red headed step children (94-95s).

And yeah the stock stall is 1600-1800. Which on nitrous is great. I could launch on the bottle and it would fly without really roasting the tires.

Now I have to launch, then turn on the juice. I say now... with the new engine. I may be waiting even longer to turn on the juice. Until I get some more suspension.

I'll start by saying that I have red hair, and your statement is extremely offensive. No, not really lol. Anyways, the stock stall is about 1700 like you said.

AODE's do get a horrible rap, but they can surprise some people if they are built well. With a shift kit and stall, plus some upgraded tranny parts, my car will never be the reason I lose a race. Not to mention it's much more consistent than a person shifting a manual will be overall.

 

[gcomfx.com]

Sorry old joke, my bro and sister were/are red headed. So is my daughter.

I get more races than many of my 5 speed buddies. If the AODE comment doesn't get the other driver excited they are going to whoop my arse... turning the neons under the car on will definitely get a race.

 

[GreenStangGT]

Yeah, no kidding. Especially if it's a another domestic beside ya! A SRT-4 pulled up beside me and asked if it was a stick or auto a few nights ago and when I told him it was an auto he asked me to race,... and then after the purge he decided that he didn't want to...

Sorry to hijack, this is still an interesting thread, continue...