Looking for advice on stall speed for my 87 gt vert. Car is mostly stock. Only mods are mac direct replacement headers, o/r h pipe and super 44s. Also has 1.60 rr on stock e7 heads and stock cam. Aod trans freshly rebuilt with performance automatic street/strip valve body and 4:10s in the rear. Car is daily driven so dont wanna go to crazy but want to have a decent launch. Also looking into aluminum driveshaft and hi rev governer to help rev out a bit longer since the gears make the shifts early. Any suggestions on stall speeds will be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!
Stall advice
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The converter in an automatic car is hands down the most important part of performance. My advice is to not take free advice on the internet for this one. Even the guys do the extreme budget builds are spending good money on a converter. The best converter you can get is a custom unit from PTC or a competitor. If that's not in your budget, you can get a reasonably close off the shelf converter from B&M, etc. Call around and see who has the best tech support. The important part is to be clear about what you want out of the car, your goals, expectations, etc.
Kurt
Kurt
HemiRick
I'd be looking at jacking under the house
converter choice is based on cam, I'd say a stock stall or slightly higher is best w a stock cam and heads..
I was thinking just like a 2400 stall or so.. just to liven it up a bit off the line. The gears make it fun in traffic but from a dead stop it still seems sluggish for the first 20 ft or so..
You need to think about your ultimate goals, specifically, are you going to keep your stock cam? The stock AOD stall speed is ~1800, so going to 2400 won't gain you much difference in performance to warrant the cost and effort to swap converters. If you keep the stock cam and your 4.10 gears, I'd choose a 2800/3000 stall, which you'll be able to feel a noticeable difference, and will be perfect for your 4.10 gears. I was looking at a Monster 3K converter for my '93 GT with an Explorer engine (GT-40P heads and intake) with cam and 3,27 gears. I do some highway driving at 75 mph, so I need the taller gears. Definitely get an auxiliary trans cooler.
Just about everyone who has used them has had one . They are terrible . Just do a search on google .
PTC is my vote for a real converter.
I put an Edge racing 3000rpm non-lockup in my '89 last year, along with the hi-rev governor and a Baumann shift kit. Night and day difference, the car went from bogging at part throttle and shifting way too early, to driving like an actual performance car. It was $565 for the converter. I went back in the transmission and changed the shift firmness from moderate to race since the converter tames the shifts at part throttle. The car had GT40p's/Gt40 intake/full exhaust and 3.73 gears when I did the converter. Stock HO cam. Talk to Andre at Edge racing about your goals.
I've heard good things about edge converters. How was the install of the hi rev governer kit? I am thinking of doing the same. In the process of doing head gaskets and water pump at the moment so its gonna be a bit before I get to the converter now.
I would bet the change you felt was the shift kit, not the converter. I have a totally stock AOD with a Lentech Street Terminator valve body. Following Lentech instructions on setting up TV cable gave shift points a little high and coasting down from speed was more race car like than I wanted so I readjusted cable to a softer point. Now a perfect balance of higher shift points a full throttle yet very reasonable a part throttle and nice when coasting down when speed zone drops.
Installing the hi rev governor was easy enough. Took 2hrs maybe?
I didn’t do them all at the same time. Baumann shift kit on moderate settings first, along with TV adjustment. Hi rev governor about a month later. New converter maybe 3 months after that. Then had to go back into the valve body and firm up shifts more and lower the 1/2 shift rpm a little to get everything where I want it.
The lentech is probably the way to go over a shift kit. But the converter made the most difference by far. If I remember correctly, the stock converter was 47 pounds and the new one a little over 30. The car drives almost like stock but gets into the power band much quicker.
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