Deenasty

1964 Chevelle ( Show car/ Occasional Track Use)
3:42 or 3:55 rear end gearing (in the future) stock 3:08 now.
Tranny Turbo 350

Engine:
355 cid sbc
Pro action 220cc heads
Vic Jr.
254/264@.050 .568/.592 flat tappet hyd. with the 1.6 rockers
Crane energizer 1.6 roller rockers
Guide plates
Cast crank with arp bolts on the main studs
Factory 5.7" rods with arp bolts
Forged pistons 11:1 compression

I dont want something tooo outrageous. B&M reccomends a hole-shot 3600. Edge Racing reccomends a 3000. Im lost. I dont want the tranny to be heating up bad, nor do I want it to be revving up really high in the freeway. Any suggestions or reccomendations would be a great help..

IHI

a nice 10" in the 36-4600 range would be about right since your already not using a matched combination of parts anyhow anything less than 4600 and your way under the curve, that's an awful big head and high revving cam to only be running 3.42/3.55 gears unless your tires are very short 24-26"max heigth.

I'm running a 10" TCI unit in my TH400 rated at 4600 but actually flashes to 5K on the hit and it's no different stop light to stop light than a regular convertor, with my 4.11's and 28" tire I rev about 3500 at 60-65mph on the hwy. tranney temps on the road never exceed 120* no matter what ambient temps are or freeway/in town driving. It only goes up (which any of them will) when I start to flat foot and play around beating on it. I literally have a hard time building any heat with this unit, weather it be on the street or at the track max temp I've seen going round robin is 200*. I've run 2 TCI convertors and both have performed flawlessly and made me quite a bit of money going rounds and winning to boot.

Feel weird pushing TCI units since I'd love to have a spec built ATI or BTE, but with the great sucess they've given me I literally have nothing bad to say about them and would not hesitate for a second to run another one.

Deenasty

are you trying to say the motor is not going to perform well? This motor was ran already and ran low 12's in a 3800lb car. To me thats pretty good being that the car is primarily a show car. Yes there are better converters out there for 1/4 racing or better 60foots, but the converter that Edge is reccomending me (3000 with a 2.45 str) is more about what I was looking for. Its an all around great converter, where I can hammer it out the hole, achieve an awesome 60foot, and slow the car down to 1500rpm and deliver newspapers if I wanted to.

xpndbl3

that's a huge set of heads for such a small displacement and a huge cam for wanting such small gears. a 250 duration cam would want a 4000+ stall at least i would think. i'm choosing a 240 duration cam with a 3600 stall and I might be understalled even. I'm guessing a 250+ duration cam to be optimized would want 4000 stall plus tall gearing 4.10 etc to run the upper RPMs where those heads would have a change at runner velocity for what they're made for. For what it's worth, my buddy has 200cc protoplines on a 355 ci motor and has run high 11s with a solid cam in the 240 duration in a 3850 pound combo going down the track. He was also shifting at 6500+ rpm. if you want something you can deliver newspapers in, your head choice and cam choice are way out of whack for low rpms duties

Deenasty

would a smaller cam be better than? The motor that is currently in the car is a stock 350 with a mild port job heads, and a Comp 286H cam. Its a 236-236 .490 on 110. Would a 3600 or 4000 stall leave the line like a stock converter, or would it rev really high before actually moving? He is just trying to avoid tranny over temps, really high reving on the freeway.

IHI

A smaller duration cam would definataly be a better idea if he wants to use a smaller cam, currently the set-up you listed is geared more for a race set-up than a daily driver. I'm sure that motor does make great power currently, what I'm telling you is that for it to work even better is to match everything behind the motor so it all works efficently.

A higher stall does not mean the car will sit still until it reaches the advertised "flash rpm" point. Pending you use a good 9.5-10" convertor it will react no differently than your stock type convertor when leaving from a dead stop in town, car will accelerate just like it does stock. but when your ready to play, hae traction and then go WOT, this is when it will do it's job and "flash" upto/around the advertised flash point. Only when you get into loose 8" race convertors does the car start to act funny (like a snowmobile) when you have to give it a bunch of gas to get the thing to move.

Either get a higher rated stall to match the combination, or install a smaller cam and use the smaller stalls you've been recommended.

markinkc69z

I think the point trying to be made is that the right converter for your engine combination is going to be wrong for your highway gear plans. A converter reacts to how difficult the car is to move. Weight, tire diameter and rear gear are big factors that determine how a particular converter will act. The more difficult the car is to accellerate the higher the stall from any individual torque converter. This will translate into more slip and heat when driving which is tough to get under control. A lower gear, such as 4.10 will make the car easier to accellerate so the converter will not slip nearly as much.
A 3600 stall for instance would be completely different in a 4x4, a Camaro or installed into a lightweight Vega or Monza.

It would probably be too loose in a 4x4 with tall tires.
Just right in a medium weight Camaro that the converter was probably rated for.
It would probably be too tight in the Vega or Monza.

Damon

You can use high stall converters with tall gears but you'll be putting a lot of heat into the trans- invest in a good tranny cooler for sure. And don't be afraid of shifting it yourself when tooling around town- don't lug it in top gear at 40 MPH against a high stall converter. I've done it and it works but you'll probably get tired of it pretty quick, as I did.

That combo will definitely appreciate steeper gears. I'm thinking 3.73 at least.

You can drive a 3000 stall against that engine and it'll tool around town just fine. But from a pure performance standpoint I'd say at least 500RPM higher would be more like it along with the steeper gears.