I want to do a big mod for my 97 z28 a4 and I hear great things about torque converters. I was wondering if i need to get one of the expensive vigilante ones or can i get a cheaper one off of summit? I figure i would get the tc and a trans cooler and possibly a transgo shift kit. I currently have free mods, corsa, and a moroso cai, with some other small things. I probably wont do anything else major for a while possibly headers and maybe a cam.

My second question is what stall should i get? I have 2.73 gears and like i said probably not going to do huge mods at the time. I was also wondering if tcs do anything more than just letting you get off the line at higher rpms. Does it do anything while shifting between gears?

 

I would get a set of 3.42's before a converter for a street car. I think you will like the results more.

Rich

 

^^^^^^^^what he said. i think you should do gears first, u will be alot more happier now! might as well do 3.73

 

Usually the TC will soften the shifts, thats why mst people also throw a shift kit in the tranny at the same time as the TC... Just make sure you install the cooler too. I know you mentioned it. Have fun! -Jeff

 

Do i need to get an expensive vigilante or will cheaper ones work well enough for my intentions?

 

as you can see in my sig i have tci which is in the middle and now i am going to yank. i say spend the xtra 1-200$ now instead of paying it twice down the road!

 

Why are you upgrading? Whats the differences between them, if you dont mind me asking?

 

actually my tranny has been slippin gmore then it should lately , and today i took it back to the guy that built it. he took it for a 15 minute drive with a scanner hooked up. came back and said it seems ot be fine on the computer end, but the stall is slipping too much. basically he told me for what i am doing with the car i need to buy a better TC. And he said to drive it normal cuz the TCI is going out slowly but surely, told me to drive to minumum till i can get it to his shop to put a new one in. so this time around i am goin with the yank 3000 stealth. it cost 525 + shipping.
if u want u can give me ur email andi can give u a pretty basic drawing to make u understand how they work and y there is a price difference. up to you.

p.s. buy a yank

 

I went with a 2800 vig off the boards nearly new.The vig are ok with nitrous some of the cheaper ones aren't and I will likely add some spray to my z in near future.
I was thinking midwest but they seemed to be as much new as vig.And tci didn't seem to be nitrous ready you needed to get it as option I think.

I also changed out my 2.73 gears to 3.42.Big difference around town and still ok on highway.Not sure how much I would like the 3.73 if you do lots of highway but they are still liveable in that regard since we have overdrives.

I just got the 3.42 for really cheap with carrier.If you have 3.23 already a chnage up to 3.42 may not be worth it and then 3.73 would be more noticeable.
The nice thing about gears is the car feels much better especially around town and pretty sure picked up three tenths or so at the track with them.I am hoping to pick up another 5 tenths or so with the stall.

 

Can anybody tell me what the str #s mean? I am thinking of a 3200-3400 stall, I dont know too much or not, but I have no idea about the str #.

 

From what I understand the higher the str the harder the converter will hit the tires.So unless you are on drag tires the higher str are usually found on the lower stall speeds.I think my vig has 2.5 str but not 100% sure.

Ls1 seem to need a bit higher stalls than lt1 cars so would think a 3200 to 3500 should be perfect for you.And would think the str would be more like 2.0 in those.

 

Thanks for the info, any other input.

 

Do it right, buy the Vig

DO NOT, DO NOT.... buy a Midwest converter

i had nothing but problems with mine from day 1, repaired it - then it went bad and ruined my transmission

beware!

 

Also, what about the size of the conv(9.5",10"),and the amount of discs(1,2,3). Pls reply soon, I see Thunder Racing is running a sale and they ask these questions.

 

Is a 2.5 str too much for the street on a 3200-3500 conv?It is a daily driver, put I'm not afraid of driving it hard!