I did a lot of research but still am a little unclear on what to get so maybe someone can help me. I have a 99 formula A4 with dynomouth installed and TSP lid/SSRA ordered and arriving any day now. My research indicates that the best bang for the buck mod I can get is a torque converter.

I have decided for now to stay with stock gears and I'm not doing headers/ORY anytime soon either. So with only mods being ram air, lid and dynomouth plus add to the mix that this is a daily driver for the next year or two anyway. My questions are:

1). which stall? (I was thinking 2800, 3200 or 3500 either vig or yank and a trans cooler for added piece of mind)

2). Will I need to worry about suspension/rear end upgrades or will I be ok with stock?

3). Will this cause my transmission to lose a lot of it's lifespan, a little of it's lifespan or none at all?

Thanks

 

I'm not sure how to answer, cuz i have some of the same questions. But I do know this, you would be wise to get a lower stall convertor because your car is mostly stock, and no beefed up tranny or rear end. I'd say 2800 or 3200. No more. Some people have no problems with a 3500 or higher on the street, but some people have had catastrophic failures because of a really high stall convertor.

I think I might go to the dark side and get one, only like a 2800 or so.

 

I seriously recommend you find people around your area to test drive their converter equipt cars, no one on the internet can show you how a converter will feel and if you will like it. Only you will know what you can tolerate.

Having said that, here are my responses to your questions (and some suggestions).

What stall for a minor bolt on car? Most choose Vig converter for the tight street feeling, either a 2800 if you don't plan to run sticky tires (drag radials at most) or the Vig3200 (like I do) if you plan to go to the track with ET Streets or stickier tires. Yank also makes a good street/strip converter, the SS3600. You can also check out MidWest Converters or TCI units (as well as Phoenix and TCS converters). Things you should consider are not just the stall, but the STR. This makes the converter fell looser and not 'hit' the tires hard (lower STR number) or fell tight and 'hit' the tires hard (higher STR number). So long as you do not exceed a stall of about 3500 with an STR of 2.1, you will be fine with your OEM suspension and drivetrain. If you are worried about the lifespan of your tranny, I recommend you use a tranny cooler regardless of the converter you select. It is just peace of mind. I've had my converter on my SS for over 60K miles. I only broke my trans and diff due to very hard launches at the track with ET Streets. I would go every Wednesday and Friday nights, easily 40K miles of hard drag strip launches. That was over 35K miles and I have had no problems what so ever. Only thing is, if you develope mis-fires (like I have) a loose converter can aggravate the situation and cause your vehicle to go to limp home mode (stuck in second gear only). I have ATAP and can delete any SES lights that come on. I am going to get LS1-Edit to delete the mis-fire detection so I will no longer have this problems. I think if I raised the idle about 100-200 rpms would do the trick as well. Good luck with you choice, a conveter is a great thing for A4s. Trust me!

 

Thanks guys. I think I'll try the vig 3200 with a trans cooler. I have a friend who keeps telling me I'll blow my trans within three months but I think I can squeeze six months out of it

Thanks again for the input,

 

will a 2800 work with 3.42 A4 with DR's?