With all this talk of the LE Heads and Cam packages, it's been making me think about doing it. Unfortunatly I do share this car with my dad and after my little TC experience I don't think I'm going to be able to get another one. (installed a 2800 stall and 3 days later had no 3rd or 4th) Sure was fun for those 3 days I'll tell ya.

Anyway I was wondering if it is possiable to make 390+rwhp granted that the right setup was configured for the car and a good tune.Any advice on this?

 

390 rwhp on the stock torque converter? Sure it's possible, a stock converter won't suck much power if any out. With a setup aggressive enough to get you almost 400 to the wheels, that thing sure will be a dog off the line with the stock converter though

Get a midwest 2800 stall lockup converter.

 

You ever get any sort or traction with a stock stall you will baloon it and it will be T O A S T E D

 

Certainly possible.... but high stall cam only cars will make you cry at the track.

 

That much power with a stock TC and you will damage the TC and take out the tranny again, a good high stall converter is actually good for the tranny, lighter and acts as a shock absorber of sorts.

 

I guess it IS POSSIBLE but the car would be pretty slow taking off and not much fun to drive. Most of the bcams that are required to make 390 RWHP will usually make HP from 2000 RPM up and will possibly make LESS TQ below 1500 RPM. Since the torque converters stall speed is directly related to torque, less TQ at this RPM will cause the converter to stall LESS than with a milder or stock cam.

A better combination would probably be a GM 845 cam or cc 305 cam that is a lot better suited for a stock converter. You will probably be able to make 350 to 370 RWHP (depending on other mods, etc) but the TQ curve will start sooner and the car will be faster with this set up and stock converter than a 390 RWHP car with a larger cam that makes higher in the RPM range.

These cams mentioned above will actually pass emissions with no problems as well if that matters. If you are running stock gears in the rear end, the milder cam is sounding better all of the time.

If you are sharing the car with your dad, he would probably MUCH rather drive this set up.

Lloyd Elliott
972-617-5671
NightTrain66@msn.com

 

A HOTcam would also be good for this. Even with ported heads I have not noticed much of a drop in low end torque at all. I was still able to lug the car up moderate hills at 1500 rpm with the converter locked.