It's mod time.

Which do you think would i benefit the most from? keeping ET in mind. I can get Pacesetter longtubes or a TCI 3500 stall with cooler for right about the same amount of money. (Add about $175 for the mail order tune for the longtubes though.)

I think that either mod will get me in the low 13's right now. I would love to break 12's with just a stall but i dont think it's gonna happen. What do you guys think i should get right now. Both mods are coming just a while apart from each other.

 

You don need a mail order tune with the long tubes. You'll just get get an ses light. I never tuned mine, and it ran great. Sure, there is power to be had with a tune, but you can wait until you have the money or finish the rest of your mods.

 

E/t wise, the stall would get you further. It's really a toss up, I would go for the longtubes because my first priority would be to get the motor breathing a bit better external-wise, but the stall will definitely create a noticible difference. The car will be a lot funner to drive with a high stall TC. Either is a very good choice, as long as you plan on doing both I don't think it really matters. You won't need a PCM tune yet, so don't worry about that.

Pacesetters are good, but if you have the dough go for the Kooks.

edit- Were those dyno numbers on a Mustang dyno?

 

same thing I was wondering? If they aren't then my 209k
z28 must really suck on the dyno........

 

I was wondering because I've seen many LT1s put down ~270 rwhp before...

Sorry for the hijack, just a side thought.

 

Ok a quick stall question since I've never installed one. Wouldnt a 2800 stall not start pulling the car until you reached 2800 rpm's? Once again Ive never had one so I dont know. But if thats how it works, wouldnt it seem like the tranny wasnt working and revving high?

 

The numbers were on a dynojet. You have to remember it's an A4.

240 rwhp + 18-20% reduction for A4 = ~290 rwhp

edit: just saw i dont have "A4" in my sig..lol

 

^^a 2800 stall would be like driving a manual car and slipping the clutch until around 2800 rpm then releasing your foot off the clutch pedal completely.

It's not as bad as i described it though. You'll like it. I'd go with a 3500 if you're not planning on power adder mods in the future. From what i've read 3500 is the only way to go with a stall on a stock car.

 

I would go longtubes now with a tune and get a good converter later I would not put the TCI into that list. Either should be tuned but neither "requires" it.
As far as drivability my Caprice with a mild ZZ3 cam with the idle bumped up a little for that pulls harder at idle with a 2800 stall Edge than my stock Roadmaster wagon(same engine and tranny gears just stock) and my wife's stock '03 Impala. Once you go above that drivability can start to suffer a bit but it is all in the name of performance right. keep in mind too that when I say how great the drivability of my 2800 stall is that is in a Caprice which is heavier which should make the drivability worse and I ran it for some time with 2.93s and even towed a light boat like that. It would not suprize me for a 3000stall in an f-body to exibit the same drivability I get.
Gears also add to the drivability of a stall, once I put in 3.42s(I drive a lot like 20-25K a year) the drivability got even better.

 

My 96 vert came with 2.73s..they suck..BAD!!! First I put in some 3.42 out of a manual car .Big improvement think got like 4 tenths in the quarter. I went from 15.0 to 14.3 with gears and magnaflow and similar 60fts but did have nittos on the 14.3 trip to the track but wasn't heating them up just driving them like they were on street tires that day.

Just today got my vigilante 2800 installed. When I picked up the car from tranny shop I thought they had made a mistake. My car felt the same as before just cruising around. I was expecting a pretty loose converter like my 80 trans am which I also put 3.42 gears into. I was wrong. The vig 2800 seems very tight. I then took it and tried some launches off the line and flashing it and stalling it up. Quite a difference and street tires are now pretty much useless. I almost wished I had gone up to a 3000 or 3200 although hear the vig stall at about 200 to 400 more than their rating anyway. I could easily live with a 3000 to 3200 vigilante I think but the 2800/3.42 combo I have is very streetable and I almost call it invisible. Its there buy if you didn't know it was you woudn't if you know what I am saying.

Some mods can ruin the driveabilty of the car .My combo just works together.

Now headers are also a good mod .I did take off my longtubes on my 99 though.The reduction in ground clearance and annoying ticking sound they made got on my nerves so yanked them off and also likley going turbo on my ls1.

I may go for mac mids on my vert. Ground clearance is normal ,plug access is much better and woudln't expect much ticking from the mids ,not as bad as longtubes.But headers do work too. But I like my stall a lot and got it used off this board..so far so good!!

 

I would save my money and get the vigilante stall converter or yank. I have a vigilante and it made a huge differance in my car.

 

Why does no one have anything good to say about TCI? I know alot of people running a TCI converter and have had no problems. There's tons on this board that run a TCI. That Vigi and Yank are way over priced. Why pay $900 for a converter when you could only pay $500 and get close to the same thing? If i was bracket racing and the need for a billet machined converter housing was necessary, then i'd buy a Vigi.

 

Lots of guys like their brands.I always ran b and m in my old muscle cars and have a newer one in my 80 and so far its fine a bit loose but works good and it might be lose from the torque of my 400 blue block.

I think lots of guys like midwest and tci is bought a lot also.The vig and yank are expensive as heck knew.I snapped one of the board for reasonable so am happy with that. Is it better than the cheaper ones? I don't know.Its pretty tight around town and works fine when you put the pedal down.I have heard they can be slow to lockup but only in really cold weather and my car don't see really cold weather.

Heck some guys get stalls made by their local tranny shop and seem happy.Whatever floats your boat.