i have pretty much narrowed it down to either a stall and shift kit, or some good heads. what does everyone think? also what are some good heads for about 1k?

 

some heads would be nice...


save up some more and you can get a T56 conversion...



but first, if needed, the money is always best spent taking care of what you have.. so nows the time to change the oil, tune her up, change fuel filter, O2 sensor, gear oil....


if ofcourse that hasnt already been done.

 

tune up and all has been done. as of right now im torn, the heads that i would want would probably reduce bottom end power a little, but i have bad valve seals so i might as will replace the heads right? im also planning on the lt4 hotcam, so eventually i will need both. i want a vigilante 2800 as far as stall goes. hmmm vigilante stall or protopline heads?

 

heads.

id rather have the power then the stall, then drive around with the converter and not have the power.

 

what could i expect to gain with heads both power and time wise? i know a convertor is good for about .5 not to sure about heads though,

 

Get the converter, you will love it. I got a 3200 vigilante in my LS1 and it rocks. best mod you can go to an auto and with good tires can knock off almost a full second. Besides, down the road if you decide to get heads it will work well with them.

 

The torque converter is one of the best mods you can do. However, if you plan on doing a lot of mods, the torque converter should be the last one you do. The reason for this is.... You want you torque converter to stall about 400-600 below where your torque peaks out at. Doing heads, cam, or intake can shift your torque curve upwards and then you will need a higher stall. So, I would recommend the heads and cam before the converter.

 

He has already stated that he wants a 2800 converter. Maybe he wants better street manners, who knows, but if he already knows what converter he is going to get then why not get it? Why would he want a converter that stalls 400-600 rpm below his torque peak?

 

Because that will give him the best performance. He is talking about ET's and a convertor that stalls 400-600 below the torque peak will give him exactly that.

 

Care to explain further why you would not want the converter to be matched to his torque peak, but instead 400-600 rpm below that? Doesn't make any sense.

 

You don't want to stall at your torque peak because you will only see the peak for a short time. Your biggest gains are 400-600 below. For example, if your torque peaks at 3400 which is where my torque peaked. If you are sitting at the line and you stall it to 3400, and I punch it off the line I would immediately be past my torque peak and dropping quickly. If I stall it about 600 below the torque peak which is were torque starts to level off prior to reaching it's peak I am it the sweet spot of the torque and I am able to get a great launch.

 

Get a set of Pro Topline Iron Pro Lightening heads. Shipped from summit assembled with the K1 kit, was $850. Then you'll need studs/guidplates/pushrods/gaskets so there is $1000.... and if I were you I'd save up another $300 and get a camshaft while they heads are off it's an easy time to do it.

 

I was going to say the same thing.

I got my aluminum ones from www.proshaver.com for $875 shipped, they were on sale though. it's worth checking out, either way, I think they're cheaper than summit for iron ones too

BTW- the ones from proshaver come with guide plates and screw in studs.

 

I dont buy into that. So by what you are saying, an L03 which has a torque peak of 255 lb at 2400 rpm would get it's bet launch with the stock stall? The same for a LT1, it's torque peak is at 2400 rpm as well, and those engines work great with stalls even above 3,000. You want to launch at the torque peak and then rely on your hp to pull you through the rest of the gear. I would almost guarantee you would pull better times with a 3400 stall than a 2800 stall.

 

This is just the information that was given to be by Yank Converters when I called them. You are right that the LT1 torque peaks out around 2200-2400, but most LT1's come with manual transmissions. I know a few guys that have put high stall converters into there LT1 autos and lost time. The STR has A LOT to do with the converter also. Low STR = good topend, bad lowend. High STR = Light the tires, bad top end.

 

With good tires the higher stall will give you better launches and not effect top end at all. I dunno why they would give info like that, maybe for a street car a lower stall would be better for all around driving, but for the strip you wouldn't want it to stall that much below the torque peak. Oh well, I'm no expert, but just by looking at the obvious it would seem that way? Nother thing to consider if you decide to get the heads is you will need to get custom tuning as well. Just something to consider. Your stock cam will be too small for them as well. It's not one of those things you just bolt on and go.

 

You can get a high flowing set of iron heads and still have lots of money left over for the cam. The pro lightning iron heads look like a really good deal. The heads generally come with decent springs and screw in studs so the only cost for the cam should be the cam. A $750 dollar set of aftermarket iron heads flowing over 240 cfm and a $240 comp cam like a 270HR or maybe 276hr would add more than 50 horse power easy.

Torque converters are great for stop light and drag racing. But once you are already rolling and on the highway there is no substitute for horsepower.