I know the stock converter has a stall speed of something like 800 and I see lots of you guys running 1500 and up converters. Silly question but, whats the stall speed mean???

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85T/A 305/QJ work in progress.

 

A stall will help you launch faster off the line.If you have a stock cam, no need. But when you put in a bigger cam, you may start at looking to adding a stall. If the cam starts at 1800, get a 2000 stall which will put you in the pulling area faster.

Hope that helps some.....

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350 4 bolt main, Speed-O-Motive 383 stroker kit, re-sized rods ground for clearance,TRW Forged pistons,10.7:1 compression,HPC Coated RPM intake, Speed Demon 750 cfm carb,World Products Sportsman II heads,2.02/1.60 valves, Comp Cam 1.6 roller rockers, Comp Xtreme 284 cam,240/246@.050 with .540 lift,Crane pushrods,ATI damper,Proform HEI and MSD6A box,HPC coated 1 5/8 headers, 2.5" exhaust with 40 series mufflers,TH350 with B&M 3000 stall, Powertrax NoSlip Locker, 4.11 gears.

 

Stall speed refers to how high the torque converter will let the engine rev up. Say you've got a torque converter rated at 2000 rpm's. So, if you've got the rear wheels locked down, and give it gas, your engine will rev up to 2000rpm's. However, if you have a powerful engine, you'll get higher rpm's than what it's rated at.

A higher stall converter will let your engine spool up more, thus make more power, before that power is forced to go to the wheels, which generaly gives you better starts.

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89 iroc-z 305 tbi
k&n filtercharger, open element air filter. nuffin' else

 

Skip,

The Polecat is correct in his description of some of the advantages to a higher stall-speed rated torque converter. However, even without a cam change, a higher stall torque converter will deliver more power to the rear wheels by allowing the engien to operate in a higher power RPM band on launch.

Incidentally, the factory torque converters all had stall speed ratings (GM calls it 'K' factor) higher than 800RPM. If you remove the inspection cover on the flywheel, you might still be able to find and read the Alpha code tag (four-character assembly line RPO code) that will identify the converter.


The code is interpreted as follows:

1st Digit = Transmission application
* D = 1984-1/2 and up 700-R4, 4L60, 4L60E
* C = 1984 and earlier 700-R4, 200-4R, 200C, 325-4L
* B = 250C, 350C

2nd Digit = K-factor (stall speed)
* K = K-85, 1211 rpm
* G = K-100, 1397 rpm
* F = K-110, 1611 rpm
* E = K-115, 1654 rpm
* B = K-140, 2025 rpm

3rd Digit = Clutch and Damper assembly
* C = ? (stock '86 'vette)
* H = ? (stock '94+ Impala)
* L = ? (stock '95+ L35 Vortec S10 truck)

4th Digit = Rear cover
* C = 3 lug round
* D = 3 lug round
* E = 6 lug
* F = 3 lug square
* G = 3 lug square

As you can see, the lowest stall speed offered was around 1,200 RPM, and that was only in the land yacht chassis. Your 'F' body is likely more like 1,400-1,600 RPM.


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Later,
Vader
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"No matter how hard you try you can't stop us now..."
Adobe Acrobat Reader 4.0

 

well my brothers iroc has a g k factor and my 86 has a g k factor... i know this from lookin at it!

Steve

 

Thanks for all the gouge guys. I don't remember where I read about our stock converters but it was obviously wrong! Another addition to my quickly expanding library.

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85T/A 305/QJ work in progress.