Getting ready for this spring when I get Bone Evil out of storage.
I have a pro torque 3500 stall torque convertor now with stock gearing. I overheated the tranny last summer with all the hiway miles getting down to wcbf. After a tranny flush and fluid/filter we added a tranny cooler and I had no further problems with the tranny.
However it does shake a bit in OD just before lockup and operates at about 180*f which seems high. I would guess this to be tc slippage but didnt have it on a tech 2 to confirm but have had my doubts since Intense quit selling them because of customer complaints of premature failure.

Now I have a few mods planned and will be doing the cam this spring and full exhaust. I also want to go to 3.29 gears and upgrade to the gen3 lsd.
I drive mostly highway miles (high speed) with several trips to the track each year, I want a strong Torque convertor for the strip but still want to have trouble free highway cruising?
What size of tc should I get? I feel the 3500 is too big for the highway and makes too much heat, I was thinking 3000 or 3250.
Thanks for any thoughts or insights.

I have a 2800 RPM stall with 3.29 gears and love it.

As you raise the stall speed your tranny temps will rise, even a 200 to 300 RPM rise in stall speed has a significant effect on temps. I have driven many V8 with high stall speeds and this lead to me to be conservative for a street application. I think a 3500 stall with 3.29 gears for someone that drives a lot of highway miles with an occaisional drag would become tiresome fast.

My $0.02

Cheers,

3500 is too loose for a daily driver. I would go 2200 to 2600 flash stall for street and lockup stall of 1700-1900; it also depends on your final ratio and tire size too. Also, get the converter from a reputable builder such as ATI.

O'Neil, as you know our stock converters have a 2400 rpm stall.
If I were you I would go with a 3000 rpm stall.

2000SilverBullet Said:
You say your torque converters stall to 2400, however, do you know the lock up RPM??
You can have a 2400 RPM flash, but a lock up lets say at 1100 RPM; a converter with a flash of 2800 RPM and a lock up of 1900 will go faster.

just so ya know i've had 3 cars with this issue (stock) one turned out to be a cracked housing on the TCC solenoid which was replaced with a Sonnax (i believe) aluminum housing TCC solenoid the other two had worn out TCC inside the converter (both of these had been "rebuilt" and as near as i can tell they had installed the orig TC without cutting it apart and checking them out internally...

also dont forget there are the newer carbon fiber TCC materials designed to be used with the PWM of the the TCC for a soft lockup...you cannot put the older kevlar TCC material equipped converters in those transmissions as it will destroy the clutch material in short order...however you can (from what i've heard) put the carbon fiber TCC/TC into the older trans though without TCC PWM it locks up harsher (feels like a 5th gear).

good luck. James

PS I love my 4500 stall in my 74 Nova thank god its not street legal

Both Intense & ZZP used to carry the protorque and both have since quit carrying it due to reliability problems. This is the torque convertor we have in the GTP (except its a 3000 stall), and after I want to say 2 years (can't remember exactly) it finally started to go this summer and it needs to replaced.. The lock up speed seemed to be pretty good for the street especially with the 3.29 gears. It also seemed to work well at the track too. We have since decided to go to a 2750 stall to make the car a little more streetable and it still should do pretty well at the track due to the flat torque curve these engines have. You also have to remember that the higher the stall the more drivetrain power loss you will have due to slippage. I would recommend a 3000ish stall though.

Also, I never knew you replaced the trans in that car, must've missed those posts. Did the original trans go or did you just decide it was time for an upgrade? Just wondering because I think you're about the only 2000+ with similar miles to our SSEi on here (at least you used to be up there in the same mileage range) and I'm just wondering if your original trans failed or what.

Shawn

Yeah the original trans died. It didnt go bam but just left with no notice.
As it turns out it was the sprag and 4th clutch. Good tranny though I still had 2nd gear and drove it home over 500miles, parked it for the winter and then drove it here 300 miles in the spring after we moved then had it rebuilt.

I want a good size for the track but I put a lot of miles on the highway getting there and yes my car has a lot of miles...somewhere around 150k.

I think you need more training O'Neil Come to Montreal and you can try mine

Cheers,