Torque Converters performance vs stock

[bobtaz13]

So my 01 SSEi is in the trany shop. When he pulled it apart he found the torque converter was bad, and just went out of warranty. So now i can replace the (DACCO brand) converter for $165 or Get a performance converter from Intense with a drilled flex plate for $500. I can get (barrow) the money but is it worth it with my mods?

[willwren]

In my experience, figure out what stall you THINK you want, then go halfway back to stock. Driveability will be affected in daily use. I've driven 3 Bonnevilles with higher stall, and I didn't like 2 of them. One of them went back to stock within a year.

Mine is only a small step higher than stock (I don't recall what stall now, it's been about 3 years but I can probably look it up). In other words, just don't go too far if you want the car as a DD.

[2000Silverbullet]

I agree. Don't go higher than 2800 rpm stall. 2400 is stock and would be fine with stock gearing. 3000 is beginning to get bad for DD unless you have 3.7 final gearing.

[00Beast]

Paul, IIRC 1850 is stock, if I remember what Don told me. I would go no more than 2200 on your car if it's a Daily driver. sonoma_zr2 had a 3000 stall on his 97 and hated it. Don't go too wild, it won't be driveable.

[SuperSLE]

2750 was nice with 3.29 gears. I'm running a 3500 now with 3.69s and I don't notice a huge difference, but that's just me. Keep in mine my car is made for that high. Also Intense and ZZP have different numbers meaning different things so read about that.

[Jrs3800]

The stall speed will vary...

All of the 2.97, 3.06 and 3.33 GM FWD all had an 1897 Stall( 1900 pretty much ), But all of them would stall well over 2000, some 2200-2300... The stall also has to do with the weight of the vehicle and the amount of power made..

Depends on what the Mods are... Can't see your sig right now..

For most purposes a stock stall would be fine... But a couple hundred RPM's higher may not hurt either...

About the only GM 3800's that ever got the low stall speed( 1450 ) was the 2.84 and the 2.86 gear ratio

[alexcoqui]

But, are there diffrent choices when buying a stock one from gm? The reason I'm asking is because I too am rebuilding my tranny & i want to know what to tell the mechanic. Is there a diffrence between a converter from a 3.05 and a converter from a 3.29?

[2000Silverbullet]

Paul, IIRC 1850 is stock, if I remember what Don told me. I would go no more than 2200 on your car

No Ed, my stall is 2400 rpm. Have you ever stalled your car.......maybe yours is different! Mine has stalled at the same rpm since new.

[Jrs3800]

But, are there diffrent choices when buying a stock one from gm? The reason I'm asking is because I too am rebuilding my tranny & i want to know what to tell the mechanic. Is there a diffrence between a converter from a 3.05 and a converter from a 3.29?

No, for all intent purposes they have the same stall speed...

I am almost in the same boat and am going round and round as to what I need to do with the van... With the extra added power I have with the cam in the Van I can stall the converter higher then I can with my unmodded 3800's... The van has a stock stall of 1897, stalls a lot higher than that... But I think I am running through the Torque curve too quick with the 3.33 gears... The cam seems to produce more Torque all around than the stock cam so I am thinking about going to a 3.06 ratio... I think I will be doing the 3.06 with a stock stall( 1897 )

I think with the car you have, and the 3.29 gears you will be using? I would stick with a stock stall... 1900 Stall should be enough

[alexcoqui]

Cool, thanks.