High Stall Converter?
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Banned Loser
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From: They say you learn from your mistakes, I must be a genius
2017 Corvette of the Year
2016 C4 of Year Finalist
Creator of the "Original" whining and crying thread
St. Jude Donor '14-'15-'16-'17
High Stall Converter?
Has anyone here installed a stall converter on their C4? Pros/cons? I have a '96 LT1 and am not really looking to mod the car but would like to get a little more torque to the rear wheels while still keeping it a good daily driver. Thanks in advance.
Safety Car
Joined: Jun 2009
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From: OC Calif
St. Jude Donor '10
I was thinking the same, but leaning towards rear gear swap. Seems like less work/cost. I understand you'll get that 'seat of the pants' feel when you jump on it. Don't know how that translates to torque, but if you feel it when you mash the pedal, it must be there?
Thread Starter
Banned Loser
Joined: Aug 2009
Posts: 53,419
Likes: 250
From: They say you learn from your mistakes, I must be a genius
2017 Corvette of the Year
2016 C4 of Year Finalist
Creator of the "Original" whining and crying thread
St. Jude Donor '14-'15-'16-'17
I had thought of gears also but didn't want to sacrifice gas mileage.
Race Director
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 10,641
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From: Slidell Louisiana
I have to chime in since the advice given doesn't match my LT1 C4 experience.
This 1995 corvette has been my Daily driver since the end of 2004. I've been on corvette forum for a while and I have noticed that L98s and LT1 owners give different advice, since the two cars respond differently to mods. My car runs pretty well and has great manners. As a matter of fact I skipped out of work a little early yesterday and put a little over 300 miles on it before returning home.....
The 4l60E is a locking torque converter so once at speed converter locks there is no difference in highway mileage.
A cheap stall converter probably will mess with your city driving however, a good stall converter probably won't hurt you much... (now if you start to use the performance aspect of the stall on your everyday drives your mileage will suffer)
A quality torque converter will not affect the driveability in a negative way. Don't go with a cheap converter, you will live to regret using a cutdown converter. Not all converters are created the same even from quality companies the 3500 vigilante in my 95 has great manners and acts tighter than the 2800 midwest it replaced.
If you go to a HIGH stall converter you will need a decent transmission cooler.
However, I would not install a higher stall converter unless I was putting in a cam..and or lower gears.
LT1's love gears....with a stall and gears you should have a 12 second car (with decent air)
Check out my signature....big lumpy cam, ported head, 3500 stall etc ....and right now, my 16 year old daughter is out ALONE driving my vette. Proper parts choices and a great tuner made my C4 pretty mellow until the gas pedal is floored.
Mike
This 1995 corvette has been my Daily driver since the end of 2004. I've been on corvette forum for a while and I have noticed that L98s and LT1 owners give different advice, since the two cars respond differently to mods. My car runs pretty well and has great manners. As a matter of fact I skipped out of work a little early yesterday and put a little over 300 miles on it before returning home.....
The 4l60E is a locking torque converter so once at speed converter locks there is no difference in highway mileage.
A cheap stall converter probably will mess with your city driving however, a good stall converter probably won't hurt you much... (now if you start to use the performance aspect of the stall on your everyday drives your mileage will suffer)
A quality torque converter will not affect the driveability in a negative way. Don't go with a cheap converter, you will live to regret using a cutdown converter. Not all converters are created the same even from quality companies the 3500 vigilante in my 95 has great manners and acts tighter than the 2800 midwest it replaced.
If you go to a HIGH stall converter you will need a decent transmission cooler.
However, I would not install a higher stall converter unless I was putting in a cam..and or lower gears.
LT1's love gears....with a stall and gears you should have a 12 second car (with decent air)
Check out my signature....big lumpy cam, ported head, 3500 stall etc ....and right now, my 16 year old daughter is out ALONE driving my vette. Proper parts choices and a great tuner made my C4 pretty mellow until the gas pedal is floored.
Mike
Last edited by aboatguy; Jul 10, 2010 at 03:46 PM.
Thread Starter
Banned Loser
Joined: Aug 2009
Posts: 53,419
Likes: 250
From: They say you learn from your mistakes, I must be a genius
2017 Corvette of the Year
2016 C4 of Year Finalist
Creator of the "Original" whining and crying thread
St. Jude Donor '14-'15-'16-'17
I have to chime in since the advice given doesn't match my LT1 C4 experience.
The 4l60E is a locking torque converter so once at speed converter locks there is no difference in highway mileage. A cheap stall converter probably will mess with your city driving however, a good stall converter probably won't hurt you much... (however, you may start to use the stall and then mileage will suffer)
A quality torque converter will not affect the driveability in a negative way. Don't go with a cheap converter, you will live to regret using a cutdown converter. Not all converters are created the same even from quality companies the 3500 vigilante in my 95 has great manners and acts tighter than the 2800 midwest it replaced.
If you go to a HIGH stall converter you will need a decent transmission cooler.
However, I would not install a higher stall converter unless I was putting in a cam..and or lower gears.
LT1's love gears....with a stall and gears you should have a 12 second car (with decent air)
Check out my signature....big lumpy cam, ported head, 3500 stall etc ....and right now, my 16 year old daughter is out ALONE driving my vette. Proper parts choices and a great tuner made my C4 pretty mellow until the gas pedal is floored.
Mike
The 4l60E is a locking torque converter so once at speed converter locks there is no difference in highway mileage. A cheap stall converter probably will mess with your city driving however, a good stall converter probably won't hurt you much... (however, you may start to use the stall and then mileage will suffer)
A quality torque converter will not affect the driveability in a negative way. Don't go with a cheap converter, you will live to regret using a cutdown converter. Not all converters are created the same even from quality companies the 3500 vigilante in my 95 has great manners and acts tighter than the 2800 midwest it replaced.
If you go to a HIGH stall converter you will need a decent transmission cooler.
However, I would not install a higher stall converter unless I was putting in a cam..and or lower gears.
LT1's love gears....with a stall and gears you should have a 12 second car (with decent air)
Check out my signature....big lumpy cam, ported head, 3500 stall etc ....and right now, my 16 year old daughter is out ALONE driving my vette. Proper parts choices and a great tuner made my C4 pretty mellow until the gas pedal is floored.
Mike
Thread Starter
Banned Loser
Joined: Aug 2009
Posts: 53,419
Likes: 250
From: They say you learn from your mistakes, I must be a genius
2017 Corvette of the Year
2016 C4 of Year Finalist
Creator of the "Original" whining and crying thread
St. Jude Donor '14-'15-'16-'17
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Burning Brakes
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 1,176
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From: Bend in the Brook Texas
St. Jude Donor '09
I have to chime in since the advice given doesn't match my LT1 C4 experience.
This 1995 corvette has been my Daily driver since the end of 2004. I've been on corvette forum for a while and I have noticed that L98s and LT1 owners give different advice, since the two cars respond differently to mods. My car runs pretty well and has great manners. As a matter of fact I skipped out of work a little early yesterday and put a little over 300 miles on it before returning home.....
The 4l60E is a locking torque converter so once at speed converter locks there is no difference in highway mileage.
A cheap stall converter probably will mess with your city driving however, a good stall converter probably won't hurt you much... (now if you start to use the performance aspect of the stall on your everyday drives your mileage will suffer)
A quality torque converter will not affect the driveability in a negative way. Don't go with a cheap converter, you will live to regret using a cutdown converter. Not all converters are created the same even from quality companies the 3500 vigilante in my 95 has great manners and acts tighter than the 2800 midwest it replaced.
If you go to a HIGH stall converter you will need a decent transmission cooler.
However, I would not install a higher stall converter unless I was putting in a cam..and or lower gears.
LT1's love gears....with a stall and gears you should have a 12 second car (with decent air)
Check out my signature....big lumpy cam, ported head, 3500 stall etc ....and right now, my 16 year old daughter is out ALONE driving my vette. Proper parts choices and a great tuner made my C4 pretty mellow until the gas pedal is floored.
Mike
This 1995 corvette has been my Daily driver since the end of 2004. I've been on corvette forum for a while and I have noticed that L98s and LT1 owners give different advice, since the two cars respond differently to mods. My car runs pretty well and has great manners. As a matter of fact I skipped out of work a little early yesterday and put a little over 300 miles on it before returning home.....
The 4l60E is a locking torque converter so once at speed converter locks there is no difference in highway mileage.
A cheap stall converter probably will mess with your city driving however, a good stall converter probably won't hurt you much... (now if you start to use the performance aspect of the stall on your everyday drives your mileage will suffer)
A quality torque converter will not affect the driveability in a negative way. Don't go with a cheap converter, you will live to regret using a cutdown converter. Not all converters are created the same even from quality companies the 3500 vigilante in my 95 has great manners and acts tighter than the 2800 midwest it replaced.
If you go to a HIGH stall converter you will need a decent transmission cooler.
However, I would not install a higher stall converter unless I was putting in a cam..and or lower gears.
LT1's love gears....with a stall and gears you should have a 12 second car (with decent air)
Check out my signature....big lumpy cam, ported head, 3500 stall etc ....and right now, my 16 year old daughter is out ALONE driving my vette. Proper parts choices and a great tuner made my C4 pretty mellow until the gas pedal is floored.
Mike
That's solid advice and mirrors my experience since I upgraded the LT1 in my 94.
