Okay, most mods have some form of trade-off. Better air intake but more dust getting into the engine. Better torque to the ground but worse gas milage. And so on. But what is the trade-off with a higher-stall torque converter? Obviously it allows the engine to get higher in the rev range, for a better take off. What's the drawback?

 

Obviously the gas mileage, mainly with to high of a stall. Transmission will constantly search for the right gear and rev around town in a daily driver. I find a stall around 2400-2600 a good comparamise. Anything 3000 or over would get on my nerves in a daily driver. If you slowly step on the gas you'll still be sitting there til you hit a higher rpm.

 

I don't think them mileage hit is very bad for mild street/strip converter. It is also not true that you have to go to the full stall speed to move the car from a stop - my car still creeps forward without touching the throttle. Honestly, I don't think you would even suspect my car had aftermarket converter in it unless you jump directly out of a stock C5, until you tromp the throttle and blow the tires off. Yank 3000, 3200, and 3500 converters work very well for street cars from what I've read and experienced. Go for it!

 

Drawback is that it may effect your warranty, oh and it will burn up your rubber at insane rates. :lol: :lol: :lol: :yesnod: :smash: :crazy:

 

Hmmmmm, Let's see, drawbacks huh? Well....spinning the tires at will and launching like rocket on nitro methane and yeah you will
need a set of good sticky tires. You probably will experience lower E.T.'s too! :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Just do it! :chevy :chevy :chevy :chevy :chevy

 

I feel as though I should toss in my 2 cents.

I have a 00 C5 Coupe modestly modified (Vortex, TTS Headers, Bridge, MAF, B&B Exhaust, etc). After I finished all the bolt on modifications I upgraded the Torque Converter (from stock to a Yank 3500) and rear end gears (3.15 to 3.42). This car was a daily driver for me and it ran awesome once the tanny was setup right.

Honestly, I did have a problem with the original installer’s shop which caused the tranny to be replaced, :mad YES a brand new tranny had to be put in @ 30,000 miles, but this was due to improper installation of the converter. After this disaster I had the car towed to my Chevrolet dealer where they replaced the entire rear end (tranny and all), the performed the new converter install w/ gears, my service guys are awesome. When I first drove the car I was literally speechless, it through me back in my seat like a rocket (and left A LOT of rubber). :D It was one of the best upgrades I have ever done on the vehicle.

As far as what you can expect, I was getting 19-20mpg before this upgrade and am now only seeing around 16-17mpg. I live in So. Cal and the temperatures are pretty extreme, before the install my tranny temp never saw greater that 210 now it sees around 230 normally (nothing an aftermarket tranny cooler can’t fix). As for tires well, I go through a rear set every 9-10,000 miles (BFG KD’s), granted I am a spirited driver. I do recommend the PCM to be reprogrammed for the gears, your car will have a tendency to hit the NR sensor between shifts not to mention your shift points and speedo will be screwy.

The end result is an awesome vehicle that I used as a daily driver afterwards for 20,000 more miles with no problems. Not even 1 slip code. It is amazing you can have a daily driver running 12.8’s @ the track on street tires and still have the reliability.

Hope this helps you out some. I now have a 02 Z06 and absolutely love it but both are a blast to drive. If you have any questions feel free to e-mail me.

cr