Thread: ? what gear, and what stall to go with?

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Hey guys, im fairly new to the domestic side. Long time import guy. Anywho. I have a 68 camaro with a 383, TH400 and 12 bolt 4:10's right now. Well the motor is half done. While i got it out i want to change the stall on my convertor and change the gears in the rear end. What should I go with for a stall and rear end. The 4:10 is usless on the highway and i liek to be able to drive it on the highway. Im not sure of the stall on the convertor i have but its prob stock. I was thinkin around the 3.7ish or 3.5 ish for the rear end and a 2k'ish stall. Its mostly a night and weekend cruser but it will see the strip on ocation. Thanks for any help guy's.

Can't be much help on the converter, I'm a geezer and still run 4 and 5 speeds. Instead of sacrificing the launch a set of 4.11's give you, you might want to consider a Gearvendor's Overdrive unit. They are kind of spendy, but work great on the street. JMO

Torque converter selection (for optimal ET's anyway) isn't an exact science. Best starting point is a stall speed equal to peak torque. I use companies like JW that will give you one free re-stall within the first 90 days. Gear selection is also dependent on dyno results.

Best advice? Leave in the gear and converter you have now, hit the dyno, then choose properly.

Not trying to knock anybody, but stay away from the dyno operators who steer towards FWD (ricer). Different way of thinking and I've seen quite a few with more money than sense buy dyno's and hang out their shingle as "experts". Go to a place that drag races regularly and you feel comfortable with. Ask a bunch of questions, set your dyno date and enjoy!

Since you say you want to cruise the highway, you are just like the rest of us...you want it all too. That's Cool...but just realize there will be some sort of sacrifice to max the launch and maintain the highway cruise.

I have to admit, I'm a 3-Pedal Geezer too (like Dave Severson...I like the 5 & 6 speeds with the 4.10s or 4.11s). It has been years since I have run an automatic. Only after my knee gives out will I swap trannys. But thats a whole nuther post...

I also think highly of the Gear Vendors...but get ready to drop some $$$. They are great but pricey.

In my humble opinion, there are several things to consider before you can know which converter is the right one. RPM range of your torque curve & hp would be my first thought, then I would add in tire diameter & your rear ratio.

Once you determine you best ratio, you can get close on which stall converter to select. This isn't very hard to do if you know the formulas to calculate the transmission gears/tire diameter/rear end ratio to know where your rpms will be at specific speeds.

There are many websites where you can enter your data and determine your rpm/speed so you know where you will want to shift to max your energy before shifting. If you can't find one or if you just don't want to take the time to look, let me know and I will email you an Excel spreadsheet I created to calculate this for me when I was trying to determine which gear ratio I wanted to run with my current 6 speed. You can select various tire diameters, gear ratios, speeds, and transmissions to play around with the data so you know which will work the best for you.

Anyway, I'm always willing to help hot rodders so send me an email address if you want to take a look at it. You can always delete it if you don't think it helps.

Glad to see you moved into the real hot rods! Welcome to Americana!

I have run big stalls (3500) on the street with a 310/314 roller and it was a pain in the rear end. Depending on your cam and how hard you want to launch will be more of the end result. Yes, a dyno is the right answer but you can get close. Stalls also have true stall and brake stall. I have a great article I can scan in and email to you if you would like.

I have a truck. I have a decent sized cam (see post - a 292 and it is driving me nuts). I run a 28 inch tall tire, 3:73 gear and a 2500 converter. Enough stall that I can pull against the brake and get some traction since I have no weight in the rear end but low enough that I can still drive freely. It has been on the interstate once (different cam) and she was good to about 60-65 without feeling like I was punishing it. If you want to do much interstate driving look at a 700-R4. Lower 1st and 2nd gears along with a 4th gear overdrive. You can run a smaller gear (3.23 instead of a 3.73) and still get the same launch capability.

3:73's should be fine with a 3000 stall even on the highway, get a trans cooler, id at least run a 3000 stall with a 383, it should make enough torque to stall that right and feel like a normal daily driver, thats just MY opinion

A 2500 to 3000 stall will probably do you pretty good for street duty, but what I would really like to know to get it close is what is your compression ratio, cam specs, and intake type. All of these things should be matched up to the torque converter stall to get the most out of what you are doing. Post it up and we can get it closer at least to what you want.

- Cudaman -

Thanks for all the help guys ill get the specs together and post them after.. keep the info comin, . Man i cant wait till summer.

I run a 3K stall, it flashes to about 3400...gears are 3.73's, and Im OK cruizin with it...on a long hiway trip it can get a little "tense", but I dont do many long trips with it. I run a trans cooler too, and no problems. Do NOT try to save money by buying a low price converter...buy the best you can afford, you will be very sorry if you dont...this is one of many areas where "you get what you pay for" John

Fully agree with the converter comment. I've had good luck with Continental Converteres if you want to check them out.

- Cudaman -