I'm going to run a 292 chevy with a TH350 in my roadster and I was wondering who else is running a 6 with an automatic transmission and what stall converter you are running. My 292 has a stock lower end, lump port head with 3 one barrels. Rear end is a 9" with 4:56's and 8.90-15's for tires. I'm looking for torque converter suggestions from the hamb tech request line.
As light as your car is ... and with no more bottom end HP ... I believe I would find a stock Vega ( with a T350 ) converter. I have run them behind 300/350 HP V8's ... for many miles with no problems. .
It's a Clay Smith 280 duration, 108 degree lobe center, 231" lift at .050 with a 550 / 550 lift if I remember correctly.
Depending also On what the rpm band is of the cam. ex. 110 lobe 530/530 lift(gross lift) duration at seat 276/276 Duration @ .050 221/221 Rpm band is 1500-6000 That stall woun't be to bad. But now lets say a 112 with a 530/530 lift Duration @ seat is 272/272 Duration @.050 Rpm band is Idle-5500 a 2500 stall would or could be to much.This ex. was for a hyd cam specks. Now look @ a duration 280/288 @ seat lobe 108 lift 613/630 Duration @.050 Rpm band 3000-7500 a 3000 stall would be to small Or low. So also look at your cams Power band and What are you plains? Daily driver, Racer and pick the right stall for your App. Just a little food for thought. Or in the case of my 250 with a 680/692 lift & a 105 lobe sep. I like my stick, But i do have some goodies for a AT when and if I ever go that way. I have a 5500 stall for it
I typically pair a 3k stall to a 280 duration cam for the street. With that light of car and as much rear gear as you have, I would consider going higher, possibly 3.5-4k. I have ran a 4k stall on the street with a glide. It wasn't bad.
So I was going to go the Vega route but I have a guy that has a ~ new TCI 3500 stall (with about 400 miles on it) that he pulled out of his roadster (switched to a 4 speed). With a 3500 stall, do you think that would be putting too much heat into the ******. This thing is will be an around town, stop light to stop light car with the occasional blast down the highway. The price is right on this converter but I'm concerned that a 3500 is too high since many recommendations are around that 3k mark. Can I get away with a 3500 stall...thoughts?
CC, just by the nature of a higher stall converter, you will increase the oil fluid temps. Very important to consider an upgrade to the ******'s cooling system. I run a 10" converter street/strip in my 26 and have one of the aluminum heat sinks type cooler before the fluid enters the rad cooler. This is exactly how JW Perf trans recommended. They are one of the leading ****** builders in the world, most famous for thier Powerglides. They have been building ******'s and converters for our big race engines for many years with 100 percent success rate. BDM
A light car, not a lot of torque (compared to most V8s), and 4.56 gears may end up with that TCI "3500" actually stalling at a lower rpm.
Yep it'll stall on the low end of 3500. As far as heat, just put on a good cooler. I usually run the biggest B&M cooler. However, don't be hammering on the converter at every red light, just drive it normally. You need to give it a few minutes to cool between hard (full throttle through a gear) runs.
I would advise against using a high stall 5,500 rpm converter with a 292 if you intend to drive it on the street in traffic. The traffic light would probably turn red before you got it moving.
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