A new TH350 is going into my 65/383, a new converter is included but the stall speed is only 1300. The car will only see the 1320 once or twice in its lifetime. Are there any ugly consequences to having such a low stall speed? Also im kinda thinking if you like spinning the tires, a low stall speed might be ok.

What size of cam and gears are you running? If your setup isn't too radical or high reving, there is no reason that a low stall speed like that won't work. As far as spinnning the tires, if your engine makes its peak torque at a lower rpm then a stock stall speed will make just as much noise as a 3000 stall. If your engine makes its power farther up in the power band a low stall speed will make it more difficult to squeal the tires because there the engine is forced to work at an rpm it wasn't designed to operate in.

Sounds good, my cam is 230@.05, 480/480 lift.
2k-6k(not radical). Im planning on 3.90 gears and am mostly looking for a quick streetlight to streetlight car. Its sounding like an almost stock converter will be OK. graemlins/hurray.gif

You might be able to get away with that stall, but it will be much faster with a stall speed around 2400-2600 and won't affect your drivablity at all.
In my old 350 with comp cams 280H(230*/230*, .480/.480) I picked up 4 tenths in the 1/4 by swapping the stock converter(on gravel it started to turn the tires at 1200rpm while footbraking) to a 12" which stalled to 2700.
You don't HAVE to get a higher stall, but a better stall WILL make it faster and not sound so doggish off the line. in the end the choice is yours but I would go for a stall around 2400.

I think that is too much cam for a 1300 stall. I'd say you need 2000 at a minimum, maybe a little more.

For an "off the shelf" convertor,the B&M 2400 Holeshot gets my vote.I run one in my 70 SS454 with 2.73 gears.Its tight too,no detectable slippage at highway speeds.But when I "flash" it from an idle (basically,just going to WOT) it'll go to about 2800.

I wouldn't run that engine with less than 2400 stall. Your engine is a little bigger than mine and I run a Coan 2600-2800 stall with a Transgo shift kit. Runs and shifts real nice.

Well, after a few day and 200 miles i can only say this much, the 1300 stall is kinda ok. The car doesn't seem as crisp, or strong from initial take off as it did with the Power-Glide/1800rpm stall. But that may be because the th350 needs about 20 more horses to operate. Regardless, When i put my foot in it it scoots along pretty good. Im thinking i should have gone for a 2000rpm stall but wasn't happy with the idea that id have to rev up to 2k before the car would start moving.... i may be mistaken in that notion though.

Originally posted by nebulous:
Im thinking i should have gone for a 2000rpm stall but wasn't happy with the idea that id have to rev up to 2k before the car would start moving.... i may be mistaken in that notion though. Yep, you're mistaken. A 2000 stall will not require you to rev to 2k before it moves. My 3500 coan stall does not require me to rev to 3500 before the car moves...It will move at an idle. I've been in a street car with 4800 stall and it leaves slightly off idle.

Well, I just bought a Stage 2 200-4R with converter from Bowtie Overdirves, and I asked the guy there about converter stall. His explanation is:

The stall speed of the converter is the RPM where the engine will not rev anymore without forcing the wheels to turn. If you lock up the rear wheels, then rev the engine in gear, you will eventuall hit an RPM where the engine will not rev any higher, or if it does, it will force the wheels to turn. This RPM is the stall speed, i.e, the speed at which the engine is forced to stall by the converer. This is why a 3000 RPM converter will still move the car at 1000 RPM. A higher stall converter is needed when the engine needs to get into a higher RPM range before it makes good power. If an engine makes good power at low RPM, and the car has a high stall converter, the result is hard to manage launches, since the engine will get way into the power band before the converer hooks up hard.

(this is what my 67 does. With 3.9 gears and with a 406 SBC and TH350 with a 2800 RPM stall, full throttle from a standing start means I sit in one spot spinning the wheels (225/60/15's) until it shifts to 2nd, then it continues to fishtail and smoke the tires until about 1/2 way through 2nd.)

It made sense to me, and I believe the guys at Bowtie really know thier stuff.

Damn, :mad: then i definately would have gone for a 2K stall...... live and learn .. graemlins/sad.gif

An all-out race car will run the quickest with stall speed about 300-500 rpms over the peak torque point of the motor. A street/strip car will like a lower stall speed, like at or just below the peak torque, in a non-transbrake application. Thus, if you footbrake the car on the line, it will flash up into the torque range and move the car off the line better.