[Bryan449]

Hey guy's I'm new to this site and I've been lurking for a couple of day's and I got to say this is top's. My question is how does the stall converter work and is it good for a daily driver. And what do they cost in ballpark figure. Thanks

 

[71boo]

Just lool up in the top left corner and click on search and type in "torque converter". This will bring up tons of info on the subject. Your question has been addressed many times. In a nutshell, a torque converter is the "middle man" between your engine and automatic tranny. (In a manual trans, the driver controls torque conversion.) When you press the gas, your engine comes to life and start revving up into its powerband (RPMs 1000, 2000, 3000, etc.) Then all that power is sent through the drivetrain 2 the rear end and the torque turns your rear wheel(s). Once you start adding performance mods 2 your engine or if you add headers, you may lose some of the low end torque. To compensate, a torque converter is placed between to "stall" the transfer of power from the engine until it reaches a certain RPM. Check the different postings about what size 2 use because it all depends on many factors like engine, gears, vehicle weight, etc. Hope this helps.

 

[71boo]

Ooops, almost forgot... for most street/strip applications you can get a good one between $90- $150.

 

[Clark]

Bryan

All torque converters have a stall speed, even the one that came stock in your car. when you here someone say that they have a stall converter you can tell that they probably dont know what they are talking about.

At idle the engine is turning at 800 rpm or so but the wheels dont turn. as you bring the engine rpm up the wheels start to turn, the converter allows this by slipping. AT some point in the RPMs the converter stops slipping noticably, (it never completely stops unless it is a lockup converter)This is called the stall RPM or stall speed. for most factory cars this stall speed is around 1500 to 2000 RPM.

AS 71boo said, When we modify our engines for more power we tend to reduce our low RPM torque, to compensate for this we select a torque converter that has a higher stall speed. There are many factors that can affect your stall speed ( to many to mention here) suffice it to say that the same converter in two different cars will not stall at the same speed.

The best advice I can give you is to call a manufacture before you buy, be prepared to answer many questions about your car and dont be tempted to get a converter that has a higher stall speed than you need.

Clark