Hi, I am trying to pick a torque converter for my car but I don't know what the stall speed means. This the first auto that I've worked on and I don't know much about the auto tranny. I can get either a converter with a 2200 or 2800 stall speed.
What's the difference? and what does the stall speed mean?
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1967 Mustang Coupe
L6 / 3.3L / 204CI - boiled, bored 0.040, master rebuild kit (complete)
Getting new rear frame rails and trunk pan
Front frame rails, floor pan, and firewall (complete)
A simple explanation is the stall speed is the engine rpm at which the car starts to move. People put in stall converters to take advantage of performance engines the have more power at higher rpms.
I had a 2200 stall converter in my car, but I hated it and took it out. I didn't like having to rev the car up, just to get the car to move.
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No not the lower the better, it is way more complicated than that. The idea of a high stall converter is to get an engine into its power band before it starts taking load from the car, therefore you have peak (or aproaching peak) power to the wheels when the clutch engages. It is the automatic transmission equilent of reving the engine before letting the clutch out in a standard car. The reason/s to use one would be if your engine makes better power in a higher rpm range, and is short on torque in the low rpm bands. If you are making a street engine, you will probably use a dual plane manifold that makes torque down low (1500 rpm or so) and you dont really need a high stall. Lets say you put a huge cam in and a single plane manifold, well your engine wont even start making power till it gets into the 2500-3000 rpm range, and if you had a stock stall (lets say 1800 rpm) well then, you are litterally bogging the engine down on every launch. Is it getting clearer now? I don't know what your plans for your engine are, but if it is primarily street driven, a stall only slightly higher than stock will probably be of most benifit to you. Go to high and you will just be reving alot and not doin much goin.
Hope this helps.
wow, great explanation. As you can see from the original post i have the option of a 2200 or 2800 stall. My signature tells you what I have for an engine. I don't plan on making any drastic performance upgrades to it. I may put in a V8 WAY down the line but by that time it won't matter. I don't know what the stock stall is but is there that much of a difference between 2200 and 2800?
__________________
1967 Mustang Coupe
L6 / 3.3L / 204CI - boiled, bored 0.040, master rebuild kit (complete)
Getting new rear frame rails and trunk pan
Front frame rails, floor pan, and firewall (complete)
wow, great explanation. As you can see from the original post i have the option of a 2200 or 2800 stall. My signature tells you what I have for an engine. I don't plan on making any drastic performance upgrades to it. I may put in a V8 WAY down the line but by that time it won't matter. I don't know what the stock stall is but is there that much of a difference between 2200 and 2800?
I am not sure either what the stock stall is for you v6. I would imagine it to be around 1800 or so, possibly even 1600 rpm's. Some simple research should reveal that number. As far as is there a big difference, tommorow, I would like you to hop in your car and slowly rev the engine up to 2200 rpms, and imagine that the car wouldn't star moving until around 1700 or 1800 and at 2200 it is finally totaly engaged, and moving. Now do the same with the 2800 and imagine that your car doesn't even START to budge, until the rpm's reach somewhere around 2000 or 2200 rpm's, (possibly even higher) 2800 is what my 4.0 litre mustang is turning, in overdrive on the freeway doing 70mph. Its would be bitchen for a drag race car, but a bummer in a street car.
Long story short, just about the only reason to install a 2800 stall converter, is if you plan on drag racing the car every weekend, and parking it during the week. It COULD be driven with the 2800..... but it would be a P.I.T.A. and you would burn lots more fuel, and wear the engine out alot sooner. You don't mention in your sig if you have upgrade the rear end gear ratio? If you haven't... That by FAR is the better first performance upgrade over a converter, and will end up costing the same if not less than the converter.
Thank you very much for clearing that up. I see now you points. And as far as upgrading the rear end...no there are no upgrades to it, and I NEED a torque converter. Sort of lost the other one (long story) so this is just to get the car running. But definitely I will take your advice and plan to upgrade the rear end sooner than most things on my list.
__________________
1967 Mustang Coupe
L6 / 3.3L / 204CI - boiled, bored 0.040, master rebuild kit (complete)
Getting new rear frame rails and trunk pan
Front frame rails, floor pan, and firewall (complete)
The stock stall speed is typically between 1200 and 1800 RPM.
The stall speed is the speed that the converter will limit the engine to with the drive wheels not moving. The car will move long before the stall is ever reached. The MAXIMUM stall you should ever use is the RPM that your engine reaches its peak torque. If you want to use the car on the street then the maximum stall speed should be at about 10% lower than your cruising RPM / speed on the highway.
For an in-line six with a stock cam and in a faily light car you will want no more than 2200 RPM and I would recommend less - stock to 1800 RPM for your application.
If you have a 2000 RPM stall with your six it will be considerably higher with a V8 IF you could use the same converter - they are torque sensitive. The more torque your engine produces the higher the stall speed will be.
Contact Jay at Broader Performance and tell him exactly what you have - He makes converters with positive lubrication to all the internal bearings (something no one else (to my knowledge) is doing. He will recommend the best stall and converter for your application - even if it means a stock converter. (and he tells you to buy one off the shelf) sales@broaderperformance.com Broader Performance Home Page
If I wasn't building my own transmissions I would be buying them from this man - and I do buy from him when I need special application parts that I don't make. Good prices and excellent quality - he can't be beat!
added: if you bought a converter for a 170 it would probably stall at a slightly higher RPM than the one for the 200 and work perfectly
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Paul's Street and Strip Performance AODs & C4s paulstephens @ q . com 6522 51 Ave. S. Seattle, WA. 98118 206.725.0881
What is stall speed for a torque converter? 
