1996 Camaro Z28 LT1 Project

[birdie2000]

Do you care about idle sound/quality? You can get A LOT more than 350rwhp with a heads/cam package that's still daily drivable if you don't mind a noticeable idle. Hell, Joel made 370-ish rwhp with just a cam from AI. 350rwhp cam-only is certainly possible if you're not looking for stealth.

I'd get a bigger stall. Depends on how big you go with cam. I'd say at least a quality 3200 stall unless you end up getting a stealth/baby cam

[Fox Slaughter]

Well built H/C cars LT1s will make more than 400rwhp.

[mcalus]

Port your stock heads if you want to save a buck (send them to AI or le)

I love my 3600 stall. 2nd gear rolling burnouts ftw.

[nascarnate326]

Ill try too keep this real but what's your budget.
As I'm sure you know the "why your there" parts truly do add up in a hurry.

[birdie2000]

FWIW, if you want to keep it on a budget, I have a Lunati 60121 I'd be willing to let go of with like 800 miles on it. Great cam, lots of torque, should make an honest 325-340rwhp through an auto with torque everywhere and a mild idle. Just get a valve job and good springs on your stock heads and you'll be all set to meet your goals.

http://www.lunatipower.com/Product.aspx?id=2011

[meissen]

If you're going to spend the money getting a stall, get something over 3200 or else you're just wasting your money.

[alone_and_insane]

Back when my trans was rebuilt, the transmission shops pretty much freaked out when I mentioned doing a 3200 stall. Their reaction was pretty much that of, "You want to do what? Is this a race car? Wait, you want to do this on a street car?!?!?!" That's why there's a C4 torque converter in my car right now.

[Fox Slaughter]

I'm a little worried about who built your trans then.
A 3200 stall doesn't mean thats what you have to rev to to get the car to move.
You could drive a 4000+ stall.

All the stall does is hit the torque multiplier at that RPM.

[alone_and_insane]

So what exactly is the advantage of hitting the torque multiplier at a higher RPM? I must confess that stall speed is something I've never really understood.

[Fox Slaughter]

The easiest way to explain this is at basically the torque converter slips until you hit that rpm.
So you can rev up to that rpm with the brakes on.

[meissen]

Yeah I've never flashed mine to see what RPM mine is for sure, but I think mine is somewhere between 3400 to 3600 tc and my car is totally streetable.

[alone_and_insane]

The easiest way to explain this is at basically the torque converter slips until you hit that rpm.
So you can rev up to that rpm with the brakes on.

Yeah I get that, but what's the advantage of it? Wouldn't it be better for it to be in lockup more? And if cruising rpm is, say 2500 rpm, wouldn't I be wasting a lot of energy from the motor if the tc isn't locked when I'm going down the highway?

[mazakman]

It allows the motor to get up in its power range

[Fox Slaughter]

Thats when you apply a stopping motion to the car.
IE if someone stood in front of the car and held it from moving it would flash.
IE if you hold the brakes you are stopping the motion of the car.
If you are driving there is nothing stopping the forward motion of the car.

If you're max tq is at 4000rpm then you want a torque converter at like 3600rpm so you can stage and when you launch you are in the power band.
Its just like revving a manual up to 4000rpm and dumping the clutch, same concept.

"Because there is no direct connection in the torque converter, the impeller will always spin faster than the turbine – a factor known as "slippage." Slippage needs to be controlled, otherwise the vehicle might never move. That's where the stall speed comes in. Let's say a torque converter has a stall speed of 2,500 RPM. If the vehicle isn't moving by the time the engine (and therefore the impeller) reaches 2,500 RPM, one of two things will happen: either the vehicle will start to move, or the engine RPM will stop increasing. (If the vehicle won't move by the time the converter reaches the stall speed, either it's overloaded or the driver is holding it with the brakes.)"

[mazakman]

converters are great but when you get up in the high stall range they make alot of heat in the trans