1996 Camaro Z28 LT1 Project

[prorac1]

Sounds like a good time to build a $250 TH350 and resort to some of Erics Retard Tech, lol. Retard Tech FTMFW. Eric L

[alone_and_insane]

so my dad's gonna give me a call later today to talk it over before giving the shop the ok to do the rebuild. Is there anything in particular I should tell them?

[alone_and_insane]

the guy from the trans shop told me that if I do a 3200 or so stall converter without 3.73 or 4.10 gears, it's gonna heat way up and boil the fluid, not to mention it's never gonna kick in. I'm pretty sure I have 3.23s, not positive. I'd never heard of this rule with a stall converter and gears. I really don't know transmissions very well, so is there anyone else out there that can give me some input?

[DETROITMUSCLE]

using a 3200 converter will be just fine. Its ALWAYS recommended that you run a bigger trans cooler with an aftermarket converter and yes the fluid will run a little hotter but its nothing to worry about. I'd find a different trans shop to do the work.

[MunsterZ28]

using a 3200 converter will be just fine. Its ALWAYS recommended that you run a bigger trans cooler with an aftermarket converter and yes the fluid will run a little hotter but its nothing to worry about. I'd find a different trans shop to do the work.

what he said, throw a trans temp gauge in your car just to be sure if you are worried about it.

[alone_and_insane]

using a 3200 converter will be just fine. Its ALWAYS recommended that you run a bigger trans cooler with an aftermarket converter and yes the fluid will run a little hotter but its nothing to worry about. I'd find a different trans shop to do the work.

from what i heard from the guy that i talked to, my main concern would be ATF boiling out of the fill tube. The other major concern he expressed is that with the lower gears, the torque converter would never kick in. Even my buddy over at CamaroForums said:

with a stall the high the motor will have to be revving up to 3400rpms for the converter to kick in. that means you will be slipping untill then. without a high ratio rearend the motor will not reach that rpm level except in a race situation unless you drive in 3rd and are going 120mph. for street/stip i have a 2000 stall.

What do you think? Should I go with a lower stall?

[meissen]

Granted I'm cammed, but I only have 3.42 gears and my car handles the 3400 just fine. Around town you can barely tell I even have a converter - it takes maybe 200-300 more rpm.

[DETROITMUSCLE]

your friend and this guys are idiots, nuf said.

[prorac1]

What Jeff said. Go somewhere else to get your trans rebuilt. These guys are tools. And get yourself an aftermarket external trans cooler. If you are going to run the car in colder weather I would recomend running the lines from the trans, to the aftermarket converter, than to the cooler in the radiator, than back to the trans. This will help keep the fluid from gelling in EXTREEMLY COLD TEMPS. And if its a lockup converter, it wont be slipping all the time, cause it locks up. Eric L

[alone_and_insane]

how much should I expect a stall to cost me also? the guy said it would be $400-some more than a regular converter. Seemed awful high to me.

[DETROITMUSCLE]

thats a good question, a converter is not somewhere to cheap out by any means. a good quality piece will cost you almost as much as a rebuild. My converter was $775 and its a nice piece but one day I'll have a custom NC one, just not in this trans.

[alone_and_insane]

actually, I think I should probably ask how much I should expect for a rebuild. Apparently they were talking around $1400. Is that reasonable? I've never had to deal with anything like this before, so I'm kind of flying blind here, and I don't want to come out of this feeling like I got screwed more than I already do.

[DETROITMUSCLE]

depends on who is doing the work. These guys I wouldn't let do it but the price isn't too far off. A good reputable shop will usually cost you around $12-1600 for building the trans up to hold more power. A rebuild with stock parts should be cheaper I know Ridings recommends Detroit Gearbox for his trans work now but I can't say how good of a shop they are.

[alone_and_insane]

well the problem is that the car is in Wisconsin right now, so I can't take it to a shop near Detroit. Also, the car is already sitting in pieces at this shop, so I don't think taking it to a different one is really an option right now either.

[DETROITMUSCLE]

its your $. I understand the situation but just giving you fair warning that these guys don't seem to know a thing about a converter so I wouldn't trust them with a trans rebuild.