Street Cruiser, Do I Need a Custom Torque Converter?

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Dodge72

Dodge72

Odd one out
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Olympia, WA
Hey all,

So I've been thinking about it lately that I've put some good money and time into my engine and transmission, but really cheaped out on a torque converter. Right now I've got a 360 small block with: stock heads, 9.5:1 compression, 204/dur cam with 109 lobe separation and .450 valve lift (baby cam), 4-barrel carb. Then a stock 904 with a TF-2 shift kit in it for extra pep. Rear end is a 8.25 w/ 3.23 gears with 225/60/15 tires on 15x8 wheels. Stock suspension locations and everything.

In short, it's a cruiser, made for driving around and enjoying the road and highways. Now on most posts I've seen people running higher-HP bruisers that really do benefit from a higher stall. Is there any benefit in me going away from the bone stock TC application? Mind you I haven't really been able to drive it yet (transmission issues getting fixed) so I can't say how it drove around with a stock TC to begin with. Has anyone spent the money on a cruiser like mine? Let me know your input, thank you!
 
If I were you, I would call Precision of New Hampton. Precision of New Hampton | Torque Converters, Transmission

We used their converters almost exclusively when I worked at the transmission shop and they were very good. But CALL them. Tell them what you have. One of their off the shelf converters will surely work for what you're doing and it will be way less expensive than some of the other name brands. Although your build is mild and all you want is a street cruiser, you STILL don't want a POS for a converter. Precision sells good stuff and they are really reasonable.
 
In short, IMO, No.

You wrote you have a cam of “204” duration. Be it a duration of .050 or advertised, the stock converter will work IMO. For a pure driver, like you described, it is a very small cam. It shouldn’t need a special converter.

The largest cam I myself will run with a stock converter is with a duration @.050 of 218. Going larger in duration may require a bit of stall in the converter if the car is heavy and/or the gear ratio numerically low. Also, if the intended purpose is to get the vehicle going as quick as possible. Like in a street beast or bracket racer.
 
RustyRatRod said:
If I were you, I would call Precision of New Hampton. Precision of New Hampton | Torque Converters, Transmission

We used their converters almost exclusively when I worked at the transmission shop and they were very good. But CALL them. Tell them what you have. One of their off the shelf converters will surely work for what you're doing and it will be way less expensive than some of the other name brands. Although your build is mild and all you want is a street cruiser, you STILL don't want a POS for a converter. Precision sells good stuff and they are really reasonable.
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They were on my tool route. Good company and converters.
 
Wait until you get some hours on it.
Pay attention to how it takes off from a dead stop, for your driving style.
If it seems sluggish, and you can't get rid of the sluggishness with tuning, then it could be time for a higher stall.
 
Worst case you could put a slant converter behind it but it should be okay.
 
Kegan B said:
Worst case you could put a slant converter behind it but it should be okay.
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l
Keep in mind, leaning tower of power balanced differently than a 360. The 360 converter has either two small weights or one large tri-angle weight welded to the engine side of the converter. The 1968 and up 225 and 318 no weights, and there were two stalls from the factory. One about 1900-2000 stall the other around 2200-2300 stall.
 
Dodge72 said:
Hey all,

So I've been thinking about it lately that I've put some good money and time into my engine and transmission, but really cheaped out on a torque converter. Right now I've got a 360 small block with: stock heads, 9.5:1 compression, 204/dur cam with 109 lobe separation and .450 valve lift (baby cam), 4-barrel carb. Then a stock 904 with a TF-2 shift kit in it for extra pep. Rear end is a 8.25 w/ 3.23 gears with 225/60/15 tires on 15x8 wheels. Stock suspension locations and everything.

In short, it's a cruiser, made for driving around and enjoying the road and highways. Now on most posts I've seen people running higher-HP bruisers that really do benefit from a higher stall. Is there any benefit in me going away from the bone stock TC application? Mind you I haven't really been able to drive it yet (transmission issues getting fixed) so I can't say how it drove around with a stock TC to begin with. Has anyone spent the money on a cruiser like mine? Let me know your input, thank you!
Click to expand...

So are you just gonna come take advantage of our advice and then not even gonna let us know what you did? Lame. lol
 
Rumble is correct...that cam will start pulling at 800 rpm and should break your rear tires loose with a stock converter.
 
RustyRatRod said:
So are you just gonna come take advantage of our advice and then not even gonna let us know what you did? Lame. lol
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No, he is not gonna take our advice. Same as half of the other members that ask questions cause they already have their mind made up b4 they ask the question. Or they don’t do nothing at all. Kim
 
oldkimmer said:
No, he is not gonna take our advice. Same as half of the other members that ask questions cause they already have their mind made up b4 they ask the question. Or they don’t do nothing at all. Kim
Click to expand...

Well........if "HE" takes our advice, then that means "SHE" has had a sex change operation that "I" was unaware of. lol
 
They don't, "build a converter for your car"...they just grab the one off the shelf that they know will be right for your car. I always ask my customers about their car's weight, horse, rear gear, and cam, then just make sure they're not too far off on their converter choice. I'm sure I can't dial it in as close as some guys, but I just want to make sure nobody puts a Fury converter in a Barracuda.
 
Oh, dang! Guess you can't forget about a forum post without people getting grumpy. Sorry, I've got full time work and full time school. Keeps a person preoccupied for sure.

But! I do appreciate all the advice, I really do. I've called Precision and their very friendly people advised me the same thing (stock converter) and their prices were extremely reasonable to boot. I'm gonna to stick with a stock stall converter with my setup. Maybe when I install 3.55s, bigger cam, and port the heads, I'll get something with a higher stall to accommodate. That'll be a few years. For now, I've got goodies to install sometime and wipers to test ; the PNW is getting very rainy already! Thank you again. Hopefully next thing will be showing off a video of my Dart driving.
 
Dodge72 said:
Oh, dang! Guess you can't forget about a forum post without people getting grumpy. Sorry, I've got full time work and full time school. Keeps a person preoccupied for sure.

But! I do appreciate all the advice, I really do. I've called Precision and their very friendly people advised me the same thing (stock converter) and their prices were extremely reasonable to boot. I'm gonna to stick with a stock stall converter with my setup. Maybe when I install 3.55s, bigger cam, and port the heads, I'll get something with a higher stall to accommodate. That'll be a few years. For now, I've got goodies to install sometime and wipers to test ; the PNW is getting very rainy already! Thank you again. Hopefully next thing will be showing off a video of my Dart driving.
Click to expand...

Grumpy? You ain't seen grumpy yet. lol That's good. That's why I recommend them, because they are actually honest.
 
My opinion, with that cam and 3.23 gears a stock 904 converter will work just fine. In fact, I have a stock 904 converter behind my 360 with 2.94 gears. I'm sure a good converter company can build you much better, but i think it would work ok with the stock unit.
 
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