I bought an Edge Racing 3000 stall converter a few months ago after a whole lot of reading and talking with others. This will be my daily driver and I'm wondering about cooling for my transmission. I got a stacked plate style cooler for it, will this be sufficient? Does anyone have any experience driving a 3k stall on the street?
I ran a B&M 3000 in my 58 truck for several years on the street. Just had an Auto Zoo cooler in front of the radiator. Also want to make sure you have the right gear ratio so that you are close to or slightly higher than stall speed at cruise RPM. A 3.55 would probably be OK with a small tire. I ran a 3.89 and never had a problem. Transmisison is still fine today although it now has a stock converter and stock engine in front of it. Cleaver
What are safe running temps for a tranny? I would want a gauge that had a "red line" so I knew when I was starting to run hot. I ask because I was arguing with myself between 2500 and 3000 stall when I rebuild. Mostly street driven (hard!), but every now and then, I will slap on MTs and hit the track and need more stall.
10'' or 11'' converter? Loose or tight converter? All this has to do with how the stall acts on the street.Most likely because your converter isn't a ati,atr carr or one of the big name companys it is probably a fairly thight street style converter.And like cleaver said rear gear ratio will affect how it acts.If you have 2.73 gears it will ''flash'' higher than if you have 4.11 gears because it will take more energy to get the car moving with the 2.73's.A good trans cooler is a must.A good example is my trucks.I took the 2800 11'' stall out of my 64 pickup with 456 gears and put it in my 79 with 350 gears,the converter would only stall on the brakes about 1800 rpm in the 64 but would stall 2400 on the brake in the 79.I have been driving,towing,snowplowing with that 2800 stall in my 79 4x4 for 8 years now with the original transmission and never had a bit of trouble.I would say you will be safe with a 3000 in a car 2500 lbs lighter than my 79 ford 4x4. DEREK.
keeping the temp under 200 deg would be adviseable on the street. synthetics can go a little higher, i'm told. at the track it may go higher for a few seconds while staged & launching, but as long as the cooler brings it right back down there's usually no problem. you could install a separate perma cool cooler with its own fan & use a derale 170 deg thermostat to turn it on when needed.
Fwiw: 3000 rpm is just a general rating. That converter, just as any other, will function way higher than 3k on some cars, and way lower than 3k on others. Engine torque ability, car weight, and gears have the most to do with it. If you have it behind a small engine (302) and in a light car (70 Maverick), it may only run as a 2200 rpm converter. Put it behind a very torquey engine (408) in a big car (71 Cyclone), for example, it could operate at 3500 rpm. Dave
As far as the temperature goes, obviously "as cool as is feasible" is probably the correct answer. As the lines go to the radiator from the factory, one has to assume that anything in the 180-200 range is okay. I'm of the opinion that you install at least one tranny fluid cooler, no matter what the stall is rated at, as all I've heard from good tranny men is that HEAT KILLS TRANSMISSIONS. Good luck. Sounds like it's going to a fun combo.
I run a 3000 with 4.11's on the street and seldom see above 160-170* on the temp. When I am playing around and stalling it I can watch the needle climb but it quickly drops. I have the small 9" cooler on mine.
I ran a TCI 3000 (actually it stalled more...read post above) on the turbo 302 in my old '74 Maverick. Never got it above 180 degrees trans temp even on a pretty hard run. It did have a good Autozoo trans cooler mounted down behind one of the big bumper holes though.
The best indicator of a problem with any transmission is the fluid itself. I check mine every oil change as a minimum(I changed every 1,500 miles since I beat my car hard). Look for dark tinted fluid. Deep dark red,brown,or worse still black. Fluid should be lite red/pink to indicate it is in good shape.Bad fluid will also smell "burnt" If you have any of these symptons you need to worry about transmission failure. I suggest on a new trans or modifaction to current trans(bigger converter) to check fluid at least once a week to see how things are handeling the extra stress/heat/wear. I would recommend as a minimum an after market cooler dedicated to the transmission to handle the extra heat. Yes, heat is major player in the life span and performance of a transmission!
Question for you guys again, thanks for the info so far. On the highway, lets say this converter actually stalls at 3,000. What is an optimal highway rpm for a long trip with a 302? I won't be able to get the gears I want for a few months, so I'm going to have to beat around with my 3.00 open rear for now, I just don't want to have to fear the highway.
That is a good question...I would guess that any rpm under the stall would be spinning alot and burning off gas (and wearing fluid down). I cruise 60-65 mph right at 3000 rpm, so it seems like my current setup should handle the 3000 converter. Am I close to having the right concept here?
You should always make it a point to be in motion with the rpms above your stall speed. If you are cruising lower rpms, you are wasting gas on an astronomical level and creating emmense heat for your cooling system. The tranny is essentially slipping the whole time you are below stall. Dave
All the talk, so far, about converter stall is just guessing. For performance use, the stall should be selected to match the engine peak torque point with consideration to rear gear ratio and car weight. On stock 302 in to 72 to 77 years, the peak torque is anywhere from 1800 to 2000 with the 71 year at 2600 rpm. Going to 2800 to 3000 is a waist of torque besides heating the fluid and adding the heat load to the engine cooling system. After peak torque point the value goes down again. It's torque that moves the car. An engine that is modified to move the torque band upward is fine with 3000 +/-. IMO it's not wise to use racing converters on a stock engine being a waist of performance. Stalling way over peak shortens the rpm band to peak hp. Stalling to soon lugs the engine, waists ET and delays the time to begin making good torque (acceleration). Read the mfg reccomendations and believe them. If the motor is cammed and built to make torque higher then use the higher stall based, at least, on the cam power band. Seldom does guessing ever provide the best combination. On my car with a lightly modified engine, the rpm band for good torque begins to get with the show at about 2800 rpm and the motor will go well beyond 6200 rpm with fuel injection. With a 3 to 1 rear gear and a 2200 stall converter the engine still makes a lot of torque at 2200 but should have a 2800 to be the best combination as well as lower rear gears.
