Cascade Crew

[chevymad]

You can see on my timing light in the vid its about 800 there.

[chevymad]

So apparently I can't remember what parts i've used to put this frankenstein together. I know the oil pan is original to the 68 327. But looks like the timing cover is not. I ordered the timing cover gasket set for a 68. Felpro doesn't include both lower seals like victor used to and looks like I needed to use the thicker seal. Didn't look much different from the old one, but that's where my leak is, right at the bottom of the pan to cover seal.

So, it's never worked before, but I blue goo-ed it and will wait for it to cure til tomorrow. Hey.. gotta try right?

[aaron_sK]

Of course sensor safe is Brandon's favorite type of RTV!

At what point to you just give up and go full Japanese and use gray bond to glue it all together?

[chevymad]

There's a brand new pair of cold weld tubes beside me right now.. You don't know how hard it was not to open them.

[chevymad]

As predicted, the RTV did absolutely Jack shizzle. So I'll order up the newer version of the gasket set tomorrow.

I did however go for a drive. Smooth and strong! Nice noticeable idle. I had to open up the idle mix a couple turns each to smooth things out a little. This put the solenoid dwell right at 30. Perfect!

Won't quite idle in gear though. Looks like I need a bit more stall. It comes close though.

Anyone got a 700r4 convertor?

[chevymad]

Allright, found the box for my old convertor. It's only 2k stall. I need at least 2500.

Looking at summit and jegs.. when the hell did cheap convertors start costing so much? Wishing my spare 10" th400 convertor would fit this thing now.

[chevymad]

Absolutely crazy. My current convertor runs $350 right now.

[QwkTrip]

Yep, inflation is a real thing.

[Alphius]

I've never really owned a performance-minded auto trans vehicle. The truck was closest, but it really just had a too-big cam on a stock engine. It stalled around 1800 with the stock TH350C stall and that wasn't nearly enough.

If I had to venture a guess, I'd lean towards about a 2600-3000 stall but no more, and try to find one from a company that makes it really tight so you're not blowing through 3k everyday just trying to keep up with traffic. It needs to act as stock as possible at low throttle, then open up when you put your foot down.

Make sure you have a big trans cooler on that 700 too.

[chevymad]

Won't be quite as bad as you think. Remember it's lock up. No way can I afford one that is custom stalled. You'd be talking $800-1500. Got a 2600 stall coming. We'll see how that works.

Thinking of a regear soon as well. Just not sure how far I want to go yet.

That th350c is interesting being lockup. At one point I wouldn't have minded having one of those.

[Alphius]

What brand 2600?

I know highway will be fine no matter what because of the lockup. I'm talking about how a really loose stall sucks around town... Rev to 2k+ just to get the car moving from a stop is super annoying, especially with a loud exhaust. A tight stall will move the car pretty well under stall speed at light throttle but flash high when you put your foot down to haul the mail. An off-the-shelf 2600 from a reputable company is likely to be pretty tight, so hopefully it works well for you.

What gears do you have? I have 3.08s with a 28" tire in the truck and I'm thinking about regearing too now that I have a 4L80. I'll have to get it on the highway and see how it does with an OD now. It's a bit doggy at low speed with that 2.48 first. On the plus side, I can do a 0-60 run with no shifts. I just dealt with it when I had the TH350C because highway cruising was so nice and reasonable in third with the TC locked.

[chevymad]

Trying summits house brand. No idea who currently makes them. Current gears are 3.23. The 327 likes a bit more rpm, even for mileage. Best mileage I've ever gotten has always been when I've had it close to 3k. Regardless of mph.just not sure if I want to go 3.73 or not.

[Alphius]

I saw a bunch of stuff a few years ago claiming they're B&M. Anyway, all that's left is to try it! Looking forward to hearing how it goes.

[chevymad]

Saw some posts from 2010 claiming to be TCI. But their converters now are tig welded made in USA, not furnace brazed which makes me think FTI or ACC. We shall see.

[chevymad]

No identifying marks or paper work of any kind with the converter. Plain white box, plain black converter, generic Summit instruction sheet.

[fiveoformula]

What was it like driving around town with the 2000 stall? It still lockup ok with light throttle putting around?

[chevymad]

Around town you only noticed a few hundred more rpm. And the lock up become much more noticeable when it occurs.

You looking for one? Looks like I may have a good one for sale. lol It's a B&M Holeshot.

[Twilightoptics]

Stall's aren't what the chaos theory says. Mine was a 3000/3500 stall and it drove around just fine and you wouldn't even know it had one. Until you mashed the throttle. Now, unlike we're told in forums, when you mash the gas the car still accelerates before it hits the magic rpm, just at a slightly slower rate - kind of like barely slipping the clutch.

And rolling down the freeway, it was just fine. Mine was even a TH350, so no lockup. Steady state everything is fine, it's all about the rapid RPM change. Key word - rapid.

[fiveoformula]

Just curious. I'm actually looking for something closer to the 2600-3000 range. But honestly, I have never driven anything with a higher stall. Just trying to figure out what to expect.

Thanks Paul, basically clears up my concern

[chevymad]

I had a 10" 3k stall in the 74 for awhile. It was a slushbox, waay too loose. Swapped it for a 12" 2800rpm Hughes and it drives just fine.

Biggest thing I noticed with the 2k. Is when the lockup occurs. That's when you notice the big rpm drop that wasn't there before. Otherwise I don't think you could tell just driving it around.