I'll apologize in advance as this might get slightly long winded - but I promise it will all circle back to my transmission and torque converter :TU: So, about ten years ago (prior to getting married, buying a house and having two kids) I built a new 300 for my '65 Sklylark. The block is a '65 and I have '64 aluminum heads and 4-barrel intake. I have an Edelbrock/Carter carb on it. The cam is a Poston Enterprises with a pretty nice lump to it on idle. I replaced the powerglide with a professionally rebuilt 1970 Skylark TH350. The valve body was altered (vs. an out of the box shift kit) and I have a 2800 Kenne Bell stall converter. Since the day everything was installed, the car has been a bit of a pig off the line. It spools up quick and catches second hard enough to rattle your teeth, but the initial pull is weak. It doesn't bog. It just feels like my '55 Special (land yacht) for the first two seconds or so. Back then I did a compression check and all cylinders (while identical) were low. I can't remember where exactly they were as far as spec - as noted above, life kinda got in the way since then. At that time I remember finding out there were two different pistons used in the 300 and apparently I inadvertantly used the lower compression pistons (also from Poston) during the rebuild. Yeah, kinda stinks. Since then I've purchased everything I need to tear it all apart and swap in the correct pistons - but again, life got in the way and the car has been rarely used and stored in my garage under cover for many years. This past week I took it out and ripped it around running errands etc. and got to thinking about the torque converter. Now keep in mind, I never raced this car nor had any intentions of doing so. At the time I was doing the motor I was talked into "needing" a stall converter. I honestly know nothing about them. From day 1, if I put the car in reverse it won't engage. I've always had to throttle the car up for it pop into reverse and go backwards. A friend of mine claims that's a result of the stall converter. Yes, I'd like your opinions on that. I was also wondering if the "pig off the line" is because of the stall too, because its "pig-ing" when I go right from idle to the floor (vs. holding it rev'ed at 2800 and releasing). As a result, I was contemplating pulling the stall converter out and going back to a standard TH350 converter, but one of the tech guys from Jegs today told me I can't... He said if the car has a cam in it, that the stock converter won't allow the car to idle properly. I can find the specs on the cam if needed but I do remember that it wasn't that crazy. I think it was one (maybe two) steps higher than what stock was. I'm just wondering if the stock converter will lock it up better off idle and/or if the stall converter is why it lacks at first but pulls nice once it gets going? I just want to be able to break the tires loose when I want. I'm the oddball here. I don't want traction. :Brow: I'm open to any and all thoughts/opinions. Thanks
