Anyone had there gearbox rebuilt upgraded on LS1 motor?

[Corv99]

not sure if the Manaros come with auto trans option, or indeed its the same..
but wondering if any of you have had yours rebuilt to take a supercharger type power?
so a rebuild and upgrade?... tempting to just leave and see what happens, but I think that may be tempting fate a bit!!

whats involved and what cost etc

its for a vette, posted in that forum too, but as we share mechanicals was hoping maybe some one here has done it?

thanks

[ARAF]

The Monaros are manual only. The VXRs come in auto, but I don't think anyone has uprated their gearbox, though I think flex plates and torque converters have been changed.

[ringram]

Gareth and I had built LS1 auto's he has a 4l65e behind his 457 stroker.
I had a stage4 4l60e his is stage5 IIRC.

Both from finish line transmissions in the US.

[Corv99]

ARAF said:

The Monaros are manual only. The VXRs come in auto, but I don't think anyone has uprated their gearbox, though I think flex plates and torque converters have been changed.

I thought maybe that was the case,
I guess VXR's are later and maybe LS2 as well?

[ARAF]

Corv99 said:

ARAF said:

The Monaros are manual only. The VXRs come in auto, but I don't think anyone has uprated their gearbox, though I think flex plates and torque converters have been changed.

I thought maybe that was the case,
I guess VXR's are later and maybe LS2 as well?

Ringram's given you some different info above. ^^

I forgot about his previous vehicles.

[Corv99]

ringram said:

Gareth and I had built LS1 auto's he has a 4l65e behind his 457 stroker.
I had a stage4 4l60e his is stage5 IIRC.

Both from finish line transmissions in the US.

Hi RingRam
is 4165e and Stage5 IIRC gearboxes? and sounds like maybe you imported some complete from the states?
would love to do that, but not worth the expense etc for my project I don't think, I'm not going to extreme
HP and torque, just for it to stand a charger really better than a stock one..

[MyM8V8]

Corv99 said:

ringram said:

Gareth and I had built LS1 auto's he has a 4l65e behind his 457 stroker.
I had a stage4 4l60e his is stage5 IIRC.

Both from finish line transmissions in the US.

Hi RingRam
is 4165e and Stage5 IIRC gearboxes? and sounds like maybe you imported some complete from the states?
would love to do that, but not worth the expense etc for my project I don't think, I'm not going to extreme
HP and torque, just for it to stand a charger really better than a stock one..

Ok, so what you need to do is to determine how much power you want to make - and stick to it. If you are going FI that should be healthy. You will need an aftermarket, anti balloon, stall torque convertor and as that will multply the torque from your engine you will need to have a trans that will handle the grunt.

If you are running a 4L60E unmodified, you will break it along with the stock convertor, so you need a built box with heavy duty components. That's the easy bit done! Now you will need to tune for both the engine AND the transmission and that will not be easy - my best advice is don't go for too high a stall. You will require fortitude and the patience (patients) of Job.

And as for buying in stuff from the states, you will be bent over backwards and once you have paid over your $$$, that's when the nice helpful friendly chat ends along with any notion of after sales support - in my experience.

My best advice is buy one already done. If not best of luck, and start with having a look at package options on the transmission webs sites: FLT (Finish line transmissions) RPM transmissions. I have an FLT level 7 but I don't yet know if its a good box, what I do know, is that they know fk all about tuning them. Let me be quite clear, I am not recommending any trans or engine builder from the States.

Best guy I know for stall convertors is Chris Sehorn from Circle D, he has been the exception to the rule and has more than met with my expectations. If you want a tuner, with Vettes its probably Chuck from COW (Corvettes of Winchester)

My best advice, heads intake and cam, make it look pretty and enjoy driving the old girl.

Edited by MyM8V8 on Monday 20th October 17:52

[ringram]

Good luck. A charger may cause it to fail eventually. You will need to tune the box for higher pressures at least etc.
Stock pressure are likely to not hold the extra torque you can throwing at it. Also the converter may baloon at some point etc.

It will work for a start, but for how long. Id suggest some R&D first so that when/if it blows you have a warm plan on standby

[MyM8V8]

ringram said:

Good luck. A charger may cause it to fail eventually. You will need to tune the box for higher pressures at least etc.
Stock pressure are likely to not hold the extra torque you can throwing at it. Also the converter may baloon at some point etc.

It will work for a start, but for how long. Id suggest some R&D first so that when/if it blows you have a warm plan on standby

Actually the one bit of advice I did gain from FLT (don't know if its right?) is not to mess with stock line pressures as the upgraded component hardware has sorted that. Anyway we have incresed the pressures abit in the tune, although I did wonder; if you are commanding a stock pressure from the tune, will that overcome the higher pressure that the hardware has been installed to do??? I'll let you know when I've blown the trans.

[ringram]

Yeah Ive heard that too. But mine was slipping a tad till I upped the pressure a bit.
I didnt go crazy either though for the same reason.

No trans guys will give you any tuning info. I believe thats because they have no idea. They probably just give you a canned tune that someone else they know did.
Much better to read, learn, log and tune yourself IMO. Too much bks around in general otherwise.

I concur with your suggestion not to go too big on stall though. My 3600 was a bit much. Good for burnouts, but I think 2500 would have been better. Your 4000 in the 457 must be insane.

[MyM8V8]

ringram said:

Your 4000 in the 457 must be insane.

I am concerned about its mental health.

[Corv99]

thanks Guys..
I'm not chasing extreme HP etc, just looking to add a Magnussen 1900 and roll with what it delivers..
already got uprated headers, Xpipe, throttle body, sports cats etc on it.. would love to add a FI system
and want to do use it for road use, not wanting burnouts etc, just increase perfomance, and feel this is best bang for buck..
in terms of trans its a needs must, don't reallty want to import anything as you say 'shafted' comes to mine.. just want to
do whats need to mine to cope... hoping theres someone here can do this? and rough cost estimate really..
if its going to be too silly project might crash and burn before starting..

[ringram]

Corv99 said:

if its going to be too silly project might crash and burn before starting..

Quoted for posterity

[jameshsv]

Corv99 said:

thanks Guys..
I'm not chasing extreme HP etc, just looking to add a Magnussen 1900 and roll with what it delivers..
already got uprated headers, Xpipe, throttle body, sports cats etc on it.. would love to add a FI system
and want to do use it for road use, not wanting burnouts etc, just increase perfomance, and feel this is best bang for buck..
in terms of trans its a needs must, don't reallty want to import anything as you say 'shafted' comes to mine.. just want to
do whats need to mine to cope... hoping theres someone here can do this? and rough cost estimate really..
if its going to be too silly project might crash and burn before starting..

Who's fitting the tvs1900 for you.

[Corv99]

ringram said:

Quoted for posterity

Ha ha! yes I know... but I'm determined to stick to a budget, and controllable power, aware it could be a slippery slope!

[Wyld Stallyn]

Corv99 said:

Ha ha! yes I know... but I'm determined to stick to a budget, and controllable power, aware it could be a slippery slope!

Too La aa a a a te

[Corv99]

Wyld Stallyn said:

Too La aa a a a te

[SturdyHSV]

Corv99 said:

Hi RingRam

These FI boys really don't like you Rich!

I think the general gist of the thread is there isn't an easy, known, off the shelf solution in the UK. We just don't get that luxury like they do in the states.

It's going to require research, along the lines of:

Find out what power an LS1 with a tvs1900 typically makes (whoever is going to install and tune it, they may already know)
Once you have this figure, find out what transmissions others have used with this power level. Look for the horror stories and breakages.
Find out what transmissions will hook up to the LS1, and find out their rated power levels, and ideally what power people have put through them in real life.
Come to the conclusion of what transmission you're going to need or what you'll need to do to your stock one.
Price up the trans / installation / upgrades and then decide whether you can continue

As a note, the LS ECU has a good selection of torque limiting abilities to protect the trans (the LS2 does at least) so you could 'in theory' run with the stock trans with the engine limited a bit whilst you sorted it out. I say in theory, as this is another area you'll need to research

[Corv99]

SturdyHSV said:

These FI boys really don't like you Rich!

I think the general gist of the thread is there isn't an easy, known, off the shelf solution in the UK. We just don't get that luxury like they do in the states.

It's going to require research, along the lines of:

Find out what power an LS1 with a tvs1900 typically makes (whoever is going to install and tune it, they may already know)
Once you have this figure, find out what transmissions others have used with this power level. Look for the horror stories and breakages.
Find out what transmissions will hook up to the LS1, and find out their rated power levels, and ideally what power people have put through them in real life.
Come to the conclusion of what transmission you're going to need or what you'll need to do to your stock one.
Price up the trans / installation / upgrades and then decide whether you can continue

As a note, the LS ECU has a good selection of torque limiting abilities to protect the trans (the LS2 does at least) so you could 'in theory' run with the stock trans with the engine limited a bit whilst you sorted it out. I say in theory, as this is another area you'll need to research

thanks Sturdy
Yes been trawling threads, and there are certainly many, particularly in the states, as well as opinions! think I have started a few fights over there now!!
but was you say makes sense, and indeed we have less options here.... been talking to gearbox guys today, about what options, and I think I'm going to factor this in, either to do in prep, or basically have it ready to be done if need arises... talking to some guys on here,and the states, seems box's go from going at 100miles, to still going now after years of use! luck plays a part..

but good point on the ECU actually, I guess it may get confused at sudden changes to set up!

[MyM8V8]

What I can tell you is that I built a box over here and the bill of parts was just short of 3.5K. It lasted 12 miles before stting itself, taking a brand new $1000 stall convertor with it.

My advice is to be modest, forget the blower, because it will make more than enough power to test your convertor and trans. You have a car with great power to weight ratio anyway. Theres a lot you can do with heads cam and intake. You will need to upgrade that 4L60 to at least 4L65E specification.

I ran a stock 4l65E (with a circle D stall) on the back of a cam and intake LS2. It did over 300 passes up the 1/4 and still works. This is a far superior trans if you can find one to fit your motor and you will need a modest trans map.

There is a guy on here with an LS1 Camaro who, IIRC, only did cam and tune and had problems with his (4L60) trans as a result.

Hope this helps and good luck.