Need help deciding
Thread Starter
Staging Lane
Joined: Dec 2011
Posts: 53
Likes: 0
From: Mcallen
Need help deciding Have stock auto transmission, want to have about 500rwhp what is a good and affordable way to replace transmission maybe from a c5?( rear end as well)? Thanks in advance will wait for gurus to chime in
I guess you have a transam based on your name but you should detail out what your exact setup is to get the most useful advice.
Thread Starter
Staging Lane
Joined: Dec 2011
Posts: 53
Likes: 0
From: Mcallen
Banned
Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 308
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From: Cumming GA
I would love to help you man but, I need more information about your application.
1) C5 normally comes in a corvette, is this a conversion? from a corvette to a trans-am?
2) What year?
3) What exactly type of transmissions you are looking at?
You can write back or you can call me personally and I can help; either way.
1) C5 normally comes in a corvette, is this a conversion? from a corvette to a trans-am?
2) What year?
3) What exactly type of transmissions you are looking at?
You can write back or you can call me personally and I can help; either way.
A C5 transmission is different as it sits in the back of the car. Your best bet IMO, and I just did a lot of research on this over the past week, is going with a level 2 performabuilt 4L60e. Again thats my personal opinion but here's why (more or less in order of importance):
1. I can't seem to find a bad review on Performabuilt. They appear to be able to handle the power they are advertised for (and more) and they seem to be reliable and long lasting.
2. At about $2000 its very reasonably priced compared to other transmissions.
3. They come with a warranty that, again from what I can find, they stand behind. A lot of places will say they have a warranty but I hear a lot of them with bs excuses when a transmission fails.
4. After the warranty Performabuilt will do a full rebuild for about $1000. So for as long as you have the thing you are never more than $1k away from a healthy transmission.
I just ordered mine yesterday so I can't speak from personal experience but I have done a good amount of research and this is what I found. If you are on more of a budget you could consider going with a cheaper transmission like a TH400 but you lose OD and lockup and there are a decent number of modifications to get it going. Also, at 500 whp you could go with the Performabuilt level 1 if you are on a budget.
BTW, I think you'll find the 160 tstat is a waste, just leave the stock one in.
1. I can't seem to find a bad review on Performabuilt. They appear to be able to handle the power they are advertised for (and more) and they seem to be reliable and long lasting.
2. At about $2000 its very reasonably priced compared to other transmissions.
3. They come with a warranty that, again from what I can find, they stand behind. A lot of places will say they have a warranty but I hear a lot of them with bs excuses when a transmission fails.
4. After the warranty Performabuilt will do a full rebuild for about $1000. So for as long as you have the thing you are never more than $1k away from a healthy transmission.
I just ordered mine yesterday so I can't speak from personal experience but I have done a good amount of research and this is what I found. If you are on more of a budget you could consider going with a cheaper transmission like a TH400 but you lose OD and lockup and there are a decent number of modifications to get it going. Also, at 500 whp you could go with the Performabuilt level 1 if you are on a budget.
BTW, I think you'll find the 160 tstat is a waste, just leave the stock one in.
Thread Starter
Staging Lane
Joined: Dec 2011
Posts: 53
Likes: 0
From: Mcallen
A C5 transmission is different as it sits in the back of the car. Your best bet IMO, and I just did a lot of research on this over the past week, is going with a level 2 performabuilt 4L60e. Again thats my personal opinion but here's why (more or less in order of importance):
1. I can't seem to find a bad review on Performabuilt. They appear to be able to handle the power they are advertised for (and more) and they seem to be reliable and long lasting.
2. At about $2000 its very reasonably priced compared to other transmissions.
3. They come with a warranty that, again from what I can find, they stand behind. A lot of places will say they have a warranty but I hear a lot of them with bs excuses when a transmission fails.
4. After the warranty Performabuilt will do a full rebuild for about $1000. So for as long as you have the thing you are never more than $1k away from a healthy transmission.
I just ordered mine yesterday so I can't speak from personal experience but I have done a good amount of research and this is what I found. If you are on more of a budget you could consider going with a cheaper transmission like a TH400 but you lose OD and lockup and there are a decent number of modifications to get it going. Also, at 500 whp you could go with the Performabuilt level 1 if you are on a budget.
BTW, I think you'll find the 160 tstat is a waste, just leave the stock one in.
1. I can't seem to find a bad review on Performabuilt. They appear to be able to handle the power they are advertised for (and more) and they seem to be reliable and long lasting.
2. At about $2000 its very reasonably priced compared to other transmissions.
3. They come with a warranty that, again from what I can find, they stand behind. A lot of places will say they have a warranty but I hear a lot of them with bs excuses when a transmission fails.
4. After the warranty Performabuilt will do a full rebuild for about $1000. So for as long as you have the thing you are never more than $1k away from a healthy transmission.
I just ordered mine yesterday so I can't speak from personal experience but I have done a good amount of research and this is what I found. If you are on more of a budget you could consider going with a cheaper transmission like a TH400 but you lose OD and lockup and there are a decent number of modifications to get it going. Also, at 500 whp you could go with the Performabuilt level 1 if you are on a budget.
BTW, I think you'll find the 160 tstat is a waste, just leave the stock one in.
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iv heard that they dont test their transmissions and have seen threads with people claiming that their level 2 which is supposed to hold 700 hp or whatever has failed behind stock internal ls1s w/ boltons. also the fact that the buyer would have to bolt their tail/bellhousing to the transmission isnt appealing to me.
iv had a transmission builder who i called when looking for mine tell me that they have had customers come to them with a performabuilt that is having problems
I am not knocking performabuilt's product as i have no personal experience with them but after reading and talking to people about them, i chose not to use them. iv seen many people have success w/ them and some with a bad experience.
Im not trying to start a pissing match but im sure that there are people on this site who have used one of their products and gone elsewhere because of problems.
iv had a transmission builder who i called when looking for mine tell me that they have had customers come to them with a performabuilt that is having problems
I am not knocking performabuilt's product as i have no personal experience with them but after reading and talking to people about them, i chose not to use them. iv seen many people have success w/ them and some with a bad experience.
Im not trying to start a pissing match but im sure that there are people on this site who have used one of their products and gone elsewhere because of problems.
this was my main reason for not going with them. my car is just a bolton streetcar/ DD and i wanted to go w/ a transmission that would last me a while.
iv heard that they dont test their transmissions and have seen threads with people claiming that their level 2 which is supposed to hold 700 hp or whatever has failed behind stock internal ls1s w/ boltons. also the fact that the buyer would have to bolt their tail/bellhousing to the transmission isnt appealing to me.
iv had a transmission builder who i called when looking for mine tell me that they have had customers come to them with a performabuilt that is having problems
I am not knocking performabuilt's product as i have no personal experience with them but after reading and talking to people about them, i chose not to use them. iv seen many people have success w/ them and some with a bad experience.
Im not trying to start a pissing match but im sure that there are people on this site who have used one of their products and gone elsewhere because of problems.
iv had a transmission builder who i called when looking for mine tell me that they have had customers come to them with a performabuilt that is having problems
I am not knocking performabuilt's product as i have no personal experience with them but after reading and talking to people about them, i chose not to use them. iv seen many people have success w/ them and some with a bad experience.
Im not trying to start a pissing match but im sure that there are people on this site who have used one of their products and gone elsewhere because of problems.
You're not starting a pissing match, its good that there are options to chose from that fit individual needs. The guy who wrote the below review is a good friend of mine and I know he speaks the truth so this also effected my decision to go with Performabuilt:
"First off I own a 2005 GTO. Up until a month ago the car was powered by a Heads/cam + 200 shot nitrous LS2. The Performabuilt Trans. was installed in the car spring of 2007 and in August of this year we went 10.41 @132.47 currently the quickest pass by a stock bottom end GTO in the country. A few weeks ago we decided to put in a much larger power plant so at this time the transmission was pulled out. I decided to have Chance transmissions (converters) go through the Trans. and freshen it up. Well when it was pulled apart Flip gave me a call and said man this thing looks amazing are you sure you have 40k+ miles on it and 200+ nitrous passes like you stated when you dropped it off. I said yes sir this is correct. Needless to say the transmission was flawless inside and in perfect working order. the 3-4 clutches looked brand new.. Awesome news..
So we put the new engine in and reinstalled the transmission backed by a 4k stall FTI converter, GForce CF driveshaft and all new GForce rearend components. The engine is a 416in LS3 12.5:1 compression on 2 stages of Nitrous Outlet Direct Port and plate. Went to SNL Performance for a tune and to get some hard dyno numbers.. Direct Port only the car made 756hp & 888tq. On the plate only the car made 714hp & 841tq. 18 pulls total were made on the dyno without one mechanical issue. We tried to fire both kits together but the car kept trying to lift itself off the dyno so we could not get any hard numbers all out..
So at the end of the day I am really impressed by the piece Frank over at performabuilt sent me 2 1/2 years ago and it has held up to some serious abuse without issue.
I would highly recommend them to anyone looking for a good high quality transmission."
In the end of the day even great products get bad reviews from time to time. I'm hoping to have an experience like the above especially since I'm nowhere near 750 whp.
There are a lot of good automatic trans builders who support LS1tech. Your best bet is to sit down and do a thorough search of the boards and decide with the facts.
We have been building 4L60e transmissions for high performance cars and trucks for over 10 years. We have the quickest and fastest 4L60e transmissions in the world. The largest shops in the country use our transmissions. We haven't been on LS1tech for very long so there isn't a ton of feedback from our customers here but if you want a lot of feedback on our products check out the corvette forum www.corvetteforum.com and www.tbssowners.com or a general google search and you will see the cars and trucks that are running our transmissions.
Here is a link to our youtube channel and you can see our transmissions in action.
http://www.youtube.com/user/rpmtransmissions
We have been building 4L60e transmissions for high performance cars and trucks for over 10 years. We have the quickest and fastest 4L60e transmissions in the world. The largest shops in the country use our transmissions. We haven't been on LS1tech for very long so there isn't a ton of feedback from our customers here but if you want a lot of feedback on our products check out the corvette forum www.corvetteforum.com and www.tbssowners.com or a general google search and you will see the cars and trucks that are running our transmissions.
Here is a link to our youtube channel and you can see our transmissions in action.
http://www.youtube.com/user/rpmtransmissions
