my car is a 1996 camaro Z28 LT1, car has 238K but came from california. its a strong running LT1 no oil leaks, knocks or significant blowby. the previous owner had rebuilt the transmission at 189K the trans failed again at 238K going up hill driving at 60 mph, suddenly the engine would rev but NO and i mean NO more forward movement, coast to a stop and call a tow truck 55 miles from home...... $300 later just to get the car home... bad day. anyways i dont have any plans to part out or junk a 4th gen fbody that is structurally sound. that leaves the option of repair. i think im going to be looking at around $1,500 to have the trans R&R and fully rebuilt, made stronger then new. more clutches, better sprags, beast sunshell, shift improver kit and a new (if not better torque converter).

several questions
1. why did that first rebuild fail after less then 100K. the previous owner had it done at aamco (far, far from my first choice). i dont beat the snot out of my car and i dont typically do burnouts. i drive in a spirited manner but not trying to blow it up
2. would a rebuild at a good independent shop hold up better. im not looking at building a 600 hp track monster but just a reliable, fun street car which is all this car was intended to be
3. is 238K on the LT1 shot or does it still have some time left, provided im not beating the absolute snot out of it. car seems to run good but i dont want it to blow up 1,000 miles after i rebuild the tranny.
4. is the 4L60E a good trans, there is so much bad out there about this transmission over the years in just about every application. they seem to have major flaws
5. when/if i get it rebuilt should i go with a slightly higher then stock on the converter stall, the engine is pretty stock. is there any benefit with going with a higher stall converter?

 

1. You'd have to open it up to find out for sure but if you had no forward movement in any gear but have reverse helps narrow it down. Could be one of the teflon seals in the input shaft failed from being nicked during installation.

2. Whether or not you remove and replace the transmission yourself is a factor here. The labor for removing the transmission and installing the rebuilt one will be a few hundred dollars, so if you're wanting to have modest upgrades AND a new torque converter I doubt you'll be able to find all that plus R&R labor for anywhere near $1,500. A cheapo new torque converter will be at least $200 and a good one at least $400.

It's really a question that's best answered with "it depends". Performabuilt (forum sponsor) will ship a 4l60e rated for 500hp for $1,900, so if you installed it yourself there's that. But it doesn't include a new torque converter.

I'll let others answer 3-5, but the 4l60e is plenty fine for a daily driver if the weak points are addressed in a rebuild. You have the same year as mine, so 3-4 clutch pack, sun shell, TCC regulator valve are the common problem areas to address.

 

The later year 4L60E transmissions had quite a few reliability and dependability upgrades by GM that can be backwards compatibly installed by your rebuilder if you elect to rebuild it. The ATSG book for the 4L60E outlines the history and GM upgrades very nicely - maybe $20 for the book.

Does your trans fluid still look good? Does it smell burned? Any leaks? Will it move forward in one of the lower gears if you manually shift it?

Any trans fluid in the radiator or radiator water in the trans fluid?

I'm not a fan of shift kits because I believe they are harsh with the clutches. I have a 1999 built 4L60E behind a model year 2000 VORTEC truck engine (trans and engine were put together on the production line) that I'm putting into an El Camino. I have complete faith that the 4L60 will do well though I will get the upgrades described in the ATSG book if it does fail.

Rick

 

The 4L60 is a known weak point on these cars. You can have mine, if you come and get it. I'm having a 4L80 built.

 

i had someone suggest buying a junkyard trans and he claims that no rebuild has any longevity. i think that aamco does **** pour work and i think a quality rebuild will hold up better then a stock unit, the rebuild was probably slapped together cheaply. it was done in 2007 but the car sat for a number of years. they paid $1,200 for a rebuild back in 2007. btw, i changed the transmission fluid myself after the rebuild had 40K on it, the fluid did not look good then, it was nasty burnt after only 40k. the fluid that is in the trans now is downright nasty not pink at all, and that fluid only had 25K on it or so, its not like i at least didnt try to take care of it. the transmission always had a vibration in lockup and i think that rebuild never was a good job. if i guess they did not replace the soliniod pack and that was causing slipage. there is a local shop that i have dealt with on other cars and they did good work.

part of my thought process on the labor for R&R is that if i have them do it, and the rebuild fails under waranty for whatever reason, its their problem to remove it again. i would attempt to remove but time is also a factor. i am a CDL truck driver, drive milk truck. i consistently work 6 days a week 60+ hours per week. i dont have much time off to do as i wish. i also have a 4 month old son and a 6 year old, time becomes an issue.

i called the people that i trust with transmission work after it failed back in October they said $1,400 includes R&R for a stock rebuild and add for any additional performance upgrades. the rebuild price would include a beast sunshell, he does not use the stock unit in any rebuild PERIOD. he suggests that a shift kit extends transmission life because slippage is actually what destroys clutches and shift kits prevent slippage. i dont think he was suggesting an extreme shift improver kit. he says they only use rabestos clutch kits. this is Atec transmissions in elma ny and i believe if i remember correctly they are a fairly major sponsor of the local drag strip and they do a number of builds on drag car transmissions.

is this car ever going to see 500 hp? probably not. the most i might do with it is install a better set of gears in the future and leave it alone from there.

 

The failure of the rebuild was likely due to a sloppy rebuild and/or not also replacing the converter at that time. If a hard parts fails creating metal flakes, then the converter needs to be replaced or at least opened/cleaned/re-welded.

Did you check if your have forward motion in D1 or D2? Forward motion in D1/D2 but not OD indicates that the forward sprag failed. Quality rebuilds always replace it with the latest GM/Borg-Warner upgrade.

If you trust that local builder, a $1400 base sounds reasonable.
Alternatively, you might consider sponsor PerformaBuilt who sells their Level-2 at around $2200. You then get a high quality rebuild and performance parts to handle 500 HP.

I'm going to disagree with B52 (above) and agree with your local builder that a quality shift kit set to modest firmness will actually increase the life of your trans by reducing clutch wear. (I suspect that an irresponsible shift kit made by B&M in the '90s, which broke hard parts, gave all shift kits a bad reputation.)

 

mrvedit, when I visit the http://www.performabuilt.com/level-1.html, it's $1,900 for the level 1 and $2,200 for the level 2. Where'd you find the level 2 for $1,500 from Performabuilt? I want to make sure I'm giving accurate information.

 

Oops, I guess their price has gone up. I updated my earlier thread.

 

You can get a 4L80 rebuilt for that.

 

And if they have both the space in their car and the desire to do some adjustments to fit the 4l80e, I know that's a very popular recommendation given how much sturdier even a stock 4l80e is.