What transmission do I need
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Teching In
Joined: Jan 2023
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What transmission do I need I am building a Pontiac firebird and I am going to put a 6.0 stroker to a 408 and I don’t know what transmission to go with I plan to put nitrous on it soon and a turbo later on and it’s looking like I will have around 500 hp. I want to be able to drive this car on the street and race a little bit not really daily it.
Edit: I don’t have a 4l60e I’ll I have is a frame and body so I am looking to start from scratch
Edit: I don’t have a 4l60e I’ll I have is a frame and body so I am looking to start from scratch
Last edited by Gavin Vance; Jan 12, 2023 at 05:25 PM.
TECH Junkie
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From: Poplarville, MS
At 500hp a good 4L60E would work just fine, but if nitrous on top of the 500hp I think a 4L80E would be better. Especially if you don't have a trans yet and are starting from scratch. Nitrous is hard on parts.
TECH Junkie
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From: Iowa
Thread Starter
Teching In
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would I be fine with a stock one or should I get a built one
TECH Enthusiast
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From: Roxana, IL
TECH Junkie
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From: Iowa
4l60e...100% should go with a performance oriented unit
for the 4l80e...you'll get mixed reviews
As someone who's torn down LOTS of 4l80e cores...and done everything from stock pickup/box van rebuilds up to 1500hp builds...I can tell you that alot of cores are junk
Alot of guys on here will reassemble junk not knowing its junk or just not caring.
The 4l80e is a great unit but when you get a core with 100k miles...it needs alot of work to be a proper transmission even considered for performance use in my opinion.
Now...if you just want bare minimum and cheap and don't care about having a failure and needing to fix it...sure...there are stock 4l80e out of pickups in the wrecking yard that will survive in your car. Probably even with nitrous.
That doesn't mean it's a nice piece
for the 4l80e...you'll get mixed reviews
As someone who's torn down LOTS of 4l80e cores...and done everything from stock pickup/box van rebuilds up to 1500hp builds...I can tell you that alot of cores are junk
Alot of guys on here will reassemble junk not knowing its junk or just not caring.
The 4l80e is a great unit but when you get a core with 100k miles...it needs alot of work to be a proper transmission even considered for performance use in my opinion.
Now...if you just want bare minimum and cheap and don't care about having a failure and needing to fix it...sure...there are stock 4l80e out of pickups in the wrecking yard that will survive in your car. Probably even with nitrous.
That doesn't mean it's a nice piece
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Teching In
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My vote is to keep the 4L60E, but if stock you may run into issues as you will be on borrowed time.
You can run a street/strip build and be fine for a long time with that power level, will cost about $2500 but is well worth it. I recommend Finish Line Trans, as I run their L7 4L60E in my twin turbo car.
You can run a street/strip build and be fine for a long time with that power level, will cost about $2500 but is well worth it. I recommend Finish Line Trans, as I run their L7 4L60E in my twin turbo car.
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Now...if you just want bare minimum and cheap and don't care about having a failure and needing to fix it...sure...there are stock 4l80e out of pickups in the wrecking yard that will survive in your car. Probably even with nitrous.
That doesn't mean it's a nice piece
If it survives why is it not a nice piece?
I may have just been lucky but ive ran 2 unknown junkyard 4l80e's without doing anything more than a filter and fluid change with no issues as of now..
Honestly just wondering what I need to be looking out for??
Thanks.
TECH Junkie
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From: Iowa
You can make it home on a spare tire...doesn't mean it's right
but by your logic...the spare survived...so why ever swap it out?
if it survived...it must've been a nice tire!
If you've been inside junkyard cores...no self respecting person would slam it back together with all of the fails inside of it.
To be completely honest...even the most cherry 4l80e core...kindof sucks for performance use. GM left a whole lot to be desired.
but by your logic...the spare survived...so why ever swap it out?
if it survived...it must've been a nice tire!
If you've been inside junkyard cores...no self respecting person would slam it back together with all of the fails inside of it.
To be completely honest...even the most cherry 4l80e core...kindof sucks for performance use. GM left a whole lot to be desired.
For example, someone may look at a set of gears on a planet and see that none of them are chipped and assume that the planet is good to go when it may not be if there is too much play in the gears. Or they may have a forward drum that is not useable because the sealing surface is junk and needs a new sleeve/replacement. Or they may have a center support that has an issue with how it's aligned apart from the orientation of the bushing, or a pump may have too much clearance between the crescent and the gear, or the vacuum on a circuit in the pump or valve body may be too low. The list goes on and on.
