I have been looking around the site for a few weeks, and honestly most of the threads seem a little dated. I see people running level 4 FTI, but the threads are 5-10 years ago. How did they hold up, any issues? They all talk about getting these nice set ups for like 200-2300 bucks from places that cost over a grand more now. Last night I saw this one for sale and it seems hundreds cheaper than most of them, and I have a Summit local to me so I could go pick it up. My car is a SBE ls1 on pump gas turbo set up. It makes mid 600's weighs 3200 or so, and currently has a T-56 in it. I would like to run just 6.99, fun car for some 7.0 index while I go watch the fast guys. I will be the first to admit I am horrible at launching it, like Lieutenant Dan do work it better than me. It has just turned into more of a track car than a street car racking up 4800 miles in eight years now. I am going to sell the T-56 set up and go auto. Am I missing something here on the price. I do understand Ill need a Ls spec convertor, new flywheel, spacer, shifter, and driveshaft. Is their any others in this range that maybe I've missed? I do want a full manual valve body and a brake. I will also be selling my t56 and supporting parts stage 3 monster clutch, lighten flywheel and tick master with speed bleeder have maybe 1,000 miles on them. Trans has 139k mgw shifter no issue with trans, I just want consistent times and don't drive it enough on the street.

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/f...SABEgI-ufD_BwE

 

Rainz, don't be gun shy about the price. The transmission you linked is a special level 4 Th400 we make only available to Summit. One of the main differences is that due to core supplies, most new transmissions now come with a bolt on SFI bellhousing(TH400-4UB). This is done because we can use the more abundant BPO case cores than the more scarce chevy bell cores. Luckily, we have a very nice stock pile of chevy bell 400 cores/cases which is what allows us to make this offering to racers such as yourself. You get the same great performance from our level 4 TH400 and you get to save a few bucks while you at it.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to reach out.

-Dalton

 

Is being a BPO bell housing and not a Chevy one, going to affect me bolting it up to an Ls motor? This is a new thing to me, so forgive my ignorance.

never mind looks like it needs an adapter

 

I mentioned the BPO vs Chevy bell only to explain why most new transmissions are more expensive and have the SFI bolt on bellhousing. For your own research/information you just need to make sure the transmission has a regular chevy bell housing which will be 99% of the options out there.

The difference will be some will be factory case chevy bells like ours you linked above, and most will be the more expensive bolt on bell configuration.

 

So since it says bell housing bolt pattern manufacturer Chevy does mean it will bolt up to the ls gen 1 block as long as I do the other things such as ls specific convertor, flywheel spacer?

 

YES! The GM bell-housing remained the same from 1955-cuurent. the original 1955 SBC had a 7 bolt bell-housing just like the LS. They deleted the top center bell-housing bolt around 1957 and then used the standard 6-bolt pattern you are accustomed too. The LS was a clean slate design that they used the old SBC pattern with one change. The water jacket in the block is to close to the 2 o'clock bolt. If the LS block was drilled and tapped for it, they would get into the water jacket. The engineers still wanted a 6 bolt pattern so the adopted the center top hole from the 50's. Whala there you have it. If adapting a LS motor to a early bolt pattern transmission you just need the correctly built converter and flex plate. there is a sticky on this at the top of this section that it explains it all better. Here is the link...

https://ls1tech.com/forums/automatic...s-spacers.html

 

Thank you for the response, now I am just sitting here thinking man a part of me is interested in a glide for my turbo car. I think it weights a little too much and will only make 700 or so max, not the right recipe for a glide I believe. OK now on to find someone to build a nice convertor for it.

 

Look no further than FTI, they build very nice converters and Powerglides.

 

We build converters too! and a powerglide may not be as off the table as you think. If you have some time I'd be happy to go over your combination and help get you going in the right direction.

 

Would you like a direct message, email or call?

 

Whatever is most convenient for you. this thread, private message, call, email

386-736-5816
media@ftiperformance.com

-Dalton