4L60E or 4L80E? Which one?
4L60E or 4L80E? Which one? I am about to have my 4L60E repaired and beefed up. $2500 worth. I belive my trans guy is going to do everything possable to it. But he still does not think the trans will handle more the 550hp reliably. Let me define his definition of reliability. He thinks a racing trans should last all season with zero problems. And maybe need to be freshend up in the off season. All that is good and I trust him with his judgement. He thinks if I want to handle more power that I should go with a 4l80E. I agree with him but I know nothing about 4l80E. Like what mods will the car need to take it? Will my PCM work with it? He knows all about the trans but he has never put one in a 4l60E car before. So he has no idea what we will be looking at as far as space or computer compatability. I know my TC will not work, I know I will have to get a flywheel spacer, I know I will have to biuld a trans mount, and I know I will have to modify the driveshaft and Yoke. What else will I have to do?
I hope someone on here takes the time to answer and not just post "do a search"
I hope someone on here takes the time to answer and not just post "do a search"
I am doing the swap right now and am working on solutions for all this. Like you said flywheel, shorter drive shaft, converter, tanny brace. Depending on what the use of the car is depends on where you go from there. You can do a stand alone controller from speartech or tci, a manual valve body and shift it, or what I'm trying to get done. I bought a wiring adapter from speartech to convert from 4l60 to 4l80 plugs. I am now waiting to see if ken from ls1edit can make me a custom flash for my computer to keep the f-body software, and add a 4l80e trans setting. It is some work, but better than pulling the tranny every month with the 4l60e garbage.
Sounds like this is a new thing. I think I will go ahead and do what I can with the 4L60E and let the 4L80E stuff get worked out. I am not making 500hp right now and probley wont until next year, so I guess the 4L60E will work fine for me until then. Thanks.
You could also opt for a th400 with a gear vendors overdrive unit. You would need a different shifter, but the rest of the solution is easy to get. Not too many people do the 4L80e thing from what I am seeing. I already have 500 hp, but starting on a turbo build and need a transmission to stand behind it.
From what my Trans man says, the 4L80E is a GM Modified 400 with the OD already. He thinks it would be the best choice for my needs if the computer wiring harness adapter will work with my computer. But he did say it will consume about 40 more HP then the 4L60E.
I had the chance to see his car today when I dropped mine of at his buisness shop. He has a Gray 2004 Corvette with a MTI built 427 CR-5 Block. It has LS6 Heads and lots of goodies on the inside. It will not hook until 1000ft mark and still runs high tens. Monster machine!!! He took it to some place by Austin that has an old B-52 runway. It is now converted into a 1 mile drag strip. The runway is like 3 miles long. You run it entering into different MPH classes. Your not realy competing for time but for they make several passes and you average the MPH of all passes, who ever makes it closest to the mph clas wins at the end. His first pass was 187mph, so he was disqualified because he has no roll cage. MTI did one hell of a great job on his car!!! Man does it run.
I had the chance to see his car today when I dropped mine of at his buisness shop. He has a Gray 2004 Corvette with a MTI built 427 CR-5 Block. It has LS6 Heads and lots of goodies on the inside. It will not hook until 1000ft mark and still runs high tens. Monster machine!!! He took it to some place by Austin that has an old B-52 runway. It is now converted into a 1 mile drag strip. The runway is like 3 miles long. You run it entering into different MPH classes. Your not realy competing for time but for they make several passes and you average the MPH of all passes, who ever makes it closest to the mph clas wins at the end. His first pass was 187mph, so he was disqualified because he has no roll cage. MTI did one hell of a great job on his car!!! Man does it run.
Sounds good. The 4l80e is about 3-5% less efficent then the 4l60e so about 30 hp loss if you figure 500 hp. Sounds like he knows what he is talking about. The 4L80e is just a 400 with overdrive and the 4L60e is a th350 with overdrive. The 80 weighs about 30 pounds more than the 60. I will pm you when I get it figured out. Still waiting for the tranny cross member from yank so I can fit the assembly in.
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Originally Posted by strokedls1
Sounds good. The 4l80e is about 3-5% less efficent then the 4l60e so about 30 hp loss if you figure 500 hp. Sounds like he knows what he is talking about. The 4L80e is just a 400 with overdrive and the 4L60e is a th350 with overdrive. The 80 weighs about 30 pounds more than the 60. I will pm you when I get it figured out. Still waiting for the tranny cross member from yank so I can fit the assembly in.
The 4L60 is listed at 160lbs, the 4L80 is 260lbs.
The TH400 and GV unit is ~220lbs.
I have it fixed!!!!! My Trans man is a GENIUS!!!! He did every thing you can do to it except the input shaft. Man this thing realy rocks now. Before, when I put the 3800 stall in it, the shifts were weak because of the high stall, now even with the stall the thing shifts very positively. I sheared the splines out of the one drum that always goes and my drum that the band runs on was burnt black. So he replaced both peices with aftermarket ones. He did all kinds of stuff on the inside too. I saw all the new billet parts but I could not even begin to tell you what the parts are. He updated it to 4L65e stuff. Now it wll rock!!!! 550hp for two years should be fine with this tans now. All my trans programing is stock right now. Tomorow he and I are going to use LS1Edit to fine tune the trans. I brought him the car, he pulled the trans, built it, installed it, and is tuning it. I have to say it was worth every penny. You will not find anyone more honest, more dependable, and more professional then him.
Last edited by Texas_WS6; Mar 12, 2005 at 04:27 PM. Reason: spelling
Originally Posted by V-10 Killer
I thought it was closer to a 100lb difference.
The 4L60 is listed at 160lbs, the 4L80 is 260lbs.
The TH400 and GV unit is ~220lbs.
The 4L60 is listed at 160lbs, the 4L80 is 260lbs.
The TH400 and GV unit is ~220lbs.
There is no way either one of those weighs that much. I can pick up either one of them and carry them around. Maybe full with fluid and a stock converter it weighs that much, but not dry.
Teching In
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 1
Likes: 0
Originally Posted by Texas_WS6
From what my Trans man says, the 4L80E is a GM Modified 400 with the OD already. He thinks it would be the best choice for my needs if the computer wiring harness adapter will work with my computer. But he did say it will consume about 40 more HP then the 4L60E.
Correct me if I'm wrong but with the exception of a different first gear ratio, the 200R4 is essentially the same as a 700R4...if that is indeed true, then there's no way that the 4L80E GN in this link is down 30-40 HP relative to his old 200R4 combo.
http://www.hotrod.com/techarticles/52018/index1.html
If your still intrested in a 4L80E it can be done and Yank (sponsor)----> makes a th400 and 4L80E conversion package, should include most of the parts and converter. The stock pcm can be used, the logic on the B solonoid has to be reversed, How? I duno i'll leave that up the electronics guys to respond.
