I am building a 1972 c10 with a 7875 turbo 5.3 LS, likely 600whp daily, maybe 800whp max effort (meth, e85, etc)

I bought the truck with a Holley terminator x max ecu and 4L60, but I am very interested in using a zf8hp. Can I get away with the 70? I am leaning toward yes. I looked through all 400 posts and got sufficiently overwhelmed. Here is a complication of my notes:

My biggest hurdle is the details around Holley to TurboLamik canbus communication. I did not see a clear, concise, process outlined for pairing these two units.

Estimated cost: $5,000 with zf8hp70

Parts list / notes:
2015-2023 V8 Charger or Challenger (70's are ~$500 and 90's are ~$5,000)
- The 5.7 and 6.4 engine have the exact same 8HP70 - 700+whp proven
- The 5.7 stall is higher than the 6.4
- The 6.2 Hellcat has the 8HP90, stronger and more expensive
- 70 and 90 similar platforms with stronger parts, they are the same control system
Dodge 8HP Park Release Kit - $200
TCU TurboLamik FULL KIT - $2,500
- Take the PCBs to be soldered by an electronics repair shop. It didn't cost much and these guys are experts.
- Use quality insulated barrel terminals and cover with an adhesive lined heat shrink tubing, like Rechem SCL
Shifter - lots of options ($200 + used)
- Charger shifter
- A90 Supra
- Dodge T Handle shifters
- X5M selector
- https://manual.turbolamik.eu/SupportedCANSelectors.html
Bell housing adapter - $1,100
- Domi-Works adapter
- Adamat adapter slimmer because they provide their own flywheel to which the torque converter bolts too
- the little loop on the adapter around the starter needs to get trimmed
Oil cooler with a thermostat
- Part # TCH-101-T2 - $300
- optional pan (expensive) - https://hpr-tuning.com/products/8hp-...FYWCFUYz0tJygw
custom dual CV driveshafts from The Driveshaft Shop - projectgattago at Gmail dot com

ECU and TCU communication
- TurboLamik communicates with a Holley ECU over CAN.
- TurboLamik can definitely accept analog inputs from ECU
- Pretty soon you'll be able to display the Gear on a Holley dash
- The trickiest part of getting the TurboLamik to work properly is imputing a good torque table.

Project GatTagO posts #195, 248, 273

 

The Terminator X Max and the TL connect over CAN using the CAN2 connector on Terminator X Max J3 (DBW connector)
No analog inputs are needed. Bidirectional CAN communication between Holley EFI and TL is 100% functional.
All TL channels will display on a Holley dash
Having a good torque table in the TL is very important and it is something that I do as part of my tuning service.

Email me to discuss further: projectgattago at gmail dot com

Andrew

 

That's the easy part. Andrew - Project GatTagO has done many and it has been tested multiple times.

 

We have done GM ECUs from E3x to E9x and the CAN was mostly the same.

We just set up a trans DYNO for Bowler Transmissions with E92 and TurboLamik and it took us less than 10 minutes to configure it all remotely

 

Andrew,
see what you started, lol. 👍

 

To be fair, I didn't start this. But I certainly did my part to bring it to the LS swap crowd.

Andrew

 

well. Turbolamik is the cats meow. Its going in my twin turbo chevelle with the holley dominator. Thats the crown jewel. The obs pick up was a last minute decision and budget oriented. The cantcu comes in at half the cost. I dint know all the differences, but it is definately limited in comparison to the Turbolamik. For what im doing with the truck, it ll be fine.

 

If using a GM ECU (E38), is there a consensus on what should be done with the original transmission wiring or any critical changes needed to the tune? At this point I'm only planning on unplugging the factory TCU and tying the harness leads up out of the way...

 

What transmission do you have now?

Andrew

 

Going from an E38 and T42 TCM driving a 4L80e to 8HP70.

Looks like eliminating the T42 will create an open CAN situation, so that will need to be remedied.

Also looks like I'll need to either eliminate anything in the tune relying on VSS, though that might already be done. I am going to have to come up with a tone ring solution for cruise control at least, so if there are any tune parameters that I'd like to continue to use VSS, I suppose I can use that.

Actually...as I'm typing I'm remembering that my 8.5 rear has an internal ABS reluctor. I wonder if I can tap that signal without affecting the ABS signal quality...I'll have to do some measuring.

Edit: Some further digging - looks like I'm going to have to swap the PCM for another E38 with a manual operating system. I think my existing pedal and throttle body should still work, but it might take some re-pinning of my PCM connectors. Seems like there's some debate whether a manual OS E38 really needs a VSS signal for idle and low speed tuning, and I'm still trying to nail down what the E38 VSS input requirements are (square vs sine).

 

8hp70 fits in 1995 chevy OBS-confirmed!

 

Bad a$$.

Andrew

 

Looks like it fits well. Hopefully I'll be following your lead soon and do my own ZF8 swap into my 95. Are those Schoenfeld OBS LS swap headers?

 

speed engineering lt's, holley rear position mounts, summit(moroso knock off) ls oil pan. Custom xmember. Its tight fit. You could do well find a different set of motor mounts. Alledgedly these rearward mounts are considered sbc location. Im not sure tho. Id wanna see em come forward 1/2"-5/8" more.

 

Can you drop the engine a tiny bit to get that angle within 2 degrees?

 

Im sure with other motor mount systems you can definitely fit the 8hp better and easier. The issue is finding a set of headers to work. There arent many long tube header options available for the Ls swaps in these trucks. With these Holley rearward position mounts being as far back as they are, it looks like they can only really come forward 1/2"-5/8" ideally. So you could redrill them or try and find a different mount and play that game. Fwiw, I compared the holley position to the previous ls swap mounts. The previous mounts were adjustable, looked like dirty dingo. They were maxed out to the rearest of positioning and still, the holley mounts were easily another 3/4"-1" further back. Now they sat on the stock sbc mounts. I dunno if these headers would ve fit with them. Speed Engineering says they will. Maybe. The 8hp would ve loved that mounting position better. Fwiw, im not overly concerned with the working angles as a great and expensive feature of these trans swaps is running a dual cv joint DS. So ls engine in and <4* is fine by me. I think once i install the vent relocation kit from Turbolamik, I can shim trans up another 1/4"-3/8" up. Which should bring the angle of the cv register to about 3.5* down. Moving the mounting location forward an inch, or using the Dirty Dingo mounts, you could 100% fit this trans better and decrease your working angles. Just gotta see about a set of long tubes, or use shorties, or go turbo! Mine is all in n dine, so I do not feel like ordering different mount kits and experimenting.

 

The speed engineering c10 swap headers fit well in an obs.. this was with ict billet mounts... also an lt4 but ls is probably similar fit i would guess

 

When I did the LS swap in my 95 OBS back in 2008, I made my own motor mounts and moved the engine as far back as I could without modding the firewall. At the time I was using stock truck manifolds and everything fit. Then years later Schoenfeld made long tubes for these trucks. I bought them and they didn't clear the firewall due to my rearward engine placement. I bought Dirty Dingo mounts and paired them with stock GM rubber mounts on the frame. That moved the engine forward back into the "stock" location. I believe I had to slightly dent in one primary tube on the passenger side to clear and I dented in the firewall a bit as well. Looking at some of Dr EFI's ZF8 overlays on top of a 4L80E, I suspect the schoenfeld headers will clear the ZF8. Below is my current setup with my 4L80E. Hope this is my last season with the 80E

 

Yes, the 8hp is narrower in that regard. It ll clear for sure. The biggest issues are the hieght typically. Honestly, we ve had no real trouble getting 8hps in my buddies blazer extreme, my chevelle, my obs, etc.

 

@SCOTT A, are you running a fuel cell in the bed?