Greetings from Long Island!
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Joined: Nov 2017
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From: Long Island, NY
Greetings from Long Island! Lurked around here for a while and am now making it official.
Many thanks to others here who have provided so much knowledge.
I have a 1987 Chevrolet R20 (old style 2500, 2wd).
It’s the last year of the square body style.
It has 8 lug axles, and a 4 speed M20 manual with granny low 1st gear.
It is a solid work truck. Luxuries include power steering, no a/c, and rubber carpet.
Home depot, towing cars/atv's/snowmobiles, hunting, honey do’s are what it’s used for.
The engine has a tired 305 TBI that barely has any oil pressure at idle with a new Melling high volume oil pump.
I am planning a 5.3 or 6.0L iron block swap -you guys have made that the easy part.
The transmission is holding me back.
I like a manual transmission, just not the notchy,four -um three speed M20 that has the engine roaring at 60mph.
I would go for a manual T56 or NV3500/4500 but they seem to be expensive and hard to adapt to an LS motor (especially the 6.0L LQ4 that I was thinking of getting out of a GMC Savannah)
My other option is an electrically controlled automatic transmission, but I am worried about the electronics needed to get it to work well with the LS motor, or adapting an electronic free 700R4.
The pie in the sky goal is a 500 hp motor that is heavy on the torque.
I don’t know if I should just get the LS running, and turbocharge it later, or build a normally aspirated 500 hp from the get go.
A good friend of mine owns a transmission shop, so I can rehab or strengthen either manual/auto transmissions.
I just can’t justify $600 for just a transmission controller alone, in addition to the tranny.
I’m looking for a little guidance from you guys before I start buying parts.
Many thanks to others here who have provided so much knowledge.
I have a 1987 Chevrolet R20 (old style 2500, 2wd).
It’s the last year of the square body style.
It has 8 lug axles, and a 4 speed M20 manual with granny low 1st gear.
It is a solid work truck. Luxuries include power steering, no a/c, and rubber carpet.
Home depot, towing cars/atv's/snowmobiles, hunting, honey do’s are what it’s used for.
The engine has a tired 305 TBI that barely has any oil pressure at idle with a new Melling high volume oil pump.
I am planning a 5.3 or 6.0L iron block swap -you guys have made that the easy part.
The transmission is holding me back.
I like a manual transmission, just not the notchy,
I would go for a manual T56 or NV3500/4500 but they seem to be expensive and hard to adapt to an LS motor (especially the 6.0L LQ4 that I was thinking of getting out of a GMC Savannah)
My other option is an electrically controlled automatic transmission, but I am worried about the electronics needed to get it to work well with the LS motor, or adapting an electronic free 700R4.
The pie in the sky goal is a 500 hp motor that is heavy on the torque.
I don’t know if I should just get the LS running, and turbocharge it later, or build a normally aspirated 500 hp from the get go.
A good friend of mine owns a transmission shop, so I can rehab or strengthen either manual/auto transmissions.
I just can’t justify $600 for just a transmission controller alone, in addition to the tranny.
I’m looking for a little guidance from you guys before I start buying parts.
