Cam94Z28

After a long hiatus from the board, I will be buying my brother's 98 Z28. It is, unfortunately an automatic, but only has 80k miles, so I can't pass it up. I don't think I'll be able to put up with the 4L60E for long, and will be looking to swap it out for a t56.

Other than the actual transmission/bellhousing, Master and Slave Cylinder, what all would be required to complete/install the swap? Is there a good writeup somewhere?

FWIW, during my hiatus I had a mudstain/rustang/mustang/insert insult word, and it was the worst mistake I ever made. Glad to be back :P

raulz28

Here you go
HOW TO: 4L60E swap to T56 (LS1 F-body)

Cam94Z28

Thanks for the link. Much more than I thought was involved. $2300 is almost as much as I'm paying for the car. Will definitely have to rethink things.

Marc 85Z28

Just put a quality high stall torque converter in it. After that, the only time you'll think about a 6 speed car is when you see one in the rearview mirror

WhiteHawk

I would just hold off and buy a manual personally. That is a lot of work to do and have basically the same car when you are done.

-Geoff

rv93

the conversion isnt worth it. waiting for a nice 6spd to turn up is nothing quite like one. after you get rid of the crappy stock shift stick anyway. UMI makes a great one for like $25

Cam94Z28

I dunno, the thing that annoys me the most about auto is the fact that it downshifts under load, at part throttle, when I'd rather have it stay in a higher gear. As far as pure speed, I agree that Auto + stall would be better. But with manual, I feel a lot more connected with the car.

The main reasons I'd like to buy this car are that it's a great deal, (brother is selling it to me for $3000) and it was originally my parents'. They paid $28,000 for it brand new, and this way it would stay in the family.

My 5spd 99 Mustang GT has been a terrible car. Since I got it, it's bogged down, and never ran right. Always acting like it's choking, and I can't figure it out. I've had to replace the engine and transmission, and completely replaced the exhaust. I've rode in a few 6spd LS1's and was hooked since the first gear shift. I would love to just find a 6spd to begin with, and that way I can get the trans am, which I'd much rather have. But, for the reasons mentioned earlier, I think I will put up with the auto until I can slowly piece all of the parts together for the swap.

Any idea if the conversion kits mentioned in the thread linked from that thread are still available? All of the listed sites are dead.

WhiteHawk

If it is the shifting, you can set the downshift throttle % really high then it will stay in gear until you stomp it.

-Geoff

Cam94Z28

Would this need to be done with a tune?

6SpdLT1Z

A few thousand dollars. I'd recommend buying a 6 speed from the get-go if you haven't bought the car yet.

WhiteHawk

That would be part of a full tune. Some shops might touch up stuff like that for less than a full tune, though. HPTuners or some other tuning software would be the easiest, that way you can set how you like it.

-Geoff

raulz28

Don't anything about those conversion kits sorry man.

Cam94Z28

Wow I guess I'm spoiled by having a Bama Tuner for the Mustang, with free tunes for life at $379. It's not quite as full featured, but it works. $500 is kind of ridiculous for hptuners and EFIlive is even more insane, at $900. At that point i might as well do the swap. All I would really want to try is changing shift points, and downshift rpm as suggested. If I was going to do advanced tuning, it would probably be worth it.

Marc 85Z28

Not quite as full featured? That's the understatement of the century!

That Ford Bama setup doesn't have 1/4 of the capability of what HPTuners offers. For $500, it's worth every penny.

If all you want is to adjust the shift points, don't bother with full custom tune or a HPTuners setup. Just find a mail-order company (I can recommend one, not sure if allowed here) and tell them all you need is a trans tune, and what you're looking for. Most are well under $200.

Cam94Z28

If I wanted to start a tuning business, I could understand it, but I can't see why they don't have a cheaper option for someone who would only ever want to tune 1 car, or perform adjustments in between what a handheld tuner, and the full HPTuners is capable of.

The mail order option could work, and feel free to PM me the info if you'd like. The only problem I see, though, is that I don't think I'd be able to decide what I want my shift points to be, out of the blue. I'd kind of like the ability to fine tune them. Requesting a mail order tune each time would be inconvenient, and costly if I have to mail the PCM each time. Although I'm not a fan of prefab handheld (hypertech, predator) style tuners, the max energy allows shift point adjustment, but not downshift %, and claims 25 ft. lb @ 1500rpm, 12 @ 1000, and 2000. 10 @ 4750rpm, and smaller gains across the rest of the range. Decent HP Improvement at higher rpm too.
http://hypertech.com/PerformanceGrap...bird_32500.pdf