I would like to thank the few people that started the threads involving swapping a 4L80E in a 4th gen F-Body. It gave me the courage to start the project. I am putting close to 600hp down at the wheels and have been though five 4L60E rebuilds by a reputable tranny shop. I would like to drive this car down the beach sometimes and whenever I feel like it so loosing the overdrive is not an option. A gear vendor unit is kind of expensive and frankly I just don't like it. Now some will argue to their death they can get a 4L60E to hold 1000hp and maybe they can. I found I paid as much for the 4L80E as they are building these 4L60Es for. Now of course I have to pay for other things but in my eyes this is peice of mind. I know the 4L80E will hold up and I won't have to worry about it. Here is my cost so far: 4L80E tranny built with Kolene steels, red frictions and a upgraded input shaft - $2250 which cam down to $1700 with trade in of partially blown up 4L60E tranny, Pro-Torque 4L80E stall converter - $895, TCI 377000 PCM - $700 (from Combination Motorsports, thanx Dave), BMR Track-Pack - $329 (my other BMR torque arm won't bolt to a 4L80E, if I would of bought this in the first place I wouldn't be worrying about it now!) I haven't got to the custome crossmember yet but I figure fabrication will run about $200 tops and finally my drive shaft shortening and balancing $75. So in reality this put me at about $3900 which is about $300 more then a level 3 4L60E and converter. Not bad in my book.

Now I am going to try to document this install as much as possible and include pics of things I find. If anyone has any questions or needs and pics that aren't on here let me know and I will try to get them. I will document things and include pics as I go. Here are links to the pics:
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In the following pic the tranny has an "ear" on the drivers side. Unless you beat the tunnel with a hammer this will have to be cut off.

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/orionspl/cutear.jpg
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Next the spot where the wiring harness comes out of the 4L80E is right where the crossmember bolts to the 4L60E. I plan on cutting a hole in this and run the wiring inside.

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/orionspl/plugclrnc.jpg
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Here are the coolant line clearances. Now I heard that someone had to hammer their tunnel to get these to clear. I went with an older style 4L80E case. They have both of their lines towards the front. The newer style has one towards the back and hammering might be neccessary.

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/orionspl/lineclrnc.jpg
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This is the corner of the tranny housing which will have to be cut off. The edge is touching my exhaust. It is only used to bolt the dust cover plate up and there are enough to use without it so it will be gone.

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/orionspl/cvrmount1.jpg
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Here is a shot of the driver side clearance

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/orionspl/drvclrnc.jpg
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These next pics should give you an idea how far the tranny comes back compared to the 4L60E. The mounting point is way off.

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/orionspl/mount1.jpg
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/orionspl/mount2.jpg
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Here are pics of the TCI kit, harness and wiring diagram:

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/orionspl/tcikit1.jpg
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/orionspl/tcipcm.jpg
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/orionspl/tcidiag.jpg
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That's what I have so far. Not too much but hopefully it will help someone that is in the same position I was in. I will keep things updated as I go. I look to finish within the next week. I will be waiting on the converter so it's the only thing stopping me now. If there are any questions please let me know. OrionSPL@comcast.net

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/orionspl/ssss.jpg
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/orionspl/dyno1.wmv

 

Thanks a lot! I'd appreciate if you keep the info coming.

Rich Krause

 

I plan on doing more work on it this weekend so I will get more info up then. Everything looks like it will bolt up and clear pretty nicely. Luckily the tranny shop I deal with was nice enough to lend me an empty case to measure everything up with. I will keep posting.

 

 

Very cool

(checking Email Notification option at this time )

 

I love you man...

Try to get some shots from further away so we can see it in relationship to the other stuff under there.

Thanks a million. If my "everything under the sun" Art Carr 4L60e doesn't hold up, I'll be going that direction...

 

As I posted in that other thread, the 4L80 is a very attractive idea. I just didn't want to be the guy to work out all the bugs!

Thanks again for keeping us posted.

Rich Krause

 

Ok, couple more things...

This is "no crap" step and it may get this post thrown out of the advanced tech thread but I'm including it anyway Measure the distance from the top of the intake to top of the cowling before you remove your 4L60E. You of will want the same angle or distance when you are finished installing the 4L80E. This will be needed to get the plane correct on your crossmember. I have a BMR K-Member with poly motor mounts and when I removed the 4L60E crossmember my tranny doesn't drop more then a 1/4 of an inch. Those mounts are tough!

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As far as shots that aren't real close up it's tough at this point because the car isn't on a lift and I'm on the ground taking them. Let me know if the follow shots help:

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/orionspl/rearshot1.jpg
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/orionspl/rearshot2.jpg
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/orionspl/rearshot3.jpg

Like I said this is an empty case I am working with and when I get the real tranny next week I will try to get it higher with better shots.
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Here are a few shots of the transmissions together to see the size differences:

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/orionspl/2trans1.jpg
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/orionspl/2trans2.jpg

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Ok, here is the passenger side of the old style 4L80E case. Once again both lines are together and this style will probably make it easier to install since I won't have to hammer the passenger side tunnel. And again the newer style has one line towards the rear of the transmission.

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/orionspl/lines1.jpg

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Here is a shot of the driver side of the 4L80E. The biggest problem is the wiring harness plug which unfortunately is right in the way of the metal the 4L60E crossmember bolts too. Besides making the crossmember this is the part you will probably spend the most time working on. So it really isn't a big deal.

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/orionspl/4L80Edrv1.jpg

You'll also notice two speed sensor holes which are above the shifter cable mount and harness plug. The front is the speed sensor in (labeled TISS on the TCI harness) and the rear is the speed sensor out (labeled TOSS on the TCI PCM harness). This differs from the 4L60E as it has it's single speed sensor in the tailshaft.

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Now these are the things that will need to be removed from the case of the 4L80E transmission to get it up into the tunnel. Unless you feel like beating the hell out of your tunnel. Even so I don't know if you would be able to do it with the ear left on:

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/orionspl/cvrboltdrv.jpg

In the picture above the bolt hole furthest to the left is the driver side bolt hole for the dust cover. In my application I can leave this intact. For some exhausts you may have to cut it off.

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/orionspl/cvrboltpas.jpg

In the above pic the bolt hole where the tag is tied touchs my exhaust. This will have to be removed. You will still be left with 4 bolts to hold the cover so no big deal.

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/orionspl/removeear.jpg

The picture above it the ear after I cut it off.

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Ok in the next pictures I simply marked the section that needed to be cut by the old crossmember mount and then cut it. And no I couldn't make a straight line with the tranny in the way!

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/orionspl/holemark.jpg

The next pic is the cut I made:

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/orionspl/holecut1.jpg

All cuts, both to the tranny case and sheet metal in the car were cut with just a Dremel.

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That's all I have right now. Next I will be going inside the car and punching the rest of the way through the tunnel maybe with a hole saw so I can put a round grommet in there. That will keep water and everything out. At that point I really can't do anything else until I get the converter and transmission. If anyone has any questions feel free to email me at OrionSPL@comcast.net or shoot me an IM my sn is JAKA55

 

Rich I see you aren't too far away. Why don't you swing down and help instead of me being the guiena pig by myself.

 

what cars do 4L80's come in? how much can they handle stock?

 

Heavy duty trucks from '93 (I think...) on. Good for over 400 rwhp I hear. Built supposedly 1000...

I've heard they are built like a turbo 400 with overdrive.

 

lol i should be good with a stock one then. thanks for the info

oh, will the 4L80 bolt up to an lt1? thanks -dave

 

yep...

 

Yes they will all bolt up. The 350s use a standard bolt pattern for the trannies. I assume the big blocks use this also. The LS1s have a 7th bolt in the middle of the bell housing instead of the 6. You can get a 4L80E with this bolt pattern also.

 

Ok, not much has been done in the past week. I am waiting on the torque conveter which will be here sometime next week. However, I am getting the BMR Trak-Pack welded in and the crossmember made Monday. I will get pics of that from the lift. I have taken a few shots as far away as I could get from the floor so you can see things a little better. Here's what I got.

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/orionspl/sideview1.jpg

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/orionspl/sideview2.jpg