I need to swap out tranny. It's finally shot. Do I have it rebuilt or am I better off with something else? When I do this, I'm gonna rebuild motor and go with Lloyd's LE2 setup. Is this too much HP/Torque for the stock automatic? It is not my daily driver although I do drive it alot. And B4 I get yelled at again, I tried to find info through search but didn't have much luck.

 

From Lloyd himself:

The transmission will probably need to be gone through by a reputable shop. They can install better parts that can handle the RPM. It might last a lil while but if you check around, 400 RWHP and 6500 RPM shift points will knock a 4l60 in the head at some point. Even if it never "breaks", once you rebuild the trans, the car will feel faster because the old tranny would have been slipping and wasting HP.

3.73 gears and a 3200 Vig will be perfect. Even a heavy car with T-tops, elec windows, elec seats, etc, etc will be able to use some sticky tires and get a 1.65 60 ft on the way to a high 11 at 117 MPH or so. A lighter car in the perfect scenario will be capable of some mid 11's at 119-120 MPH.

1997Z: I hope this helps...

 

Here is the whole email thread:

1.) I am thinking of getting your LE2 package Do you port match intakes to match your packages? If so, what HP/TQ gains would I expect and how much would that add to my cost?

2.) Is there any advantage to LT4 heads/intake? In other words, if I had you apply your LE2 work on those parts instead of LT1 parts would I see much gain? What would the price difference be?

3.) Can my 4L60E handle a LE2 package? I have a B&M deep pan and a B&M cooler. Other than those upgrades, my trans is stock. I plan to buy a Vig 3200 stall. Is that your recommended stall speed for the LE2?

4.) Do you recommend a specific PCM tuner?

5.) What is your current turnaround time?

6.) Please list your other recommended upgrades I would need to compliment your LE2.



Thanks a lot for the advice ahead of time…

Lloyd's response:

The main thing about the LE2 package is the fact that the engine will really need to be shifted at 6400-6600 RPM to get the full benefit of this package. As long as you are OK with shifting at this RPM, this is fine. This kinda shift point is obviously harder on the bottom end (bearings, etc) and the transmissions too. A well built bottom end can handle this RPM with no problem. A stock bottom end might be OK or might not. There are a lot of variables here and the engines past life (oil change intervals, overheating, etc) will come into play. If the engine has been taken care of, you are "probably" OK but the fact remains that a higher RPM will be tougher on things.

The transmission will probably need to be gone through by a reputable shop. They can install better parts that can handle the RPM. It might last a lil while but if you check around, 400 RWHP and 6500 RPM shift points will knock a 4l60 in the head at some point. Even if it never "breaks", once you rebuild the trans, the car will feel faster because the old tranny would have been slipping and wasting HP.

3.73 gears and a 3200 Vig will be perfect. Even a heavy car with T-tops, elec windows, elec seats, etc, etc will be able to use some sticky tires and get a 1.65 60 ft on the way to a high 11 at 117 MPH or so. A lighter car in the perfect scenario will be capable of some mid 11's at 119-120 MPH.

A ported intake will be worth about 10 HP or so above 6000 RPM. It will not help much below 4500 RPM though. I charge $200 to port the intake.

The LT4 has more "flow" potential and is better suited to a 383 or HIGH RPM (7000 RPM) 355 with LOTS of gear and stall. The extra flow comes by way of a few key port measurements being much larger. Actually TOO large for a pump gas 350/355 with 3.73 gear and 3200 stall. The car might dyno 5 HP higher BUT the car will NOT accelerate as well below 5500 RPM. The LT1 casting is a perfect fit for 95% of the 350/355 build ups out there.

You can get a mail order tune from PCMforless or Madwolf. Both do a pretty good job. Some "hands on" tuning from someone with LT1 edit or Tuner Cat is the best deal. This is where the car is tuned by repeatedly making computer adjustments and then driving/dynoing the car. This way you get EVERYTHING exact since you have an infinite amount of changes to make and chances to change them.

I can usually have the heads ready to ship back 3 to 4 weeks after receiving the heads and 50% deposit.

On a stock bottom end, you also need . . .

Comp 1.6 Pro Mag NSA 7/16 rockers
Comp Hi Tech 7.200" pushrods
7/16 studs
GM 14011051 guide plates
MR Gasket 5716 head gaskets

Other than this, just the usual parts you will need for a cam/head swap. . . .

head bolts
timing chain
etc, etc, etc

Lloyd Elliott
972-617-5671
Lloyd Elliott

 

Thanks for showing me that email. I might look into getting a different tranny and sacrifice the gas mileage then.

 

I have the LE2 package and you should DEFINATELY get a reputable shop to rebuild it to handle 400rwhp.

I also have 3.73s with a 3200 stall.

 

Just to update, I am going to ship the tranny to Frank at CPT. Upon searching around, I like what I've seen/heard regarding his work. Thanks for the replies people.

 

About this tranny thing, I believe it is all in who does the work and how thorough they go through it. I know a guy that lives in Indy and he has a '96 Impala SS that is running 10.20's @ 132 mph. That is in complete street trim (All the interior, plus a roll bar with full halo) and with him in the car it weighs right at 4100 lbs. All of this is done with a 4L60E and I believe a 3000 stahl, and he has run it for 2 years now that I know of. Granted this tranny is not stock by no means but it is still a 4L60E. Plus he can use this car as a daily driver too. When it's time for me to get my A4 done this guy is who I'm gonna talk to ! I can't give out any more details, but I assure you it can be done. If I had a way to transfer a mini camcorder tape to my hard drive I would even upload it for all of you to see.

L8R