Camaro Drivetrain Upgrades finished at last!

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The 4L60E in the wife's Tahoe took a [censored] about 4 months ago from a Broken Forward Sprag, I needed it back on the road ASAP as we gave our daughter the Corolla & my 2500HD is to big for her to drive especially in parking garages at her work. I'm the ONLY one that drives my Camaro so that was out of the question.

I didn't have the time to go through the transmission & hate renting vehicles..(Long story). I had 28 hours to get her truck back into service.
Pulled the built 4L65E out of Camaro in my garage on jack stands. Threw in a 4WD Output shaft, Stock Separator Plate, & a low mileage stock truck Torque Converter I had laying around in the 4L65E.
Pulled the unit out of the Tahoe at work on a lift, Flushed the cooler, Slammed the 4L65E in, Changed the fluid in the T-case, Reused the Transynd that I drained out of the 4L65E (Less than 10K on the fluid)....I did pretty good, It was only 3 quarts short.
From the moment I jacked up the Camaro to test driving the Tahoe took 15 hours 43 minutes, I had my timer on my phone going.

Everything is now good at the homestead besides me being completely worn out & my Camaro is now stranded in the garage torn to pieces, My first instinct was to rebuild the 4L60E that I pulled from the Tahoe, Priced out new 5-Pinion Carriers, Sprag Assembly, Billet Pump Rotor, Stator Support, Drum reinforcement kit, Sonnax Shift Kit, Reverse Input Drum, Sun Shell, Sonnax 2nd & 4th Servos, Fluid, Filter, Seal kit, Frictions, Band......And I was already blowing through the Circle D 278mm HP-3200 stall Converter with the torquey L92, So add in a Billet 245mm 3200 stall converter.
Grand Total with me doing every bit of the work....$3,267., Wife offerd to pay for it by pulling from her 401K but I couldn't let her do that (Mostly because I had more than enough "Ratholed" away)

I'm making just enough power to justify an upgrade over a 4L60E based unit & had a 4L80E out of a 1997 C2500 that had an engine fire....It literally has been sitting in my storage building for 19 years but didn't have 20,000 miles on it.
Pulled it down....Everything was PERFECT besides a few surface rust spots here & there from sitting so long.

Deviation from stock Build List....
Circle D Billet 245mm 3200-3400 Converter, Custom made for a 4L60E "Dished" Flexplate.
CK Performance PTFE coated Pump Gears.
CK Performance HD Intermediate Snap Ring.
CK Performance 3rd & 4th Accumulator delete.
CK Performance High Rate Direct Clutch Return Springs.
CK Performance High Rate Intermediate Clutch Return Springs.
Sonnax Large Ratio Boost Valve & Pressure Regulator Spring.
Sonnax TCC Regulator Valve.
TH400 Aluminum Pistons in the Forward, Direct, And Intermediate Clutch.
Rollerized Output & Forward Hub.
Dual Fed Direct Clutch.
Raybestos Carbon HD Grooved Frictions in the Forward, Direct, And Intermediate Clutch.
Raybestos Steels throughout.
185 PSI at WOT, Gauge Verified! A 4L6XE requires about 230-240 PSI to handle 500 ft.LBS., A 4L80E at 185 will hold 700+ ft.lbs.

Before shot, This is actually when I had a 5.3L & JUNK BBK headers, Same 4L65E
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Circle D 4L80E Converter
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Trans ready to install
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Trans Installed
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Had to make some Manual Shift Arm & Shift Cable hold down bracket modifications to work with the stock 4L60E Shifter. It's 100% Perfect! The Black shift arm is the modified one, Actually, I cut down 2 shift arms to make one. Cut one long on the Shift Arm side & One long on Cable attachment side. Shaped the Shift Arm one into a perfect circle.
Shaped the Cable Lever to match at the right length & MIG welded them together (I can't TIG weld & our welder wasn't there)

I installed welded-in stand-off's because I'm retarded & cut the bracket to close to the mounting hole, I should have taken the material out away from the bolt hole.....More toward the center! After I welded it, Part of the Bead is under the bolt head. The Spacers/Stand-off's are the best I could do without cutting up another bracket.

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Strong finish!

So easy to start a project car (I buy them unfinished regularly) but so much different to actually finish it.

All that and a great scramble to get the family on the road!
 
I'm sure the Tahoe now has the best shifting transmission in the neighborhood (your Camaro excluded, of course).

I like seeing clean, painted parts go into clean cars. So rare where I'm from.
 
Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8

So easy to start a project car (I buy them unfinished regularly) but so much different to actually finish it.


More often than not....That is exactly how it is. I think people lose interest, For most folks it's better to do things in stages/keep the car on the road especially if you don't have the capital to do everything at once.






Originally Posted By: AZjeff
Nice thrash. Helps to not be working on rusted junk.

But...

Quote:
I'm the ONLY one that drives my Camaro so that was out of the question.


Would not play well at my house.


This car is dangerous if you don't know what it can do/How to drive it. Even I feel it out after changing things.
I'm having trouble teaching her about high stall converters.....It feels kinda soggy with light throttle input, But it will hit HARD with anything over 3/4 throttle!







Originally Posted By: MrHorspwer
I'm sure the Tahoe now has the best shifting transmission in the neighborhood (your Camaro excluded, of course).

I like seeing clean, painted parts go into clean cars. So rare where I'm from.


I might have to swap out the 490" Boost Valve in the 4L65E to a .471", It hits second kinda hard with heavy throttle. I meant to do it when I had it apart changing the Output Shaft but all the trans warehouses are closed on weekends. She has only mentioned it once.....We'll see.
I have also thought of lowering the "Line Pressure Offset" in the tune.

I'm very happy with the 4L80E, Nice crisp shifts & NO wide ratio spread between 1st & 2nd like a 4L6XE.
 
Also got the Strange Dana 60 built & installed, Had Strange build a Chromoly drive shaft with Spicer 1350 U-joints. Finished it off with a Sonnax Chromoly Slip Yoke.

Dana 60 has 3.54 Spicer gears, Spicer Power-Loc Posi, 35 Spline Strange Axles, Timken bearings, And a used Spicer Pinion Yoke from a 2013 Chevy Express Van (Dana Super 60). Filled with Mobil Delvac 1 75w90 & a bottle of Redline posi additive.

You can see the Midwest Chassis Subframe Connectors in the below pictures, A HUGE improvement in rigidity of the chassis, I think it took out some flexing noise in the chassis....May be a placebo effect though?


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Originally Posted By: clinebarger

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Which panhard bar brace is this? Does it clear the exhaust without using the included spacers?
 
Originally Posted By: MrHorspwer

Which panhard bar brace is this? Does it clear the exhaust without using the included spacers?


BMR Suspension part# PHR004, Clears the exhaust by a mile without using the Hooker supplied spacers.
 
I was at the wreaking yard Friday hunting some stuff to finish up a customers G-Body. Spotted what I thought was some 5th Generation Camaro Brembo brake calipers in the Core Pile, Dug out all 4 calipers & found all 4 rotors as well. My buddy Ricardo was working the counter...He let me have all the brake stuff & the Evaporator Case I was originally after for $25.00!

Got them home & found out their 6th Generation Camaro SS Calipers! I gave the customer a break & just charged him the $25 for the evaporator case instead of $85 an hour + the cost of the part.

I don't know when I will get a chance to mock them up on my car as I know I will have to run bigger rims than my current 16's.


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