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Smoked the trans last weekend


72 LS5

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That's what I get.........just hours before I was shooting my mouth off how I haven't had the trans rebuilt since 1994 (about 60k ago). 

 

Coming back from a car show Sat night my buddy pulls next to me on I95 in his 69 Yenko Chevelle clone......we did a few 60 - 85 mph WOT passes and then second gear wouldn't hold anymore.  It downshifts to 2nd and redlines every time I floor it.

 

Anyhow, I'm probably going to pull it and have the same guys rebuild it.  It would be a great time to go overdrive, but with the limited amount of highway use and my 3.31 gear, I really don't think its worth the money or added complexity.

 

As far as converter, I like a mild converter, but also want something efficient at the top end.  Coan has gotten good reviews here, but would it be worth it for me as I only want a 2500 stall speed?

 

 

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I say ya got your money's worth out of the transmission! LOL Beating on it for 20 years that sucker was built stout. Seriously though, hate to hear about it breaking. Hopefully no hard parts are broken. 

 

There are some great converter companies but I have great results with Coan and their customer service. With the power you are making a good converter would be a great addition to your powertrain.

 

Coan can build you a great converter that would be a plus for performance and still be very efficient for cruising. I deal with Craig but any of the guys there will not steer you wrong.

 

David

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  I have been sold on Freakshow converters, since long before their showing on Street Outlaws. (getting turned onto them from the YellowBullet boards).  Michael there is a wizzard, with 25 years of success behind him...  and he charges 1/3 to 2/3 LESS than big name, big volume (but low quality) dealers.

 

Like you, I wanted to stay at 2400-2500 stall... pushing a 3980lb car with 640 lbs ft of torque through a 4L80E.  Michael built a lock-up for me, and delivered it to my doorstep from Texas to California in four days. For less than $200.      (325) 701-7830    https://www.facebook.com/pages/Freak-Show-Performance/347148098639532

 

This is from one of the 1320 guys:

 

FreakShow Torque Converters

"I just tested mine out this past friday. The converter it replaced was a holeshot 3600 B&M. With the B&M my 60's were all over the place (2.02 at worst to 1.87 at best, in one night, usually 12.30-12.60et)   When the sun went down, the swing was worse. I was pulling my hair out...

With the new freakshow, off the trailer, it went a 1.79, and all 4 other passes were 1.79. The ET was the same: 12.389-12.399 (messing with shift points every pass) My MPH only fell off by .5, from before.

I am more than happy with mine. I was worried at first, (buying for the first time) and with everyone else quoting me $800-$1000 for a converter, but Michael hit the nail on the head with the stall. It was the best $320 I spent..."
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That sucks about the trans but who won??!!!

 

Heh - its usually pretty close only scuffling from like 60-85 or so, but in a 1/4 mile, I think I'd spank him pretty good.  He's got a 454 with a 5-speed - super nice car.

 

David and Doug - thanks for the input.   I think the plan is to rebuild locally and get an aftermarket converter.  My current converter is actually a locally built unit.  I don't know much about Freakshow but I betcha I can dig up a bunch of stuff on the Chevelle board.

 

Thanks!

Mike

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   David,  I love your '72.  It makes me misty every time that I see it in your sig.  It is identical to the numbers matching '70SS that was stolen from me eight years ago...  

 

 

   and Mike, the search engine on Chevelles.com will give you loads of reinforcement...   both Coan and Freakshow are well regarded there.     Doug

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Good gosh Doug I hate you hear you had such a nice Monte stolen. I'm guessing the knuckleheads that took it knew what they were looking for. Rare cars for sure.

 

BTW Love the colors on your two very sharp rides. Beautiful!!!

 

David

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   Thanks so much for the kind words David. 

 

     As you well know, we see some crazy coincidences in law enforcement.   Last summer I was in an auto repair shop in our town, and they had a silver SS454 on their rack, five feet in the air and on the far side of the garage from me.   The mechanic said that it was a '71 that they were putting a new engine into.    Seeing it got me missing the Monte so much that I went home and within a week I had purchased the red '72 that I have now.  (A '72 was my first M/C, purchased at the end of 'Nam, and has always been my favorite)  I drove 6,000 miles with an enclosed trailer to bring it home.

 

    Two weeks after having it home, I was in a muffler shop swapping 3" stainless into the '72 when a guy walks up and compliments the car, stating that the first gen Monte was the only car that he ever regrets selling.  He then describes the silver SS that I had seen in the other shop.

 

   I told him that I was amazed that our little town would have two SS454 Montes when so few were produced, and most of those had been wrapped around trees over the last 40 years.   And, I told him that mine had been stolen years before,    ...along with my '51 Merc Woodie.     Hearing that, he said: " I had a '51 Woodie too...    bought it from the guy that I bought the SS from".

 

 

    All the alarm bells in my head went off then!    It turns out that the silver SS was my Mint Green '70 that had been re-painted and disguised to look like the later front-end.  It bore fictitious state plates, but the vin plate had not been changed yet.   The drive-train and complete interior, including the dash had been stripped from it.  And it had gone through three different setts of hands, each sale without titling paperwork, between the thief and the current owner.

 

   As I had already invested about 28k at that point, into the new car, and the last purchaser turned out to be a super-nice guy that was building the car back with his son,  he and I reached an agreed-upon price to allow him to keep the car and to transfer my personallized plates to him:   SS Bad S

 

                                             Doug

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Wow, what a story!!!! I guess it was nice to have some closure, 

 

I see where you posted that you had bought your first Monte after returning from Vietnam. On behalf of a grateful nation, thank you for your service and welcome home Sir!

 

David

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:hijack:   interesting story there, WOW!

 

Sorry to hear of your smoked trans Mike, looks like its your turn for some slithering. My two sons are burnout junkies after taking them with me to Woodward last summer. Cant go anywhere now without them hounding me to do a burnout. Its so hilarious hearing my 3 year old say "do a burnout daddy".  Last time I had second gear was just before a good burnout they talked me into (Im pretty easy to give in) its not really what smoked my trans, but it definitely helped pull the plug on the dying patient. Unfortunately it was not giving me any indication of trouble, kinda weird deal. Oh well, problem fixed for $300 and a bunch of my time/labor and she's go to go again.

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:hijack:   interesting story there, WOW!

 

Sorry to hear of your smoked trans Mike, looks like its your turn for some slithering. My two sons are burnout junkies after taking them with me to Woodward last summer. Cant go anywhere now without them hounding me to do a burnout. Its so hilarious hearing my 3 year old say "do a burnout daddy".  Last time I had second gear was just before a good burnout they talked me into (Im pretty easy to give in) its not really what smoked my trans, but it definitely helped pull the plug on the dying patient. Unfortunately it was not giving me any indication of trouble, kinda weird deal. Oh well, problem fixed for $300 and a bunch of my time/labor and she's go to go again.

 

Cory - a good burnout is fun for the whole family!  We never outgrow it.   I posted this burnout a few years ago.....started slow, but floored it about 50 yards out: 

 

Great story Doug!   So hard not to take revenge for something like that, but they will get theirs......

You say you have the 4L80 - what would you say the typical conversion from a 400 would cost?  soup to nuts.........

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   Mike,    I couldn't help but smile as I read your question about the 4L80E transplant,    ...as I was prompted yesterday to suggest that you think about making the conversion, but I didn't want to feel guilty about making someone else's snowball start cascading out of control.  :) 

 

   I spent $1600 total, building up a stout trans and converting the '72 for it.

 

   And, being that I am guilty of always wanting to use the best, I went with the 4L80E, even though I had a new 700R4 and a 200-4R both built with billet internals, sitting on the shelf already.

 

   The most expensive piece was the stand-alone controller.   There are over half a dozen different flavors available now for $600 each, new.  I went with the USshift.com Quick 1, as it is a plug-and-play unit out of the box, and yet also allows you to easily program each shift point in each gear; program in the multiple gears and rpms that you want the lock-up to occur in; and program how hard each shift hits in each specific gear, depending on your throttle pressure as well.  (You can have the best of both worlds at once, by instructing the shifts to be feather soft at light throttle, and also dictate how much line pressure you want to be applied with a heavy go peddle.)

 

   Tranny donors are commonplace.  I picked up mine from a rolled 2-yr old van with 23k for $300.

 

   Because I intended this tranny to live a long, spirited life, I then spent another $350 having new clutches, steels, and HD upgrades from the TransGo kit installed.

http://www.superchevy.com/how-to/transmission/1309-rebuild-a-4l80e-transmission-with-the-transgo-hd2-kit/

 

   And we already discussed the >$200 Freakshow converter.

 

  I was switching from a powerglide, so I had to swap slip-yokes.  With your TH400, that won't be necessary.  I went with Chromoly after seeing the telltale scars on the tunnel from the PO having had one let go due to the torque from this mill.

 

  I added a cast aluminum cover plate for $50 to button up the under-belly, and banjo fittings on the cooler lines for another $25 because the trans tunnel is a little tighter than with a TH400/PG.  The case is larger on the 4L80E, but no surgery is required for the transplant.

 

  Lastly, it was about $40 to make a little bracket and buy a billet cable housing and a generic Throttle Position Sensor.

 

  When all was said and done, this lock-up tranny looks like it was meant to always be residing in the Monte.

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Doug - thanks a lot for the details!  $1600 is a lot less than I suspected.   The 4L80 is the only overdrive I'd consider other than a gear vender.  I will definitely be looking into that now.

 

The OD is nice, but most of my driving is bopping around town.   The 3.31s are great for that.   Maybe I would do more highway if I had the OD....dunno....but I have the Challenger with the 6-speed for that kind of travel.

 

Since the 4L80 is longer, the driveshaft would need to be shortened.  What about the speedo gear?

 

Thanks

Mike

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 " ...What about the speedo gear? "

 

   You can have the tail-shaft replaced with a manual drive design for about $600 or add the Cable-X drive motor for $350 to keep your mechanical speedometer...   I just picked up an electronic speedo unit after the fact for $100 off of FleaBay and added the adhesive face to match my other gauges.  It uses the output from the tranny to operate it.

 

 

   I envy your 3.31's.    The '72 had a new 33 spline Eaton with 4.11's and Strange axles when I got it, so the tallest that I could retro-fit in was 3.73's.  Thus the swap to the overdrive from the PG.  Doug

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