Man have I been in your shoes!! I have built the same 80e 3 times and it failed,I then paid a pro to build it and it lasted 2 weeks. I chalked it up to a bad core and moved on to another core. If it were me and I didnt give up and send my trans to Gilbert at Ace I would probably send the hd-2 back for a refund and purchase the rebuild kit from Jakes performance...yes it's 700 bucks but you will have a trans that will take the abuse. If you chose the ebay route I would get all new solenoids and a new harness as yours will be brittle and the connectors will break. Good luck!!!

 

I went with a BW rebuild kit with the high energy clutches and the transgo kit in mine and it has been just fine. Never has any issues even when the truck was Procharged on about 15psi. I have a newer core though so Im not sure that the exact kit that I used would be the same as the one you would need but Im sure they make a kit like mine for your year model core as well.

 

Thanks for the feed back.

Is there anything wrong with going with red clutches? I keep reading guys going with bw high energy. That's stock right?

The other reason I liked that ebay kit is it comes with sprags and the bearings. I think the Jakes performance ones cone with all that. By the time it's all said and done it'll be $700. Decisions.....

Anyone else have words of wisdom? Experience with eBay kits?

The other thing I'm going to look at is piecing the kit. See if there is any difference. I do have more time than money lol.

 

The high energy bw ones are a bit better than stock, or so I was told at the time. Reds are good, but I never had good luck with them, or anything for that matter, in my 60e. But then again, thats comparing apples to oranges.

 

That's one thing I'm doing for sure..... not even trying a 4l60 haha. I wonder if that's why most have a bad opinion of reds. I did see a post from Jakes saying he doesn't use reds even for 2000 hp builds. He mentioned the pressure behind the clutches has more to do with holding power than the material itself. I guess my thought is if they are heavy duty, why not use them? Seems like they are more attainable in kits.

I also read that reds do not like heat? I wonder if that's compared to the high energy? Something about more disks makes the steels thinner with makes them easier to warp with higher heat?

 

Anyone have any suggestions or guidance on shift times and pressure for hp tuners? I've read I'll need to tighten up shift times with a shift kit at a minimum to compensate for the mechanical changes to avoid the ecu from burning out components to attain the longer stock shift times? I will admit I haven't researched much on this so there may be a lot if info and I'm just being lazy haha.

 

Sorry to hear about your initial attempts. I'm crossing my fingers on the case condition. The electrical stuff is definitely on my list.

 

Yes shift times should be zeroed out in normal and performance mode.

 

so if its like .400 for xrpm and xpower, it should be "0"? basically let the trans handle the shifting?

 

yep, put zeros in the whole table