Welp, finally got that sucker completed and running late last night. It was mainly my fault for it taking so long but, there were a few snags along the way I had to work through.

I used the swap kit and transmission from Speed Engineering and everything was good. The only hang up was the crossmember which was sent was different than the one on my truck. It wasn't Speed Engineerings fault though, just my truck uses an older style crossmember. Sean worked with me on it but, in the end I just modified my stock crossmember to work. It was faster than sending things back and forth from coast to coast.

Tomorrow will be it's maiden voyage and I'll break the converter and transmission in over the next week. I'll let everyone know how the Vig 2800 works behind a basically stock 5.3L. Then next weekend it's back up on jackstands again. After next weekend I'll let you guys know how the converter reacts to a little more power.

I'd like to thank Phil @ Finish Line Performance, Sean @ Speed Engineering, and everyone here for helping out.

 

congrats!

btw, why did you put the 80e in, in the first place?

 

Well, congratulations!! That is good news.

Are you running the stock gear ratios in the 4L80?

 

moregrip - After the second 4L60E blowing up and me deciding to keep the truck for a while I just figured I'd put a stouter transmission in.

Ken - Yep, stock 80E ratios. 3.42 gears, 2.48 1st gear ratio, 2800rpm stall....might feel a tad loose.

 

Congrats on the install man. Loose? Hmmm, my 3500 must be reamed out pretty good then!!
Philip S.

 

Curious to see how that stall works for you. I'm planning on getting the same one. What kind of power are we talking about?

 

I've never had a stall in a truck before. I did have a 3800 stall in my old Camaro which was ok, don't think I'd go bigger for alot of street driving but, I didn't mind that.

Just don't know what to expect with the truck. It has taller tires, about the same rear gear, taller 1st gear ratio, smaller engine. It probably won't be bad, if anything might take a day or so to get used to.

How does the 3500 drive Philip? What rpm does it hold on the upshifts?

quicksilverado - If you get the Vig make sure to tell them what bolt circle you have on your flywheel and get the bolt circle right on the converter. The 6.0L flywheel I used had a large GM pattern that measures 11.5". The vig converter had a 10.75" pattern, whole lot of reaming out on that plate.

 

Well to be honest I just put it in today! Only got about 12 miles on it. On the upshifts though, I don't lose but 200 RPM or so at around 3/4 throttle. It's insane. I'll give some gas, hold 4K RPM and it'll shift and barely drop. I'll PM you after I do more driving and get a temp gauge to know what's really going on. But so far it seems awesome!
Philip S.

 

glad to hear you're up and running

how did everything play out with the flexplate issues?

 

Glad to hear you got all your issues worked out. NOW BEAT THAT THING.