Long story, short. I decided against all of my smaller upgrades, and put all the money in savings. I've been reading and reading about blown motors followed by blown transmissions. Since those will be my biggest purchases I decided to get the tranny first, atleast that way I will either get the core charge back or I can sell my tranny to recoup some of the cost since it wont be broken in half. Now for the hard decision, Speed Engineering's 80 conversion or FLT Level 5 65? In all of my horsepower hopes and dreams I doubt I will see 600HP to the wheels. But I do plan on going with FI preferably radix. Is the 80 coversion worth the extra $600, weight and extra work to install? Has anyone broken a FLT level 5 65 yet? I only want to do this once. Any and all information is appreciated.

BTW I still plan on LT w/ ORY, EFIlive or HPT, Detroit Truetrac

 

im doing a 80e swap right now and its alot of work but im 4x4 so a two wheelpeel would be a lot less work.i have alot of cash inveseted in mine but ithink it will be one tuff setup.

 

The 80E would be better investment in the long run, but that depends on how long you are going to keep your truck.

 

The only real difference between a 2wd and 4wd 80E swap is changing the input gear on the transfer case and having to have a second driveshaft modified to fit. I did the 80E swap after going through six 60E's, but I think my builder wasn't the greatest. I have yet to hear of anyone breaking an FLT level 5 65E.

My decision was to get something that would outlast the truck, I never wanted to mess with the tranny again after breaking so many 60's. Overkill? Maybe, but peace of mind? Definitely.

 

The only way I would get rid of it is if it was totaled or stolen.

 

An 80e with just a shift kit will last longer than a fully built 4l60e or 4l65e. Go to a tranny shop and take a look at the difference of the internals of a 60 vs a 80.

 

Thanks for all of the info looks like I have to save some more money up.

 

Your 60' is going to suffer but the "from a roll" races will get better lol

 

Yeah the big problem with the 4L80E is the 2.48 1st gear vs the 3.05 1st gear in the 4L60E. The problem with the 60E is that the 1-2 shift is a killer, going from 3.05 1st to 1.75 2nd, where the 4L80E goes from a 2.48 1st to a 1.48 2nd.

Once you're moving though, its sweet. 1st gear will take me up past 60 mph, 2nd takes me to about 105. It's nice being able to catch a 1st gear downshift when cruising at 50mph.

 

but do consider the 80 weight is a bit more and it doesnt put as much power to the ground if im not mistaken