First off, this is my first stalled auto. Just got the truck running after a week long 80e swap, goddamn that was a lot of work. The motor in my truck is still bone stock, 3.42 gears and stock tires. The truck feels real lazy off idle. When I drive away from a light, I have to give it a lot of gas before the truck even moves. Will the turbo I have planned even make this better?

If the truck is in the air, and I put it in drive, and let off the brake, should the rear wheels start turning with the stall converter?

The trans shifts f*cking awesome and fluid levels look good, I'm relieved that there aren't any leaks and the shift kit seems to work in the craigslist trans.

 

Guys, does anyone know if this is the G80 clunking? Only does it on the driver's side:

 

It wont feel right till you put more power through it. Great upgrade for future mods though, most people do it the opposite way and regret it.....

 

Thanks that's what I figured. At least the trans temps are staying low, they hover between 115-127, highest I've seen is 132. The 4L60e and stock cooler I would routinely see temps in the 150's. I guess the new Tru Cool cooler is doing its job.

 

80e plus 3.42 gears will feel awful off throttle. If you were running boost or a lot more power it would feel a lot better. The first gear in the 80e is extremely long. Unless you plan on a turbo I would suggest a gear swap ASAP. You made the right choice to do the supporting mods first. Performance wise you will need some changes to be real happy. I have some taller tires 31.9", but just swapped from 3.42 to 3.90 and it's an awesome adjustment. If you don't drive a ton of highway miles I would suggest 4.10s or higher even.

 

I already have the Trick kit on the shelf so I really don't want to do a gear swap. The turbo will be going on within the month. I wish the truck had 3.73s from the factory but because it's 4wd I would have to change both the front and rears and I don't want to do that. I hope the 3.42's will be ok with the Tick stage 1 truck cam and the 76mm turbo but who knows maybe I do need 3.73s.

 

No the 3.42s will be just fine with boost. The drivetrain will create a nice amount of load to get that turbo spinning in a hurry. I'm not familiar with the tick truck cams if you wouldn't mind posting some specs.

 

Thanks man that's reassuring. Tick Stage 1 truck turbo cam, which Martin says will improve low end grunt noticeably compared to a Z06 cam is this one:

227/227 | .62x"/.59x" | LSA114+5

Tick Performance Turbo Stage 1 V2 Camshaft for LS1 & LS6 Engines - Tick Performance, Inc.

 

Might feel bad with a 5.3, I really didn't notice much difference between my 4L60E and 4L80E behind my small cammed 350 in my Express that had 3.42s. I put a stock 3.73 geared 9.5" 14- bolt in after exploding the spiders in the 3.42 geared 10-bolt. TUNE can make a huge difference. When I had HP Tuners segment swap over the 4L80E all my stock torque management and torque reduction settings went back to stock.

 

I cringe at the thought of a 5.3 pulling a stalled 4l80 with 3.42s. For all intents and purposes, how it feels now is how its going to feel with the turbo on unless you get into boost. But for putzing around without getting into boost, should feel similar off idle.

Also, which level of converter do you have? (1b, 2b, 3b, etc?). I've got the 2b and it's off, too loose but I've been too lazy to pull it for a restall.