Drivetrain before boost
 

as stated i am looking at starting the journey towards forced induction on my 2009 silverado with the 5.3l, 2wd. just put a coil over suspension kit set on it set at 2" higher than factory and currently running 33s basically.

ultimate goal is whipple supercharger (more than likely) and a 10lb pulley. i don't think ill do any crazy fuel or injections or nitrous. so i am looking at maybe close to 500hp at the crank if i am lucky.. or 450 i guess. not real sure. would like to swap heads maybe and get some long tubes, and do a little internal work to make it a reliable DD. i only drive maybe 10k a year.

with all that said can i get some knowledge drop about my goals and things to avoid/look into?

i am going to start with the trans as i think it wont be long until shes gone anyway. its a 6L80e. thought about finding a junkyard one and doing around a stage 3 build, that would be suitable i imagine but i would like to do the trans work myself if its not that difficult. the other option would be of course just by a built one with warrenty which i looked at a stage 4 or 5 monster trans and it was like $4500. not so sure i wanna drop that on it. Is there other options? could i swap in an allison? doesnt that require a 3" BL to fit? and even more interesting than that could i use one of the newer 8 speeds and build it up?

after the trans would be rear end. at these lower power levels should a 14 blot semifloat or full float be something i should do? currently is a 9.6 gm 10 bolt. drive shaft would be okay i would think, right?

I would stick with the stock 6l80 at that power level for now. Should be fine as long as you have a good tune for it. Plenty of people push them well beyond your goals without issue.

For the rear end the 10 bolt should be ok as long as you change out to a better locker. I believe most people use the eaton detroit truetrac.

And the driveshaft are also known to self destruct at high speeds so that may be something you would want to replace.

Thanks, makes me and my wallet a little happier. since i will need to replace the stock trans should i not install any better parts in it? different stall or anything like that? i have a decent amount of knowledge on most everything except transmissions.

currently have a diablo intune and it has a custom tune from lew (lewis eaton)

and i really wish i had put in the truetrac when i installed my 4.11s. as i was checking the pattern i wish i had pulled it all out and ordered one. oh well for now i guess

Yeah, stock 6L80e will do 550-600hp no problem with a custom tune. I'd ditch the diablo tuning to something like HP Tuners that can do way more.

If you aren't replacing the camshaft, no real need to install a converter.

A allison or a 8-speed could never work with the stock E38 computer. The 8 speed uses a different controller and TCM and is far more advanced than the 6-speed.

ill check into the HP tuner, at the time i looked the diablo seemed the best as i didnt have any crazy mods at the time.

i did plan to replace it once i added the SC to get rid of the AFM crap they got in these engines but i dont plan to get to crazy. wouldnt mind a little bit of a lope but for it to still be a good DD i dont imagine id be able to do much.

i figured the two trans options wouldnt work but i had to ask haha

after almost a year im still dropping the ball on getting this rolling. i must not want it bad enough is all i can figure. :bang: