In case you're thinking about a 4L80E...

[davepl]

Originally Posted by Steve Cole

Hey Dave,
If you can, try to find a guy who will "flat rate" the labor for the install. A $$$ number you can live with. That way no surprises.
Good luck and keep us posted!

I've never had good luck forcing techs to rush. You don't get surprised in the price, you get it in the quality... so I won't flat-rate work on a truck like this. My modern cars, you bet!

But thanks, and I'll let you know how it goes!

[mike16]

Originally Posted by Robznob11

Ok y'all I'm really not bashing. You are correct in that it's going to cost money to install a 80 E in something it never cam in. My point is that if you choose to do that why spend a fortune on adapters and stand alones when the same money will update the heart too. I get some people like original I never understood it because I like to drive vehicles not just look and brag that it's numbers matching. I have never seen his truck , I don't know how original it is but if he is willing to change gears and update to a 80e or gear vendor that just went out the door any how. Even if I had a perfect truck numbers matching I would dump an odd 402 for a 454 or bigger. Why stick with hard to drive suspension, less than average brakes, etc. You can have old school look with all the comforts of a Cadillac or with the performance of a race car so why settle for less? Gm came out with a lot of good stuff but most all can be made better that's why we have people like foose, Boyd, and many others paving the way.

Just bcause he wants to change the tranny does not men he wants to change the engine as well .opening up too many cans of worms does not solve the origonal problem. mite as well put a ford engine in it. No. clearly the big block stays. I get that.putting an LS in everything totally misses the point. Its not that your wrong its that you dont understand what he's trying to do. They are not even attractive looking under the hood. to damn much plastic

[The Chainsaw]

I could be doing the math wrong, but are you paying someone $230 per hour for a job like this?

Either way it doesn't matter. You will love the 4l80e. Like everything else in the hobby, it always costs too much till it is working ha-ha.

[Robznob11]

Well no one's wrong... Different strokes for different strokes but for the dollars we are talking I'll go new school engine every time. There is just no comparison in reliability,performance, and ease of use... You have to spend your retirement on an old engine just to get close to the new stuff. There are many clean swaps that look old school without plastic. I have maybe 5 grand in my swap and it's 500+ hp with 80e. It sets for months and always starts first time every time. Could it look better yea but untill the truck is painted so since in permanent wiring etc... It will take very little to clean up. There will always be a place for the purists to keep them close to stock and that's cool too. I just choose to be creative and different. I am also not made of money so I don't and could not afford to shell out 5k for a tranny swap so I turn my own wrenches. Again I have said my piece and this is for information only... So my .02 is while you consider all the extras to put the new school tranny behind a completely mechanical engine do consider that extra cost will buy the complete engine ,harness,computer and anything else to make a complete swap that was ment to work together. If you can read you can wire it yourself. And then sell the big block or what ever you have and use that to trick it out. I originally was building a 496 stroker for mine but I wised up and I have 0 regrets about doing it. There has not been one other person touch my truck as of now...but I do plane to slack up on the reigns and allow the painter to have it next week. 😜

[Grumpy old man]

$230.20 an hr for labor on a '70s gmc truck ? You could hire a full time ASE certified mechanic and pay his health insurance for that much $ . Must be nice , maybe someday when I hit the powerball numbers ! Haha !
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[davepl]

My math sucks, people. Actually I probably used rented fingers on the calculator. I assume $85 an hour for 24 hours, or around $2K. Not sure how I came up with $5K. Good thing I double-check my taxes!

To each their own, but my truck is stock appearing, and I feel weird enough with an overdrive trans (that you can't see), I'm not sticking a different engine in it.

Still wonder if I should bring it home and bodywork it, but since you can't see the top once installed, likely not worth it. It's got a seriously ugly case, per the other thread.

I still find it ironic that I've got three years of my own labor into this truck, but the moment I pay ANYONE to do ANYTHING, out come the "I'm a man and do my own work" posts. Take it easy people, I did 95% of the labor on this frameoff myself. I don't own a trans jack and I'm not balancing a 4L80E on a floor jack, even if you can do it.

[46stude]

There is just no comparison in reliability,performance, and ease of use...

Amen. That's why I run my old carbed V-8s! More reliable, plenty of performance, & easy to work on and use.

[Robznob11]

Originally Posted by 46stude

Amen. That's why I run my old carbed V-8s! More reliable, plenty of performance, & easy to work on and use.

Lol! Jkjkjk. You sound just like my father in law. I was a BBC guy and he was a sbc guy. I'm converted now it was scary but 4 years later I probably will never go back unless I hit the lotto and can afford a 600 ci monster😁

[RickDeVon]

Why not just do a 700r4

[Dlm11]

you would've been better off doing a full ls swap

[BrianG]

How do these threads get soo far off base? What next... we going to tell dave that he should have painted it with water based paint instead of lacquer, should have been red instead of blue... should have used Good Year instead of Cooper tires... Hey Dave... you'de be better off buying Shell gas than BP.... jeesh! If you've been following Dave's build, you would all know that he's a guy who know's what the heck he's doing and what he wants. Good luck with the new Trany Dave, Thanks for the heads up on the cost of putting one of these tranny's in will be, and yeah... keep us posted.

[davepl]

Thanks Brian... not sure what happened to this thread. Anyone who's followed my build likely knows a "full LS swap" isn't really in the cards!

[rocknss]

Enjoy your truck when the Trans swap is done! Lets us know how it goes, I'm thinking of putting a 4L60E Trans in my Burb later on.

[Coley]

Sometimes when I see the unending emphasis on a need or want or 'must have' for the new technology I think...wouldn't it have been easier just to buy a new toyota tacoma or tundra?
I mean seriously....why not just offer a fibreglas 67-72 bolt-on body job to fit on a tacoma/tundra chassis...ba-da-bing....new technology because that apparently is what really might just matter? ....or not.

Interesting thread.
Coley

[El Dorado Jim]

Thanks for all the info, I am going with a gear vendor,I alreadyhave , just need to get the adapter for my t400 205 trans case , I have a 454 in my wife's 73 K20 suburban, a 700r4 will not hold up ....

[Dlm11]

Originally Posted by davepl

Thanks Brian... not sure what happened to this thread. Anyone who's followed my build likely knows a "full LS swap" isn't really in the cards!

I hope you didn't take my comment that way I was just saying with all your having to do to get it to work. Hope it works out.

[Doug's68SS]

My 400Th with a Gear Vendors

[Mrturner1]

Cool project Dave, you'll love the end result and that's what matters.

[kwmech]

Originally Posted by Doug's68SS

My 400Th with a Gear Vendors

Why did you run such a long adapter?

[davepl]

Originally Posted by kwmech

Why did you run such a long adapter?

To clear the crossmember perhaps?

[kwmech]

Mine clears with a 6'' long adapter, unless he is not running a 400 but a 375

[Lattimer]

Originally Posted by davepl

Thanks Brian... not sure what happened to this thread. Anyone who's followed my build likely knows a "full LS swap" isn't really in the cards!

I totally do not get the "everything needs an LS swap" crowd. It was cool at one point, but lately it seems like everything has an LS swapped into it. Kinda boring.

I can see it if you want to build a daily driver, but otherwise, not really.

[72MARIO]

Originally Posted by Lattimer

I totally do not get the "everything needs an LS swap" crowd. It was cool at one point, but lately it seems like everything has an LS swapped into it. Kinda boring.

I can see it if you want to build a daily driver, but otherwise, not really.

Sound like me 2 months ago... Then the light turned on up stairs and I got rid of all the vintage big block stuff and hung a 6.0 ls on the stand for the 1968 Suburban on the hunt for another for the 1967 C/20. Once you realized the power potential and reliability of the LS engine designed to last 400,000 + miles its not boring.

[GruntMoanCough]

[QUOTE=davepl;7533095]My math sucks, people..... Not sure how I came up with $5K. QUOTE]

Musta been thinkin' in current CND rates Anywho, keep us updated, interested in how this goes. Good luck.

[Lattimer]

Originally Posted by 72MARIO

Sound like me 2 months ago... Then the light turned on up stairs and I got rid of all the vintage big block stuff and hung a 6.0 ls on the stand for the 1968 Suburban on the hunt for another for the 1967 C/20. Once you realized the power potential and reliability of the LS engine designed to last 400,000 + miles its not boring.

Not debating the benefits of an LS motor. I would love get like a 72 'burb and put a nice LS in it and drive it everywhere. That wasn't my point.

Swapping in an LS was a cool thing when people first started doing it. But now it seems like every single car or truck I see at shows that was built recently and isn't a correct restoration has an LS. Nothing particularly cool about it to make it stand out.

What gets me the most though is all the people who are pro-LS and pushy about it. I've had several people be downright rude to me because I didn't swap an LS into my truck. Then they have to go on about how great the LS is. whatever.....

I wasn't willing to pony up for a new LS crate and all the stuff needed with it, didn't want a junkyard engine and all the crap that can go wrong there, and definitely didn't and still don't want a computer on my truck.




I think a lot of people lose sight of the fact that this is hobby, and its all about personal choice. You choose for you, I choose for me, and its all very cool. Start just blindly following the crowd and it all becomes boring.