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That’s great and creative. Normally I’m a beer/whiskey guy but a good cocktail every once and a while is cool.
I’d go with a crate longblock from Chevy. That way you get the cylinder heads and don’t have to worry about doing a mill and valve job on the old ones.
As for transmission, get a reman 700R4 from Jasper.
For Jaspers warranty, I believe they have to do the install.[quote=”13aceofspades13″ post=155623]my cars transmission has four speeds, would it be nice to have another gear… yea i would like to be manual as well, but you know… eight gears is just stupid, unless you are going racing there is no point in my mind in having eight gears, just too complicated.
Yea for offroad i would prefer a manual too, especually someone well practiced with it, simple mechanical gearing can’t go wrong with that.
my big complaint is they are stuffing these 6 or 8 speed transmissions in vehicles intended to haul trailers or vehicles like the jeeps which where once a dedicated roughing it vehicle designed to take off road or maybe on some severely rough terrain a car could never tolerate, now they are becoming some fancy fart SUV, trying to be a fuel economy vehicle.[/quote] Blame CAFE. The bureaucrats in government never got how things work in the real world. All they do is try to please the special interests. Us real people know that for towing, hauling and off-road applications, economy comes last. For towing, it’s all about torque…not horsepower, hence why diesel and big blocks reign supreme. The same gearing that makes towing easy, destroys economy. Low gears are what towing is all about. When towing/hauling you don’t need to or want to travel much over 60 MPH so the extra OD gears are useless. Not to mention, you NEVER are supposed to tow in OD.
I’ve got three trucks and the only one worth towing with is the 74′. Sure it gets shitty economy, but it can outpull almost anything in it’s class.[quote=”13aceofspades13″ post=155419][quote=”Chevyman21″ post=155384]
Don’t even get my started on 8-10 speed auto transmissions.[/quote]Thats ok i already know the answer, over complex and more parts to fail, nothing wrong with having a off road vehicle or truck with a simple four speed auto or better yet a stick. but we have to try to get better fuel economy in vehicles never intended for fuel economy.[/quote]
A manual with a very low first gear is ideal for offroad. None of these 8-10 speed autos will ever make it offroad, never-mind perform.
ZF doesn’t make trannies for offroad durability, they make them for economy and street use.
I would never run an auto of any kind offroad, at least with a manual you can creep home in first if something goes wrong. You can also rock it out of hard places and push start them.
The ZF trannies have had software problems galore as well as mechanical problems such as snap rings flying out due to the tiniest nick inside(due to the tight tight tolerances of stuffing that much into a small package) and flying up through the floor.
While having so many gear ratios to play with is great, is it practical? For economy yes, but for everything else including repair it is not.[quote=”13aceofspades13″ post=155207]and why do they get rid of the older stuff? “because we need to save weight.” “Because its more economical.”
BULLCRAP!! Because it lasts too long! [/quote]
True, GM eventually got tired of the ever reliable 350, as Ford got rid of the bulletproof 300. The Chevy straight six I have is the same engine GM made from 1941-1987. Of course, it was killed off as well. These “archaic” engines, were very simple. well made and withstood the test of time. So much so that they were killed off by their makers, because durability is not profitable.
Aluminum blocks and heads will not last. You overheat them once and they are toast. The molecular structure of Aluminum does not allow Aluminum to withstand the same abuse iron can. The tolerances and allowances on aluminum are tighter as well.
On top of this, you lose more heat with aluminum and to compensate, the compression ratio must be raised.
Don’t even get my started on 8-10 speed auto transmissions.The swap is easy, Chevy makes it a piece of cake.
As a Chevy truck specialist, I’d recommend swapping in a 4.8 or 5.3(without AFM) from a newer truck in the 2000-2005 range which will already have the 4L60-E bolted to it.
You can also buy a crate motor/tranny from Chevrolet Performance
Make sure you get the computer and wiring harness as well.
The crossmember in your truck will work for the new tranny and the engine mounts will work for the new engine because they are all interchangable. The dimensions are all the same.
With the 5.3 you will need the TCM as well as the 4.8L is intergrated into the PCM, while the 5.3L isn’t.Donor truck will make it an easy swap, make sure that you reprogram the PCM to your rear end ratio.
Thanks for your service!!!!
Technically, materials, labor and overhead speaking yes it’s fair. But you can do better, and much better by doing it yourself.
When I pulled the 40+ year old ventilation system out of the 74′, you should have seen what was in there!
It will vary by state and town. Illinois is in the top 10 most taxed for gas states along with California and New York. Around here, gas is below 2.00 a gallon and the spread between the 3 grades is about 40 cents. For someone who drives a truck everyday that gets roughly 12 miles per gallon, the current situation is a godsend.
Have an evaluation tommorow with the boss. He says that he is pleased with me thus far. Will update how it goes.
What Gmule said. You need to run premium if your car requires it. Otherwise, you will get a significant loss of power and economy y due to the computer pulling spark.
If the computer is unable to pull enough spark to prevent preignition/detonation, you may end up with a damaged engine.You have two options here:
1. Continue to run the correct fuel
2. Sell the car and get one that will run on regularSpark advance, compression ratio, forced induction/NA, and fuel mixture all need to be in balance to run right. Even without forced induction and a high compression ratio, the wiggle room you have is very little.
Detuning was a method of old when lead was taken out of fuel(which decreased its octane rating) as well as using lower comp heads. This contributed to poor economy and power.
The computer will essentially detune the engine until the paremeters are reached. Using regular in that car, you will see the same effect.Knowledge is shown by a combination of experience and paper. I’ve seen a master ASE tech that couldn’t even adjust a clutch.
ASE is a piece of paper that proves mental knowledge. Actual wrench experience is a whole ‘nother ball game. Some will say that you need 2 years work experience to attain such certification, however 2 years certainly does not make a master tech(master ASE doesn’t count) nor does it prove competency.
You can be a tire/oil jockey and attain the certs provided you served your two years.[quote=”Pitt” post=154658]I hate you.
I’m kidding. Congrats man, sounds like a sweet gig. Keep up the hard work and keep up posted.[/quote]
Thanks man, and will do. After the holidays, I’ll provide another update.UPDATE:
The first week went really well. My new SO guy gave me some “welcome to my truck gifts” on Friday.
I’m surrounded by experience here. Old masters of the trade, willing to push a good tech to become a master like them.
I got all sorts of jobs that tested my skills to the extreme. Dealers send stuff they can’t figure out to this shop. The array of scan tools alone is massive.
Shit…I’m working on everything here from big offroad rigs to classics to luxury cars. What a challenge! I love it.[quote=”andrewbutton442″ post=154600]Here is my thought on Resto mods, since I actually did that whole routine over a decade ago here was my feelings. A car from the 1960s is what I did, and it wasn’t a good drivetrain I removed, but it wasn’t horrible either. Just basic 60s boringness. After all the the work and money dumped in it, I would do it over again with something much older, say 30s 40s or 50s, because a lot of those antique cars have unservicable, antiquated running gear that makes a vehicle scrap metal without a drive train extraction and replacement. I would leave the dirty patina on it and run it daily. There isn’t a mechanic in the world who cannot keep a 60s or 70s car on the road with a bent screwdriver, however to have something like an ancient Packard or something weird like that with modern parts I feel would much more rewarding. Just my two cents worth.[/quote]
The 50s stuff had the most character of any decade. My 1955 with it’s straight 6 and manual 3 speed will outlive anything made after it. Of course, it’s delegated to show duty only, but it’s timeless classic rugged design stood the test of time.