Homebody
Well-known member
LMAO Good decision! Best of both worlds now!
Mark's Monster Garage....3800 sq ft
- Thread starter IGO2XS
- Start date
Right now the van has a 700R in it. I have considered having my transmission guy go through it and beef it up a little bit. I just purchased a Stage 2 GM 6L80e for the 63 Corvette and dont know how I feel about buying a 4L80 for the van. What do you guys think?
I know I would have to figure out a way to utilize the TV cable........... might have to buy another transmission though.
I know I would have to figure out a way to utilize the TV cable........... might have to buy another transmission though.
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Bob Heine
ALLIANCE MEMBER
Mark, Monster transmission sells the parts kit for upgrading your 700R4 to handle 650hp for $800-$1,100 (and then someone has to do the rebuild). You probably have to add the price of a beefier torque converter to handle that 500hp LS3 (I'm sure a better than stock intake and exhaust system would add 5hp).
https://www.monstertransmission.com/700R4-SS-Mega-Monster-In-A-Box_c_5797.html
I would think he heavier van could use the extra beef of a 6L90E to give you the giddy-up and still give excellent fuel economy when cruising the interstates. I managed to tear up the 6L90E in our Cadillac CTS- V but I am sure you will be gentler (the LSA does put out 556hp). This place sells one for around $2,200, including the torque converter.
https://spprecision.com/products/6l...8RPgHE6JBXkyB9pEsqq_-DI7x-m4qmUMaAoEEEALw_wcB
https://www.monstertransmission.com/700R4-SS-Mega-Monster-In-A-Box_c_5797.html
I would think he heavier van could use the extra beef of a 6L90E to give you the giddy-up and still give excellent fuel economy when cruising the interstates. I managed to tear up the 6L90E in our Cadillac CTS- V but I am sure you will be gentler (the LSA does put out 556hp). This place sells one for around $2,200, including the torque converter.
https://spprecision.com/products/6l...8RPgHE6JBXkyB9pEsqq_-DI7x-m4qmUMaAoEEEALw_wcB
ABSTIFFGS
Well-known member
Personally I would think since you will likely already have a gm wiring harness and PCM already, it would be less hassle than dealing with that dreaded TV cable to go with a 4L60/80E.
Bob Heine
ALLIANCE MEMBER
In addition to not dealing with the TV cable, I didn't find a huge price difference between performance 4L80E and 6L90E but I did find this:
"The 6L90e is a heavier-duty version of the 6L80E, Upgrades consisted of a strengthened input gear set and a strengthened wider output gear set. The 6L90E also contains one more clutch plate in each clutch pack than the 6L80 for heavier duty applications."
Based on their standard specs, the '63 Corvette SWC weighed a little over 3,000 pounds and the G10 van weight just under 4,000 pounds. I'd put the stronger transmission in the heavier vehicle.
"The 6L90e is a heavier-duty version of the 6L80E, Upgrades consisted of a strengthened input gear set and a strengthened wider output gear set. The 6L90E also contains one more clutch plate in each clutch pack than the 6L80 for heavier duty applications."
Based on their standard specs, the '63 Corvette SWC weighed a little over 3,000 pounds and the G10 van weight just under 4,000 pounds. I'd put the stronger transmission in the heavier vehicle.
jbmatth
Well-known member
Another vote for the 6 speed, the 4L80E is a beast that is incredible, but I long to have the other two gears like my truck has, better fuel economy is also nice.
JB
JB
zmotorsports
ALLIANCE MEMBER
I've built a lot of 700R4/4L60's and they can be built into a respectable transmission. That being said, I'd go with the 6L80/6L90 six-speeds over the 4-speed auto. The new generation of six-speeds with their low friction clutch to clutch technology plus the lower low and higher high make them awesome for daily driving. The 4L60's first gear is 3.06:1 which is good and a step up from their predecessor of 2.48:1 but nowhere near as nice as the 6L80's 4.02:1. The overdrive on the six-speed is taller as well going from a .70:1 in the 4L60 to a .667 in the 6L80. Final drive ratios can also be altered to provide better out of the hole as well as better cruising speeds.
You are correct and thanks for the advise.
Thanks for your wisdom and I appreciate everyone chiming in. I ended up going with a Stage 2 4L60e for the van. As was mentioned the TV cable would have been a real pain. I would have loved to have done the 6 speed in the van but I felt for the in town driving 4l80 would work. A buddy of mine built this one and did a great job.
The Corvette on the other hand is getting the 6L80e. I wanted the 6l90 as mentioned but we were unsure of the size difference so I went with the 6l80. I also picked up the Power train solutions paddle shifter and push button shifter. There is not enough room in the transmission tunnel for a traditional shifter.
The LS3 arrived. I only took the dealership 24 hours to come up with the LS3 Hotcammed 495 hp motor. You will see in the pictures I ended up buying a foam LS3 block. We have to mock up engine mounts and other stuff and its much easier to handle a 15lb block.
I picked up the 63 vette from the Corvette/fiberglass guy. All the major panels are bonded. The front end, new widened quarters, transmission tunnel, rear fenderwells, and rear deck. The front inner fenderwells are just screwed in for now as they may be trimmed because of the new frame. These are pictures he took but I will plan on take some of my own. I have the car in my garage and prepping it to take to Vermont so they can fit the body on the frame. I am pretty excited to get it up to Rothspeed for the chassis. They will do a 3D scan of the body and frame to figure out where the motor will set. I did purchase a foam mock up block to make the install a little easier. I know some will say they dont need the technology to set a motor but we want to get the body, transmission, and motor as low as we can go while the car remains drivable. I think the process of scanning the car is the fun part and it will be nice to experience another method of installation. The 3D scan will also allow us to build parts for the car if we decide to.
TwoBytes
Well-known member
That is so cool!
You may not NEED that technology to do the job, but if it's available then why not use it to get the best possible result.
And yeah, playing with new toys is half the fun!
Caparris
Well-known member
Man those 3D scanners are nice. Do you have the Faro one? I demo'd one at work but couldn't find a good enough justification for it... they are awesome though, I'd have one at work and one at home if I were rich, lol
casmurbax
Well-known member
Vette is looking good. Enjoy your trip up to my neighboring state. Bring a jacket it is getting colder up here.
Long version of your question
I have hired one of my prior employees to work for me on my two projects. His name is Doug and he is probably the most talented guy I know. Other than painting a car this guy is a rocket scientist. He has so much knowledge its scary. Building, tuning, metal fab, computer geek, you name it he is good at it. He owns the scanner and we plan on designing parts for this vette. I can't wait to head up there. My wife on the otherhand wears a jacket in the house here in Florida so she is going to freeze her **** off. After Vermont we go to her sisters house in Cincinnati and I hope to be able to head over to my hometown of Danville, In and help my buddy on his farm. I am really looking forward to this trip. Its the first time I have been able to go on a trip without having a business or employees to worry about.
I wanted to share some underbody pictures of the van. I am going to try to post a video in hopes you guys can see it. I worked for weeks cleaning up the 35 plus years of dirt and grime off of the frame and underbody. I used lacquer thinner, pressure cleaned it, you name it I did it. I hadnt planned on going this far but the longer something sits the more ideas I come up with and it gets me in trouble. Finally, I spent a few days taping and preparing for paint. Wow does it look awesome. If might have to take this van to SEMA! LOL
rattle_snake
Well-known member
Video opens in PB, looks good under there. Every time you go under to work on it you will be glad you took the time to clean and paint. Should hook up good with those fat meats and linked suspension.
Ok great glad you could view it. I have always had a thing about detailed undercarriages and I am very happy with the outcome.
looks brand new
Thanks!!!
I spoke to my transmission guy today and I am swapping him the 4L60e transmission he built me for a 4L80 stage 3 transmission with a shift kit in it. Turns out I couldnt used the 4L60 he originally built for me. When I get this van finished I am going to be looking for some Corvettes to race. LOL.
Here are a few more pics of the undercarriage.
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casmurbax
Well-known member
The underneath looks great.
Are you coming up here soon? So you can see the fall foliage?
Are you coming up here soon? So you can see the fall foliage?
Toolfool
Well-known member
I wish the underside of my '84 Econoline looked that good.
Yes, we will be leaving this Sunday and heading to Milton, VT. I am taking the 63 Corvette up there and dropping it off at RothSpeed so they can build my frame. From there we will be heading to Cincinnati, OH so I can drop my wife off at her sisters house. I get a get out of jail free card to head over to my home town of Danville, IN to hang out with a buddy of mine for 3 days. He is a big farmer over there and I hope to be driving some tractors for a few days.
Its a piece of cake.......put your van on a lift and speed two weeks cleaning, scrubbing and sanding. LOL. I look at it a few times a day because I love the way it looks. I guess now I wont be able to drive the van in the rain because I wont want to get it dirty.
SamYoung
Well-known member
I just wanted to say that I'm a fairly new GJ member and have really been enjoying a lot of the garage builds. It's taken me almost a month to read this from the beginning, but it was totally worth it. Its been quite a roller coaster. I'm a sucker for orange and the Woodie sucked me in, then all the other awesomeness kept me interested. All I can say is you have a beautiful property, and I love watching the beautiful attention to detail and follow though on everything you do.
I do want to add my vote to keep it simple on the red 63 SWC. As much as I loved looking at the Woodie, C10, and 'The Punisher', I also understand your sentiment that you can't enjoy driving a vehicle that has that much money and perfection wrapped up in them. You have 3, so put some AC in it a make it a simple driver. Save all the money for the custom one that you're building. Once you realize you went to over the top with that one and are afraid to drive it to, you can pick all of you're favorite parts of it and build #3 into something in between those two. A restomod with some cool touches, but not so over the top that its relegated to be a trailer queen. If you're smart, you may be able to even make duplicates of some of the custom parts on the RothSpeed chassis one for the 3rd one down the line. It would save you a lot of time on that one and make it feel like it has less invested and therefore less scared to drive it.
Whatever you decide, keep the post coming! You inspire so many of us.
I do want to add my vote to keep it simple on the red 63 SWC. As much as I loved looking at the Woodie, C10, and 'The Punisher', I also understand your sentiment that you can't enjoy driving a vehicle that has that much money and perfection wrapped up in them. You have 3, so put some AC in it a make it a simple driver. Save all the money for the custom one that you're building. Once you realize you went to over the top with that one and are afraid to drive it to, you can pick all of you're favorite parts of it and build #3 into something in between those two. A restomod with some cool touches, but not so over the top that its relegated to be a trailer queen. If you're smart, you may be able to even make duplicates of some of the custom parts on the RothSpeed chassis one for the 3rd one down the line. It would save you a lot of time on that one and make it feel like it has less invested and therefore less scared to drive it.
Whatever you decide, keep the post coming! You inspire so many of us.
Thank you so much for the kind words. I am replying to you via my iPhone as we are in Ohio now visiting my mother in law. The past 3.5 days have been challenging considering our drive to Milton, VT to drop off the car and then from Vermont to Cincinnati. RothSpeed is located in the middle of nowhere. As we got closer my wife was asking how I got hooked up with them because many of the homes in that area were not nice. The shop didn’t look like much on the outside but once we got I side I was amazed with the initial tour. Wow these guys do some killer work. In the back of the shop was the build called “Split-Ray” and it had been completely disassembled as they sent the body out to have molds made. Their plan is to punch out carbon fiber bodies to sell as a kit including a frame for $150,000 a piece. The retail value of the cost to build Split Ray was $1,500,000 and it just blew me away they took it apart. The interior for the car was $70,000 and the grill was $15,000 as it was machined out of a single piece of aluminum! They will have to paint the car again then put the car back together.
They will be building a frame for me over the next month. My goal is to have the car sit as low as possible, have the rear as narrow as possible as I want to use. 15” wide wheel.
SamYoung
Well-known member
I saw that you were going from Vermont to Cinci this week. Wasn't sure if you were driving or flying. You likely passed about an hour north of me assuming you came across and down 71. Its a small world.
I did look up RothSpeed, but couldn't find much outside of their own site. While looking, it appeared that the SplitRay was built by The Auto Shoppe just up the road in Burlington, VT. Are they sister companies, or did RothSpeed design it and then commission some/all of the work through them? Whichever is the case, they appear to do top quality work though a bit out of my price range.
Hope you have fun farming with your friend and wife enjoys some time with the family. I know my stepdad is getting ready to harvest in the next couple weeks. Even his small equipment is pretty big.
plain2car
Well-known member
mark, looks terrific. and i agree with the tractor (implement) driving 
my FIL has 2k ac. for me to "practice" implement parking & manuevering!...
!
....."Its a piece of cake.......put your van on a lift and speed two weeks cleaning, scrubbing and sanding. LOL. I look at it a few times a day because I love the way it looks. I guess now I wont be able to drive the van in the rain because I wont want to get it dirty" .... I am in this stage now for my rebuild of my 1986 C10 LS SWAP project (rodstored-72 on the truck board) I would appreciate any more tips-tricks you may care to share related to material/methods you have learned over the "vast years" of knowledge you have.....
my FIL has 2k ac. for me to "practice" implement parking & manuevering!...!....."Its a piece of cake.......put your van on a lift and speed two weeks cleaning, scrubbing and sanding. LOL. I look at it a few times a day because I love the way it looks. I guess now I wont be able to drive the van in the rain because I wont want to get it dirty" .... I am in this stage now for my rebuild of my 1986 C10 LS SWAP project (rodstored-72 on the truck board) I would appreciate any more tips-tricks you may care to share related to material/methods you have learned over the "vast years" of knowledge you have.....
BORING HOP YARD
Well-known member
Howdy Mark, a little while back we had a brief exchange about 3D modeling.
I wanted to send you a link from the Fabrication and Techniques side.
You might have seen this before. The level of work he does reminds me of the level of work you have on your projects.
He does 3d modeling and takes that design into machining.
Burns Machine
https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=434559&page=9
I wanted to send you a link from the Fabrication and Techniques side.
You might have seen this before. The level of work he does reminds me of the level of work you have on your projects.
He does 3d modeling and takes that design into machining.
Burns Machine
https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=434559&page=9
Todd.Brock
Well-known member
Please know you have a following in Cincinnati! If you happen to be in town again anytime soon, would love to meet up !
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I saw that you were going from Vermont to Cinci this week. Wasn't sure if you were driving or flying. You likely passed about an hour north of me assuming you came across and down 71. Its a small world.
I did look up RothSpeed, but couldn't find much outside of their own site. While looking, it appeared that the SplitRay was built by The Auto Shoppe just up the road in Burlington, VT. Are they sister companies, or did RothSpeed design it and then commission some/all of the work through them? Whichever is the case, they appear to do top quality work though a bit out of my price range.
Hope you have fun farming with your friend and wife enjoys some time with the family. I know my stepdad is getting ready to harvest in the next couple weeks. Even his small equipment is pretty big.
We have just been home a few days. Wow what a road trip that was......Vermont was one heck of a drive and showing up to Rothspeed was exciting. Drove to Ohio and Indiana and pullling a 28' was definitely a challenge.
The owner of Rothspeed used to own The Auto Shoppe. The Auto Shoppe did very high end builds. As Scott told me most builds were 4 to 5 years and many clients older men so time was of the essence. It just got to much and he sold The Auto Shoppe to focus on chassis building. They will be starting on my car next week. Chassis building then fitment to the body. I am having them fabricate my fuel tank, machine some valve covers for me, build a custom radiator support, and possibly fabricate some hood hinges so the hood hinges from the firewall.
mark, looks terrific. and i agree with the tractor (implement) driving
....."Its a piece of cake.......put your van on a lift and speed two weeks cleaning, scrubbing and sanding. LOL. I look at it a few times a day because I love the way it looks. I guess now I wont be able to drive the van in the rain because I wont want to get it dirty" .... I am in this stage now for my rebuild of my 1986 C10 LS SWAP project (rodstored-72 on the truck board) I would appreciate any more tips-tricks you may care to share related to material/methods you have learned over the "vast years" of knowledge you have.....
My buddies farm around 9000 acres so I was pretty excited to get there. I wasnt in Indiana more than 45 minutes before I was on a tractor.
We worked on a 700 acre field first. I drove the grain cart and was handling 3 combines with 45' bean heads. there were 4 semis I filled on their rotation to the grain mill. No time to do anything other than to keep up with the combines that loaded me up white still driving. 
Cool I would love to check it out. I may have already said this but RothSpeed will be scanning the frame, body, and engine to try to figure out how everything fits and I will be sure to share the pictures with you guys.
Boostingaz
Well-known member
My buddies farm around 9000 acres so I was pretty excited to get there. I wasnt in Indiana more than 45 minutes before I was on a tractor.
Where in Indiana? Born and raised Hoosier that moved out west. I still have family that farm there though.
I was born and raised in Danville, In. We are about 20 minutes west of Indianapolis.
I drove my red 2011 dually on this trip and it ran like a dream. I just had to install 6 new Toyo RT 295/55-22. I have always had a close relationship with this truck as it always suited my needs. I have finally decided to sell it and order a 2021 Chevrolet 3500HD. I was at odds deciding between the Chevy High Country and the GMC Denali but I think the front end on the Chevy looks pretty aggressive. What would you guys pick............chevy or GMC? I am going with a 9" lift and 37" tall tires with 26" rims.
casmurbax
Well-known member
I am jealous that you worked on a farm and drove a tractor. Something I always wanted to do, just for a day or two.
Either truck would work for me.
Either truck would work for me.
gilr
Well-known member
I think the new tailgate on the GMCs, if offered on the 3500 HD would sway me. Otherwise, mostly the same trucks.
Boosted1
Well-known member
I prefer the GMC trim
shortykorte
Well-known member
I like GMCs more. For these two choices I like the look of the Chevy. Unfortunately The other looks like a F350 clone. [emoji53]
Sent from my iPhone using Garage Journal
Sent from my iPhone using Garage Journal
Bighead38
Well-known member
Denali looks way better. I’ve always thought the Denali’s looked great. Hopefully one day I’ll be able to own a newer truck. I’ve been looking at trucks lately that are 3-6 years old because I am tired of working on my own old garbage. I like wrenching as a side business, I like it when doing modifications in my own stuff, I absolutely hate it when I need to fix my own junk to get to work. The problem is the used truck market is insane right now.
The used truck market is a joke and over inflated to the max!
SamYoung
Well-known member
not a lifted truck guy, but the Denali front end is much nicer in my opinion.
Boostingaz
Well-known member
Westfield for me, about 30 minutes straight north of Indy. Up and out 32 from you. My family farms in Sheridan. I also have family that work for Andretti Autosport in Indy. There facility there is quite impressive.
Farming and racing, only thing I am missing is basketball lol.
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jbmatth
Well-known member
To me the Chevy headlights look upside down, I just can't un-see it. I've been very tempted to go for the Denali but haven't pulled the trigger.