Could've just added them back in. Its only 2 connectors.

 

Well thank you for the information JoeNova. But as you can see, I’m far past that step and too late to turn back now.

 

Today was a good day. Finished the wiring of the transmission control unit, as well as the oil pressure which is something I hadn’t done yet from the swap.

After listening to KingTal0n I decided to do a bit of research on driveline angles and how they interact with the driveshaft. I also need to get all this information written down and sent to the guys who will be building my driveshaft. Any suggestions on places? I was looking at Inland Empire Driveline, Denny’s driveshafts, and The Driveshaft Shop. So from what I could learn when setting driveline angles, I read that the IRS in the corvette has a static position and therefore I could measure these angles while on jackstands instead of having the suspension in operating position. I used a magnetic protractor to measure these angles. On the rear differential I measured from the face of the seal where the pinion yoke is and I also measured on the face of the actual pinion. Both gave me a measurement of 1 degree up. So I am satisfied that this is a correct reading. The next measurement I took was the angle of the transmission or the tailshaft. I measured at the seal of the yoke to tailshaft, as well as, where the starter mates to the block, and a third measurement on the transmission pan mating surface. All 3 returned a measurement of 2.5 degrees down after I jacked the transmission into the desired position. From what I read, you want the two angles to be within 1-3 degrees of each other. So hopefully this 1.5 degree difference won’t create any unwanted vibrations or noises.

Now that I have the transmission sitting where I want it in the car I can begin fabricating a mount for the transmission to C-beam. I bought a 5”x5” piece of square aluminum tubing .25” thick. Unfortunately at this part of the C-beam, it is about 4.75” inside height. So my square tube wouldn’t fit. So I cut a side off to get the piece of aluminum inside the C-beam. Once I placed the C channel of aluminum in the C-beam, I noticed that I would never be able to get this in or out once it was installed. So I think a better idea is to just use a piece of flat stock (the side I cut off) and weld it to the C-beam to extend out enough to mount the 4l80e OE bolt holes. Basically just making the bottom side of the C-beam wide enough to bolt both bolts through. I will have to double up the thickness of the flat aluminum as the position of the transmission is that much higher than the bottom surface of the C-beam. Do you guys think this will be strong enough against the torsional forces the engine may exert? Should I add some gussets to the pieces I weld on?

 

The next step in my 4l80e swap was to build an adapter for the tailshaft to Cbeam. The first step was to measure and cut the Cbeam down so that I would be able to get it into the car. With the added length of the 4l80e the original length of the Cbeam wasn’t going to work.

Everything above the tape has to go

After thought: could’ve done with just half the length removed.

I purchased a 6” piece of 5x5 aluminum with a 1/4” thickness. Ended up cutting the square into a 90* angle piece. My original thought was to just weld this to the Cbeam and bolt the tailshaft to the plate. This didn’t work. Everything just sagged out of alignment.

Idea was to weld all this together

No bueno

So after speaking with a member on this matter, I decided to make a plate that mounts to the tailshaft to transmission housing and then weld my angle on to that.

Used 1/4” thick 6061 aluminum to make a plate.

Mocked the angle aluminum to the plate

Both pieces before welding

Finished product

Should hold up good

I would like to take this moment to thank my handicap welder. My friend I met in a spinal cord injury support group teaches welding here in Orlando.

Thank you Jerry!

After mocking things up and drilling a few more mounting holes I was finally able to bolt everything together.

Everything painted and bolted up.

Ignore the one bolt missing the nut. It’s in now.

Had to use cap head socket bolts in this very tight area.

Also notice my cooler lines mounted to the top of the tunnel.

I also received my driveshaft and was able to install it at the same time. I used Advance Driveline here in Orlando to make a custom 500hp rated driveshaft. Used 1350 joints up front and stayed with the 1310 in the rear.

29” steel 3” driveshaft

So the adapter I made is completely installed now. The only issue I see, and maybe it’s not an issue, I don’t know. The transmission and Cbeam did not sag when I removed the support Jack. However, there is about 1/4” or so of up and down play in the whole system. I’m hoping that this is normal since there really isn’t cross brace or anything the would normally make all of this rigid af. Do you guys think this is adequate? The forum member I spoke with said he had about the same amount.

Next steps are to finish the cooler lines and fan wiring, fill with fluid, install exhaust, test. The cooler lines are going to go from the trans to the front radiator cooling lines, back to the rear cooler where the fans will be wired on a 160* temp switch and then back to the transmission.

 

That is a lot of work. I personally don't think that is going to hold up for long. The two bolts on the 4l80 crossmember pad really need to be incorporated into the adapter and then also use the original long c-beam bolts to sandwich it all together. I think you are asking for a broken tailshaft or bent c-beam. I think you are going to have a lot of flex/movement with this setup and amount of power you have.

 

Hey guy, some other updates along with the transmission swap are coming along very nicely. I came across a really good deal on C6 LS2 fuel rail covers, so I picked them up and started fitting them to the car. The biggest difference is that my due line comes in on the passenger side and these covers have the cut out on the drivers side. So I had to cut the passenger side for the fuel line as well as trimming some areas so it would fit correctly.


You can see here I cut out the fuel line hole.

Each side needed some trimming. As well as adding some gold accenting.

Finished and installed.

Another project was a need I have as a wheelchair user. When I get in the car, I take the wheels off my wheelchair and put them in the cargo area. And then I lift my wheelchair across my lap and into the assembler seat. Typically the steering wheel is in the way and I have to telescope and tilt it out of the way. So I decided to install a NRG quick release.

New NRG CF steering wheel.

NRG short hub adapter, 2.5 quick release.

The last update was some new tires. And whees to go with. The previous wheels were just a temporary solution and the tires were dry rotted. So I went ahead and purchased a set of Milanni Kapri’s from FitmentIndustries. 20x10.5 with 305/35 fronts and 315/35 rears. Ended up with some rubbing issues which meant that the rear needed a spacer and inner liner removed, as well as they now poke out of the sides the spacer amount. And the fronts rub when turning and can’t go lock to lock. So trying to fix that fudge up right now.

These things are huge.

This was taken before I spaced it out from the rubbing.

After spacing them out, I was too low in the rear.

Im on my third test drive with the new transmission installed. I am having a few issues with the electronic shifting, but manually shifting the car runs AMAZING!!! When in drive though, it doesn’t want to shift.

 

Well guys, it’s been two months ish since I finished the 4l80e swap and so far so good. I haven’t put a ton of miles on the car as it’s hurricane season here in Florida and I have no wipers still. But, it has been running well. The issue I was having with shifting was definitely a faulty TCI EZTCU controller. Luckily, TCI shipped me a new one and the cars shifting problems went away. Now I can change the shift characteristics on the fly which is pretty cool. But also useless once you decide how you want the car to behave. Lol.
I did have to change the profile on the front tires as they were just too tall. And I should probably change the rear but it’ll be fine for now.



The next mods are in the pipeline right now. Waiting on some ACIvette fiberglass to be built and shipped. While waiting on those parts I have been collecting performance mods for the car. So far I’ve got an MSD Atomic Intake manifold, 243 heads (probably will have them milled 0.20 - 0.30 to raise the compression, some .660 valve springs, and an 8708 cam from SummitRacing.
I definitely see a 2row radiator in my future and maybe twin fans instead of the single. But for now, we ride!

 

Big accomplishments!

 

Well, it’s been a few months and I have a lot of updates to go over with the car. The question is just where do I start? Lol.
The transmission swap went well. I didn’t notice any issues with it and I even took the car to the drag strip and made some hard launches. The car ran a 13.01 @105mph in the 1/4. That was on 20” wheels and crappy tires. It was super fun. But that made me want more.




So more power it is! I decided to do a Heads, Cam, and Intake upgrade. Plus, it would give me the opportunity to clean some wiring up, check the transmission brace, and heck, might as well upgrade some of the cooling while I was at it…

 

I purchased some 243 takeoffs from eBay and had them shipped to Texas Speed and Performance. They did their Stage 2.5 upgrade to the heads which was a port job and gave it bigger valves. More than I wanted to spend, but was told I could get to my goals with them. I also chose a CompCam 54-469-11 cam which is what Richard Holdener uses in almost all of his videos, 231/247 .624/.617 type numbers. And I went with the MSD Atomic Intake with a 102mm Throttle Body. I was thinking that this combo could reach north of 500hp at the flywheel.









I definitely thought this combo was going to get me close to my goals. But I guess with the 4l80e, the 20” wheels, crappy tires, and probably the original shocks, I was well below the numbers I expected on the dyno.



350whp

 

I would like to take this moment to reflect back on my earlier 4l80e swap. @Krusty84 mentioned that my C Beam adapter didn’t look like it was going to withstand the tortures the car would put it through. And well, he was right. Lucky for me, I decided to pull the engine shortly after the transmission swap had been done. I ended up with a crack in the weld but everything was still able to be held together before any actual damage could be done. So, while the engine was out for upgrades, I went ahead and beefed up the design and added what many said that I would need.



As you can see in these pictures, not a huge crack, but it would’ve failed very soon.
So the new design clamps the C Beam between my adapter and uses bolts on the top, bottom, and sides.





I did put this in the car already and have put a few strong hits at the track and see no issues….so far.

Also, some other things I did while the engine was out of the car. I cleaned up my wiring in the engine bay, trans tunnel, and rear section. I added thermal protection for the lines going to the rear trans cooler as well.
In this Florida heat, I was battling high temps so I added an oil cooler, a new eBay “3 row” radiator, and the DeWitt’s upgraded fan and shroud from SPAL. Honestly, I may have cooled the car too much, lol, at least for this time of the year. I guess the true test will be in July.

 

Lol, all these updates and I almost forgot the visual stuff. Wayyyyyyy back I ordered some fiberglass from Jim @ ACI Vettes. And well, it arrived while the engine was being built. So I got to work on mocking it up for fitment and then sanding it before sending it to the paint shop. *side note* Why are painters so expensive, lol.
Anyway, I ordered the Millenium front airdam, I chose this one because I really liked how aggressive it made the front and I rarely ever see this on any other Corvettes.
I went with the Aerotech side skirts and rear wrap. I really needed the rear wrap to cover the transmission cooler lines that were just Barry visible past the stock rear bumper.
I got it all fit nicely and sent out to paint.












The last piece of bodywork I wanted on the car was something I didn’t think I would get but a buddy just happened to be removing it from his C7z06 and was willing to give it to me for a couple of hundred dollars. I just couldn’t t say no. And boy do I love the look.




It’s a Big A$$ ****

 

So, with all the cool new things that have happened with the car, there is always something bad. I mean, of course there is, that’s the life of a corvette owner, hahahahah.
I got the engine out back in the car and man did it look and sound good. I mean, everything I wanted. Except the numbers from the dyno tune were lower than I anticipated but regardless, I was still thrilled…


The car looked good, sounded good, drove good. So I decided it was time to go back to the drag strip and see how the new upgrades were going to perform in the 1/4….Let’s just say, it didn’t perform well. As a matter of fact, it took 3 passes and then I called the tow truck.









Stock Gen 3 bottom end problems, I guess. We could speculate all day about what went wrong, but it went wrong and that’s really all that matters. So for now, I’m back at the drawing board, planning for the next move.

 

The car looks great!

So, it cracked #3 piston and completely destroyed #5 piston. I'm surprised at the damage to #3 combustion chamber, yet minimal damage to #5 chamber. Are the heads salvageable? What base engine were you running?

 

So the engine was an 02 LQ4, so a Gen3 block and internals. The #5 & #6 pistons were obliterated, found some of them in the intake manifold, lifter valleys, pretty much everywhere. The #3 & #4 pistons were broken but the rods were disconnected from the pistons. The rod for one of 5/6 was completely let go from the crank. So my guess is that the rod let go. Maybe rod bolt came loose and sent the rod around the internals. Nothing came through the block, it just went everywhere inside the block.

 

The 6.0L is a fairly stout assembly. I am really surprised that #3, #4, #5, and #6 let go. Typically detonation takes out #7 first.

Are the heads salvageable? Is the block re-useable? Obviously, the rotating assembly is FUBAR.

 

Who tuned the engine? The dyno numbers were 50-70 HP low, indicating either a major tune issue, or something was mechanically wrong the whole time. A cam that large would have easily hidden a dead cylinder.

 

Sadly nothing was salvageable. The bottom of the cylinder walls were chipped off. And every internal was destroyed.

 

Hi Joe. Dennis King over at Redline Tuning Services in Daytona did the build and the tune. I agree, the numbers were much lower than what they should’ve been. And I’ll say that the tune I had on the engine before the upgrades was at 250whp, that was with 19” wheels and the original 700r4, so I also expected higher than that number. Honestly, I feel like the engine was probably hurt to begin with.
I can’t imagine the tune was that far off, especially since it was tuned on the Dyno. And Dennis is considered a reputable tuner here in Florida and was recommended by a few different people in the drag racing scene.

 

250whp does seem rather low. Indeed sounds like there was an issue from the start.