I have a 4L65e that rodney at rpm built for me that is holding up great. It's a level 6 and so far is working great at 800 at the tire.

now they have a level 10 that goes up to 1k or so and that seems to be about the practical limit.

bad news is that it's relatively easy to make more spank that that.

sooooo......... now comes the z06 LT5 with a romping 8 speed that is taking those cars into the 8s with 1200 plus at the tire.

My big question with all those runs is "how the heck is the drivetrain surviving??" Well now that the 8spd has been around a bit, they are being modded to hold quite a bit of power in an even heavier car.

I'm looking to see if there is a way to adapt the C7 ecm to be a stand alone tranny controller. It will be expensive, but pooters is stoooopid and as long as all the ecm inputs needed for the tranny are present I think it might work.

I've been waiting for some enterprising engineer from Megasquirt or TCS to make a stand alone tranny controller.

This would be a tough one, but that tranny is calling and it's holding up well behind the lt5

one option would be to stuff an LT5 in there ecm, wiring, gauges and all. It would be pretty cool with a c3 style stinger hood covering up that big blower. Hmmmm......... Lt5 crate motors are still expensive, and the controller is way too much.

finding a wadded up ZR-1 and picking the bones will likely be the best option.

 

Hmm, interesting post. If you dive into a project like this, I hope you will keep us updated. Although my mechanical knowledge is extremely limited, I realize that the concept of your potential project is unique and probably will be fascinating to a lot of enthusiasts in in this section.

 

a complete swap would be verey cool with complete lt5 drive train and ecm and update to the c7 brakes /sensors updated sensors and of course a complete rewire with the factory harness

I think the drivetrain length variance could be accomodated with a trim of the torq tube and the cradles can likely stuff in there to make it all work.

I'd like to go a bit more modest than that and just find a good used lt5 controller and feed it the sensor data needed to function. I have to admit, I like the updated c7 & 8 dash, it's pretty cool.

I'm going to try and start out with the dimensions and look over the c7 cradle and control arms to see if they can be made to work with the right wheel offsets.

I've got some big ccw steam rollers to try out with the hoosiers 315 front 335 rear stick like death

 

Lt5 stuff is going to be very rare. They only made zr1s for 1 year and like 2500 units world wide or something like. The z06 is a lt4 and they made a lot of them over many years. I believe the z06 trans and the zr1 trans are the same units. If not the there are a lot of c7z06s making big power on their transmission.

I have been dreaming of a 8 speed in my c5z and really want it to be my next trans. I have not heard of anyone doing it yet but that doesn't meant it hasn't been done or cant be. I am sure the right shop or if you have the tools and experience, that it can be done. I don't think I would swap engines because the whole direct port fueling being expensive compared to port injection.

 

at this point I'm looking mostly at taking a c7 ecm and just using it to drive the tranny. It would need all of the "inputs" it's expecting so some additional wiring and duplicate sensors will be needed. I know some folks that are a bit more talented than me we get involved as I know what I know and where I'm beyond humble talents. I think the aftermarket will step up pretty soon too just like happened with the "weak" 6 spd which now is beefed up and tuned right doing well.

the 8 spd box is very beefy and launching those new Zs deep into the 8s. Now that the c7 has been out a while and the ecm hacked, hopefully I can score a bonyard rob as these trannies are not unique to the ZR-1 so they will be plentiful.

I'd love to do something very simple to start. The full boat lt5 cost is beyond my means, but not my vision!!! I'd also be curious about the ZR-1 torque tube. It's a very exotic carbon fiber tube that with some mods might work in the c5 as well.

I'll keep a sharp eye out for these pieces. Just like the CF disks, they will start showing up as more cars get unfortunately damaged. like flood cars or wrecks. The new ZR-1 really isn't rare, but getting this done might be!!!

 

Sounds cool. Anyone know the max power the 8 speed auto can handle when built?

 

the modded lt5s are putting down 1200 + and managing to make the drivetrain live.

some of these guys have swapped out the convertor and just beat on the stock drive train which to me is amazing

stock I think they rate the box at 750 ft lbs which is pretty stout. the quick shifts seem to help make the clutches live

I honestly don't have any idea what the extent of the tranny mods are as this box is very new. I'm hanging in the ZR1 section but not much techy stuff about the trans there.

 

I know someone (not well) who mentioned his 1400rwhp to be C7 is having his 8 speed transmission built to handle it. I can ask more info if you like. I personally have never heard them handle that level of power..

 

HTG make a standalone trans controller that can control almost any trans. However it will require hardwiring to the trans/solenoids etc and you'd be tuning it from scratch.
So if you're the first one....it will not be such an easy task.

Or Speartech offer engine/8L90 combos, so presumably they have some sort of control options available.

http://www.speartech.com/product_p/lt48l90-pp.htm

 

speartech I think does offer a plug and play wiring harness with stock ecm that would be a good starting point

thanks!!

 

GM got slammed with a lawsuit on the vette 8 spd autos GM complained about "deisgn defects" Well time to OWN the design huh fellows?

sounds like more than a few are having some very annoying driveability and shift control issues.

Sheesh, maybe the 10 speed with a bit of hacking would be better? GM said it wouldn't fit, well not without a few mods.

C5s are cheap and sounds like maybe the 8 speed autos will be too!!

 

keep me in mind if you do this swap, I'd be interested in buying the 4l65 swap parts