Speedball

Left hip bothering me with my 1996 LT4 ....Slow traffic becomes a killer and with 86,000 miles on the speedo a swap to the GM auto with O/D seems like a good idea. However, a friend had it done and the car has been in and out of the shop the last 3-4years with all kinds of related problems. The limited availability of a dual mass clutch (if at all) is another reason for this thinking....Any ideas???

383vett

A lot of members here will tell you to swap out cars before trannies. Decades ago, I swapped my 4+3 to a 700r4 and now a 4l60e for drag racing purposes. I did that in my garage on jackstands. Actually with a FSM it wasn't bad. All the parts were GM and probably more available then vs now. I use a TCI computer to control the 4l60e but you might be able to use you ecm or one from an auto to control your 4l60e. If you like the car, I say go for it. It also depends on who is doing the work and whether he's good or not.

drcook

with the right/correct wiring harnesses, purchasing a Jet interface box, then looking at a base file for a 1996 LT1 (which I have, and the file, which I would share) the appropriate changes can be made to the LT4's ecm/tables to control the transmission. so far I have not found any missing tables. eventually I will go through them table by table to actually see all the differences.

however, doing it this way will add the expense of the Jet interface and a laptop suitable/dependable to run it or someone with a box that will sacrifice 1 tunable VIN (out of the 4) or purchase 1 for someone to change the LT4 with.

offsetting the expense would be selling the M6 trans.

besides the transmission, a way to cool the trans, or a different radiator, a longer drive shaft, redrilled C-beam all will need to be considered.

PatternDayTrader

My vote is sell the car and buy what you want. So many little problems come with what you are considering that its really difficult to think you will have a rock solid reliable car when you are finished. I'm not saying it cant be done but the effort required is probably not worth it. Plus, I'm sure you could find someone that would be willing to just trade cars.

mtwoolford

It sounds like a good idea...but not in California, no no, not in California

Hot Rod Roy

Your personal info doesn't give us any clue where you're located. I see one reference to LA. Is that Los Angeles, Louisiana, or Lake Arrowhead? Please fill us in by completing your personal info section.

This would be an expensive and time consuming modification. I agree that you'd be better of by finding another car, even though loosing that LT4 engine would be painful! If you are in CA, you'll have major problems!

I really like my '84 with a nice 357"/auto. I'd be willing to talk about a swap, if you're interested in a nice "upgrade".

I like to chase down ZR-1's on curvy mountain roads! (Straights, not so much).

WVZR-1

Drive-shaft only requires the 4L60E slip-yoke, the c-beam requires nothing. I've never looked but I would doubt that when built GM used different radiators for the MT, a person would need to confirm there's plugs in the RH tank but I'd look before the buy of another.

California is certainly a NO - NO - NO

I'd want a 'donor car' and not pieces randomly purchased,

A DIY for a very talented person possible. A 'for hire'? Ain't NO WAY!!

I'd buy a car! A very nice LT4 should sell easily, a well maintained maybe slightly modified car even easier.

drcook

Would there not be the reverse problems of swapping a D44 into an auto car when swapping and auto into a manual car ?

http://www.joby.se/corvette/mods/2001-0X11_diff/

When this swap was done, the C-beam had to be redrilled as the holes were placed wrong for the C-beam to just bolt up. Also as shown in this swap, the original D36 equipped car's driveshaft was long, wouldn't the driveshaft then be short ?

OR does the difference stack up because the snout of the Dana 36 is different length than the D44 ? and the relative position of the mounting holes on the 4L60-E fall into the same spot as the M6 assembly stack up ?

is the dimension from the engine block to the C-beam mounting holes the same on a 4L60-E as it would be on a bellhousing/ZF6 trans combination ? If so, then I would agree (and learned something today) that the C-beam would be fine. Same as with the driveshaft length. (the engine block face is the locating plane and the starting point for the dimensional requirements).

meaning the overall length of a 4l60-E is the same as a ZF6 trans/bellhousing.

Krusty84

Sell it and buy an auto. If you have hip problems keeping you from pushing the clutch pedal I assume you aren't going to be crawling under your LT4 car swapping out transmissions.

If you are dead set on C4 styling, sell your premium LT4 car and buy a nice LT1 auto and do a cam and or head swap. I figure it will be a wash or only a grand or two to end up with the same results.