I asked the builder and he said to put it back to stock pressure but I could leave it until after I have broken in the engine so I can get the van dyno'd and send the computer back for engine adjustments and trans at the same time. I would rather just send the computer out once if I could. I need to drive it 500 miles then get it dyno'd.

Just picked up my trans Thursday night, Frank was VERY accommodating and managed to get my trans done 3 days early so I could take advantage of an opportunity to use someone else's company vehicle and company gas card to make the 250 mile round trip (twice!). You should be very happy with your trans, I have been happy enough that I have been using Frank for 7+ years.

Tim

P.S.- Justin, thanks again for letting me use the Escape.

It's been over 3 weeks and he just got to my trans He seems like he is not up and working on all cylinders yet? I just can't wait to get it back and install it!!!! I would really like it back before the weather turns!

I wouldn't complain. It took almost 3 months for FLT to get my 4L80E to me. 3 weeks isn't that bad... yet. Course, with mine there was a quality control problem with the TCI low gear set that they had to work out. FLT went way above and beyond the call of duty on that too. Besides, better it be done right than quick, right?

What reasoning did he give for the delay?

His help was holding him up. He replied to an email I sent a couple of days ago and said that the trans was cleaned and apart and he is waiting for the parts to start building it. I would be totally cool with the time it is taking if he just said it up front...I just don't like being out of the loop on what the hold ups are! My only real concern time wise is just getting the trans back before the weather get really cold (I am working in my driveway). If it wasn't for the weather I could care less how long he had it! I have not heard from him in a couple of days? I would guess that he can build two or more transmissions a day with the system he said he has? There were about 7 transmissions in his shop when I dropped mine off almost a month ago so I don't understand the delay really but again I just want to beat mother nature!!!

Ratchet831 wrote:

What reasoning did he give for the delay?

Honeywell heaters, less than 15" tall, 1500W, ocillate, about $50.

Maybe if working in a 10x15' garage!

Makoi wrote:

Honeywell heaters, less than 15" tall, 1500W, ocillate, about $50.

Actually, if you can block out the wind, a little heater like that will make a good difference. I've used one from time to time.

It just would have been nice if I could have gotten the trans back before last weekend because it was 60+deg both days! Now i'm hearing rain and even a little north may get some snow! I am really hoping to hear from Frank tomorrow saying it's done!!!! I shouldn't have to buy a heater! Sorry...the more I think about it the more aggravated I get!

I hear you. Mother Nature's garage can be a pita. Up here, we can see 4 seasons in one day. And the summer's no joy. When it's not intermittent rain, it's overly hot and humid. Can't work past 10am, but then, you get attacked by mosquitos..

Frank just got back to me and said it should be complete by tomorrow but there were some hard parts that were blown/bad. a wire harness in the trans, the reverse drum and the rear planetary was in pieces. He asked if my trans made noise and I told him no it just goes to a neutral state after a min. of driving it. I hope it really is done tomorrow!!!!

Just got done picking up my trans!!! It seems there were a bunch of different issues with it but it is good now, and much beefier!! I bought an aluminum radiator because I noticed some stress cracks in the plastic tanks of the original one and I was not sure how much junk was in there from the blown trans. I wis it was 60deg like last week when I should have gotten it back. Instead it's snowing outside today!! WTF!!! This sucks.

Relax... it'll be miserable now but you'll get a nice story to tell. Besides, replacing 4L60Es is pretty quick and simple. I know, I've installed plenty of them. I can pull a truck into the garage for a 4L60E swap and back it out with the new transmission install in about 4 hours later now, and I work slowly. But, I've only done one 4L80E.

Tips -

1. Don't unplug the neutral switch. The wires will probably be heat-glued in anyway. This has more to do with GM not speccing the correct plastic for the heat encountered than it being a 4L60E. Just remove the switch and set it to the side.
2. Not sure if this will be the same on a van as on a truck, but on a truck you can access all the engine mount bolts by tilting the transmission back as far as it will go and use enough extensions that you can reach the bolts from the tailshaft housing for both removal and installation. Remove the top 4 bolts this way, you'll want to leave the bottom two in until you get the trans on a good jack. Speaking of which,
3. Get a good transmission jack. A floor jack is too unstable to do the job, and unless you have the gravitas to pull it down while keeping it level on a regular jack without losing the torque converter, it's too dangerous. The most common occurrence will be the trans slides back, the torque converter pulls the nose down, then slides off, then the trans tries to slip back off the trans jack onto the tailshaft housing. I know this from removing the trans the first time.
4. Use a good, strong rope across the torque converter to keep it from slipping off. That'll help keep the above from happening.
5. An awl will be needed to remove the cooling line clips. Be careful though, those clips will prove Einstein wrong because they are fully capable of flying at the speed of light, usually into a corner somewhere under a lot of heavy crap.
6. Use a trans line/cooler flush even if there is not anything actually wrong with the old trans, like puking its guts through the lines. If the trans did come apart, save yourself some heartache and replace the cooler and the lines. The lines are not expensive even new from the dealer.
7. New trans mount. Use the same material as the engine mounts, ie rubber and rubber or poly and poly.
8. Be prepared to change the height of the van for this job. I found it easier to jack my Tahoe up and down to get the trans on and off the engine, and out from under the truck, than to try and slide the trans on and off the jack while both were under the truck. It takes just a little more time this way, but it's faster. You may need to be prepared with some good 2x4s to extend the height the jack will lift, and some wheels to put under the van tires. Remember safety, when you jack a vehicle that high it's dangerous. Also don't try to jack one side all the way then do the other, as once you get the vehicle high enough on one side over the other, the van will slide off the jack. I try not to go more than 3 inches at a time. Having your vehicle slide off the jack and on to you may offend... and I cannot stress wheel chocks enough. The rear wheels will have nothing but the emergency brake to hold them in place once the driveshaft is removed.

That's all I can think of for now. Good luck with it.

Thanks for the tips!
I was able to remove the wire connector for the neutral safety switch with a little care! I haven't gotten the trans mount yet but when I do it will be a factory part. I left the van up on stands from when I removed the trans. so getting back under there will be ok. The only thing i know is I always resort to man handling things when I do something like this, I am already pretty sure I will want to tie the trans down to my jack so it's secure from falling/sliding but I know me and i will most likely get the trans on the jact with some sort of bungee cords or tie downs then I will put the converter on and triple check to make sure it is seated all of the way, then i will craw under it press the trans into position and kick my jack out of my way while getting the trans on the dowels and then getting atleast one screw as tight as i can and two ff i'm lucky! If I take my time I will be surprised!!! I am not a patient person. I have to cut the cooler line and flare the end so I can run the stacked plate cooler in line but I do not want to replace the lines as there are not miles on the van and they are in pretty good condition. I do plan on blowing some brake clean through them with compressed air. I hope the weather breaks at some point within the next two weeks so I can do this! I really want to get it in so I can get an exhaust system put on this and I can actually move this thing around with out the neighbors ears bleeding and so I can break in this engine finally (a nice long back road trip to Atlantic City and back!!!)

I am thinking about doing a remote mounted turbo for my next project! There is plenty of room under the van next to the trans so I can mount it as close to the headers as I can!! My goal is a fun family van with decent MPG. I have forged pistons but still have a cast crank so 8-12 psi should be realistic. I was looking at superchargers but there is no room in a van to mount them without major mods.

Speeder wrote:

Relax... it'll be miserable now but you'll get a nice story to tell. Besides, replacing 4L60Es is pretty quick and simple. I know, I've installed plenty of them. I can pull a truck into the garage for a 4L60E swap and back it out with the new transmission install in about 4 hours later now, and I work slowly. But, I've only done one 4L80E.

Tips -

1. Don't unplug the neutral switch. The wires will probably be heat-glued in anyway. This has more to do with GM not speccing the correct plastic for the heat encountered than it being a 4L60E. Just remove the switch and set it to the side.
2. Not sure if this will be the same on a van as on a truck, but on a truck you can access all the engine mount bolts by tilting the transmission back as far as it will go and use enough extensions that you can reach the bolts from the tailshaft housing for both removal and installation. Remove the top 4 bolts this way, you'll want to leave the bottom two in until you get the trans on a good jack. Speaking of which,
3. Get a good transmission jack. A floor jack is too unstable to do the job, and unless you have the gravitas to pull it down while keeping it level on a regular jack without losing the torque converter, it's too dangerous. The most common occurrence will be the trans slides back, the torque converter pulls the nose down, then slides off, then the trans tries to slip back off the trans jack onto the tailshaft housing. I know this from removing the trans the first time.
4. Use a good, strong rope across the torque converter to keep it from slipping off. That'll help keep the above from happening.
5. An awl will be needed to remove the cooling line clips. Be careful though, those clips will prove Einstein wrong because they are fully capable of flying at the speed of light, usually into a corner somewhere under a lot of heavy crap.
6. Use a trans line/cooler flush even if there is not anything actually wrong with the old trans, like puking its guts through the lines. If the trans did come apart, save yourself some heartache and replace the cooler and the lines. The lines are not expensive even new from the dealer.
7. New trans mount. Use the same material as the engine mounts, ie rubber and rubber or poly and poly.
8. Be prepared to change the height of the van for this job. I found it easier to jack my Tahoe up and down to get the trans on and off the engine, and out from under the truck, than to try and slide the trans on and off the jack while both were under the truck. It takes just a little more time this way, but it's faster. You may need to be prepared with some good 2x4s to extend the height the jack will lift, and some wheels to put under the van tires. Remember safety, when you jack a vehicle that high it's dangerous. Also don't try to jack one side all the way then do the other, as once you get the vehicle high enough on one side over the other, the van will slide off the jack. I try not to go more than 3 inches at a time. Having your vehicle slide off the jack and on to you may offend... and I cannot stress wheel chocks enough. The rear wheels will have nothing but the emergency brake to hold them in place once the driveshaft is removed.

That's all I can think of for now. Good luck with it.

Glad you got the trans back. Let us know how it works out, hopefully you get a good service interval out of this trans.

peace
Hog

Turbo Van!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAa7Dsq15Oc

That guy is my hero!!! I have been looking for the AWD setup with online searches and at the yards but I'm not finding anything. I don't even know if you can convert a RWD to AWD but it would be an awesome mod!!! I would love to see how that van is plumbed! Simply awesome!! thanks for the link!!!

@Hog, I hope it just goes in and runs it's ass off! I would really like to drive this thing one day!!

CrazyHoe wrote:

Turbo Van!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAa7Dsq15Oc

http://alberta.kijiji.ca/f-awd-cars-vehicles-cars-trucks-W0QQAQ5fCarBodyTypeZvanminicommaQQAQ5fCarMakeZchevroletQ2cgmcQQAQ5fCarModelZexpressQ2csavanaQQAQ5fCarTransmissionZ2QQAQ5fCarYearQ5fmaxZ2009QQAQ5fCarYearQ5fminZ2002QQCatIdZ174QQKeywordZawdQQisSearchFormZtrue

http://motors.shop.ebay.com/Cars-Trucks-/6001/i.html?Model%2520Year=2009%7C2008%7C2007%7C2006%7C2005%7C2004%7C2003%7C2002&Model=Express&Make=Chevrolet&_trkparms=65%253A12%257C39%253A1%257C72%253A5335&rt=nc&_nkw=awd&_dmpt=US_Cars_Trucks&_ipg=200&_trksid=p4506.c0.m245.l1514

I meant to just get the parts needed to convert my RWD to AWD. My wife would kick my ass if I tried to get another van after everything I have done to this one!!!

CrazyHoe wrote:

http://alberta.kijiji.ca/f-awd-cars-vehicles-cars-trucks-W0QQAQ5fCarBodyTypeZvanminicommaQQAQ5fCarMakeZchevroletQ2cgmcQQAQ5fCarModelZexpressQ2csavanaQQAQ5fCarTransmissionZ2QQAQ5fCarYearQ5fmaxZ2009QQAQ5fCarYearQ5fminZ2002QQCatIdZ174QQKeywordZawdQQisSearchFormZtrue

http://motors.shop.ebay.com/Cars-Trucks-/6001/i.html?Model%2520Year=2009%7C2008%7C2007%7C2006%7C2005%7C2004%7C2003%7C2002&Model=Express&Make=Chevrolet&_trkparms=65%253A12%257C39%253A1%257C72%253A5335&rt=nc&_nkw=awd&_dmpt=US_Cars_Trucks&_ipg=200&_trksid=p4506.c0.m245.l1514