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Subjective Sensibility

A handshake agreement and a 2500 mile drive later, I have my work cut out for me. The goal is a reliable camping and hunting truck with good off road capability and potential for a daily driver.
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If you had a batch of pre-cut parts and you were a competent welder (which I am really not) you could whip these out pretty fast. I did have to grind off the heads of the bolts on one side so the square tube could fit between them though. Not much to do about that besides using thinner tube which would probably work fine. This was all scrap materials I had on hand.

Even better, if you left the front hole attached to the bottom plate during laser/water cutting and just bent it upward you wouldn't have to worry about tacking the tiny piece in place and welding all around it.

As for economics, i'd have readily paid $50 for a set of these in the raw. But I imagine i'm one of maybe a few customers per year that would find themselves in this exact predicament.
 
After seeing the cost of electronics skyrocketing, the idea of swapping to a 4l80e and EFI and having to add on a TCM of any kind are looking harsh. Pro-flo 4 systems are $2500-$2800 and the edelbrock TCM is over $800. I might have a line on a 4l80e that is a great candidate for a quick refresh, but i'd be in it $1,000 for an overhaul kit and at very least $500 for a standalone TCM. If i'm lucky the core will be under $500 at auction.

The idea of seeking out an NV4500 and some pedals is looking better and better.
 
Just found this for sale on facebook but the price of $1350 seems pretty steep.

Chevy NV4500, 4x4, just pulled from a driving truck. Works good. this is earlier transmission with lower ratio first gear, ideal for off road use
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Polymath said:
Just found this for sale on facebook but the price of $1350 seems pretty steep
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1350 maple leaves or bald eagles? Sounds a little steep for bald eagles but about average for maple leaves if I convert local prices at 1:1.39 ratio and the average prices in Seattle are $1000-1200 for an NV4500 transmission.
 
That's United dollary-doos.

After reading some threads on the 3 pedal conversion I feel like any money I might save over a 4l80e with tcm would be subsidized by the added time and cost of the myriad manual conversion parts plus fab work.

Le sigh. Just daydreaming some more... Maybe I will be able to drive this thing some day.
 
Polymath said:
Just found this for sale on facebook but the price of $1350 seems pretty steep.


View attachment 502797
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You can get a fully rebuilt nv4500 for $1350
You do need a core though which I think is $250.
I was lucky to buy one cheap a couple of years ago then bought a couple of trucks cheap tonpart out that had good ones in them, one actually had a rebuilt and it only had a few miles on it.
 
Well, I paid $170 for that 4l80e core above. I'll probably be in it another $800-$1300 for parts to completely overhaul it by the time i'm done.

The BBC is still just an empty block with a rotating assembly waiting to get installed. I have a few other parts here and there but I lack the heads, cam, lifters, rockers, oil pan, and pump at the least. I can put a quadrajet on the old intake I have for it and it'll work fine for now, but i'll still need a TCM regardless of if I go EFI or not. I'll sort that out when the time comes. Might be a couple years at this rate.
 
Polymath said:
Well, I paid $170 for that 4l80e core above. I'll probably be in it another $800-$1300 for parts to completely overhaul it by the time i'm done.

The BBC is still just an empty block with a rotating assembly waiting to get installed. I have a few other parts here and there but I lack the heads, cam, lifters, rockers, oil pan, and pump at the least. I can put a quadrajet on the old intake I have for it and it'll work fine for now, but i'll still need a TCM regardless of if I go EFI or not. I'll sort that out when the time comes. Might be a couple years at this rate.
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Wire it for full manual for free until you can get a TCM.

4L80Ewiring | Volcano Manifolds

www.volcanomanifolds.com www.volcanomanifolds.com

Also available here...

How to wire a 4L80E transmission for manual shifting without a controller

The GM 4L80E transmission was produced from 1991 - 2009 in factory vehicles, they still sell it from GMPP. However, they changed the connector in 1993, this connector is from 1993 on. The service manuals state the older vehicles have to be...
ck5.com ck5.com
 
I have considered that as a stop gap, but I think I would get tired of manual column shifting REALLY fast. All in good time though. Still need to get this 14BFF axle under the car before I have room to mess with either the BBC or the 4l80e. I thought I had all the parts but came up missing the spring plates. Otherwise I just have to paint the cover and start putting it all together and hope my e-brake adapters work.
 
Put the mill to use and elongated the holes on the original spring plates so they now fit the larger ubolts. Also got the diff cover painted this evening.

Tomorrow is all about the camper though. It gets a maiden voyage to the top of a mountain later this month so I have a bit more prep work to do.
 
imiceman44 said:
You can get a fully rebuilt nv4500 for $1350
You do need a core though which I think is $250.
I was lucky to buy one cheap a couple of years ago then bought a couple of trucks cheap tonpart out that had good ones in them, one actually had a rebuilt and it only had a few miles on it.
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If you can get those prices, i’ll order one right now.
 
Well, the axle is in there. Not all snugged down yet but it's mounted and I started getting the parking brakes sorted out. The driver side cable is seized shut so that'll have to get replaced, but the passenger side went in just fine. Had let out 1.5 to 2 inches of slack from the adjuster bolt though. Really hoping the new driver side cable will work out okay since there isn't the same sort of adjuster for that one. If not, I'll need to fashion up a longer connector before the bracket where they split or something just to gain those extra inches.

1746408490320.png
 
EBrakes are done. I was able to run the adjuster nut ALL the way out and it allowed the cables just enough slack to work. I was wrong about it not adjusting both sides. I just didn't understand all the engineering behind the numerous fixed and non-fixed points of contact on the cables. So not I have the brakes assembled and axle shafts in. I need to zip off the tops of the ubolts and torq those down, put a few retaining brackets back on there, add fluid to the diff, then I can get the tires back on it!
 
Polymath said:
I have considered that as a stop gap, but I think I would get tired of manual column shifting REALLY fast. All in good time though. Still need to get this 14BFF axle under the car before I have room to mess with either the BBC or the 4l80e. I thought I had all the parts but came up missing the spring plates. Otherwise I just have to paint the cover and start putting it all together and hope my e-brake adapters work.
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You'd be surprised how easy it is with a torque converter. I did it for nearly ten years, and to be honest, often I would just leave it in 3rd and not even shift. The engine didn't care if you are just cruising around. My friends didn't believe me until they rode with me and zero shifting even between stop lights. That was with a 388 SBC, a good big block wouldn't care either as long as the torque converter matches the combo. Just go easy on it if you do that, high load, low speed, in high gear could create a lot of heat. But just cruising, it's not a problem.

Another option is to wire it for full manual, put in OD, and shift the 4 gears with 2 or 3 electrical switches, you can wire it to work that way. You can add a switch for TCC lockup too.

If you need help with that let me know.
 
First time pulling motor/trans/tcase all out as one unit. The hood definitely got in they way. In any case, this 350/700r4 is going to slide right under the blazer over the winter. Money just isn't there to finish the BBC build and this rusty old burb pretty well never got used. So I decided i'd rather scrap it and use the parts to get the blazer on the road.

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So, as I get into the "put shit back together and get it to move on its own" phase, I am getting a bit stumped by the drive shaft. I put in the 14BFF which I know sticks out an inch or so more than the factory axle, meaning I would either need a shorter drive shaft, or a lift to increase the distance back to the length of the factory drive shaft. What I cannot seem to locate is how much lift it would take to give me back that space I took up with the axle swap.

I am rather hoping that 2-3" is enough, as that is all I wanted to lift it anyway. Any more and I can't drive into my garage on 33" tires. Anyone happen to have that nugget of wisdom sitting in their noggin? I'd rather not buy a new drive shaft now and another one later if I can avoid it by putting that money toward the inevitable lift.
 
Polymath said:
So, as I get into the "put shit back together and get it to move on its own" phase, I am getting a bit stumped by the drive shaft. I put in the 14BFF which I know sticks out an inch or so more than the factory axle, meaning I would either need a shorter drive shaft, or a lift to increase the distance back to the length of the factory drive shaft. What I cannot seem to locate is how much lift it would take to give me back that space I took up with the axle swap.

I am rather hoping that 2-3" is enough, as that is all I wanted to lift it anyway. Any more and I can't drive into my garage on 33" tires. Anyone happen to have that nugget of wisdom sitting in their noggin? I'd rather not buy a new drive shaft now and another one later if I can avoid it by putting that money toward the inevitable lift.
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Put the lift you want in, then measure. You won't need a new driveshaft if the current one is a little long, you would only need to have it shortened and balanced at a driveline shop.
 
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