[Witness]

If the control arms are still on the car? Freeze the new bushings before pressing them in.
I'd use some Superlube if not a better lube even then.
For the stock type control arm bushings? I'd polish them a bit before install.
They tend to be a bit rough from the manufacturing process.

 

[Witness]

Finishing up some stuff to get the transmission I want.
Going to be a RWD 4L60-E
Probably get one from a V8 as they are a dime a dozen.
Now I am putting a FWD engine in as a RWD. How will that bolting up work you might ask.
I'll grab the bell housing from a 3.8 V6 4L60-E and just swap them.

You might say "Just buy a 3.8 tranny!" Well. I've dealt with Scrap yards for years.
IF I walk in asking for that 3.8 tranny? they are gonna burn me good knowing I want it.
Asking for any old 4L60-E? I get a good price.
I hit a different yard and just want the bell housing? I'll get a better price since they will have wasted trannys they can't sell and anything is better then scrap.

 

[First opel 1981]

Finishing up some stuff to get the transmission I want.
Going to be a RWD 4L60-E
Probably get one from a V8 as they are a dime a dozen.
Now I am putting a FWD engine in as a RWD. How will that bolting up work you might ask.
I'll grab the bell housing from a 3.8 V6 4L60-E and just swap them.

You might say "Just buy a 3.8 tranny!" Well. I've dealt with Scrap yards for years.
IF I walk in asking for that 3.8 tranny? they are gonna burn me good knowing I want it.
Asking for any old 4L60-E? I get a good price.
I hit a different yard and just want the bell housing? I'll get a better price since they will have wasted trannys they can't sell and anything is better then scrap.

Pick n pull is your friend.
ALL parts have a fixed price. Doesn't matter what they came from.

 

[Witness]

No pick and pull in my area.
One thing I do have is years of past with several of the remaining yards.
My Father and I use to rebuild trannys for them.

 

[First opel 1981]

No pick and pull in my area.
One thing I do have is years of past with several of the remaining yards.
My Father and I use to rebuild trannys for them.

With no pick n pull, it's good to be connected.

 

[Witness]

I'm already talking to them to trade what's left of the Grand Am GT for other parts after I strip what I want.
The FWD tranny is worth more then a RWD tranny to them right now.
And since I don't need a good working tranny? They are happy to deal.
I have all the stuff to rebuild the tranny. I actually gathered that for a Tahoe that I never completed.

 

[LynnB]

Around here 4L60E transmissions are cheap. A few years ago I got a "goodwrench" reman unit that was only 6 months old out of a wrecked Suburban for $300. Used it in my 68 El Camino to replace the original powerglide, which required no mods to the tunnel. Can't imagine trying to cram that into a GT.
The stand alone controller ($600) and the speedo cable driver ($300) cost triple the initial investment. But it is fully programmable and works flawlessly.

 

[Witness]

I'm going to put the short final drive shaft from a 4 wheel drive unit in the trans.
The after market tail housing has no speedo hole but I'll use GPS for that.
The speedo in my work truck is 5 miles per hour off according to my GPS but I've learned to go by RPM on the tach now. At 1500 RPM in 5th gear I'm doing about 67 MPH.

 

[LynnB]

My trans has no speedo hole or any way to drive a mechanical speedometer.
I considered a gps speedo, but wanted to keep my dash looking original, so went with a box that converts the trans speed signal to mechanical rotation.
Cool thing is that it is programable. So when I changed the rear axle, just reprogram. If I change rear tire size, same thing applies. Speedo is dead nuts on.

 

[Howell05]

Lynn - What converter did you go with?

 

[LynnB]

Dakota digital. I think it was $300 and included a short cable from the box to my speedo.

 

[Witness]

Ordered the MPVI2 from HP Tuners.
That will let me play with the ECM from the Grand Am GT,

 

[Witness]

Got stuff coming to build a Bench programming set up.
Just playing with the various software I have now I've learned a lot!
Also have a few PCM's from different cars to just play around with once the Bench unit is built.

 

[V6Opel]

Jeff, you are very talented! So now can you make my minivan's engine produce more power! LOL

 

[Witness]

Give me the make, model, engine and year and I'll check into it.

Generally you won't gain massive HP on a stock engine.
But there are a ton of things you can do to use what HP it has to your advantage.
Some of the settings for the transmission can be beefed up to plant the RW HP better.
Back in the pre-electronic tranny days we used kits to adjust stuff like that.
B&M, TransPack, and others.

 

[Witness]

One thing that always gets me is when someone tells me they did 130 MPH in their stock car with a stock computer.
They don't have a clue that there is a fuel cut off set for a specific MPH!

Not to mention other settings to keep your speed down!
I'm able to change all that stuff now.

 

[Witness]

Most of the stuff to play with the ECU's is here.
I have a ECU from Flea Bay to play with once I build the bench tuner.
Just need the OBD II port I ordered.
I'll mess with the extra ECU and plug it into the Grand Am GT1 for testing when all this weather crap goes away!