The Calm Before the Storm - '04 SSS build

[Downeast Johnny]

Zippy has mine tuned to somewhere around 62 - 6400 as I can't quite tell from my video. The reason I asked was because a couple of dudes with '04 Sierra Denali's were commenting on my build thread on PTnet saying 6400 is waaay to high to rev my stock motor. I told them I trusted Zippy's tuning since he's been tuning these trucks for 10+ yrs. Just thought I'd get some advice from over here on this.

 

Give Zippy a call. I'm sure he's got that covered in the tune but It would be worth the peace of mind.

[rcapone]

Do you have the 2300 yet?

Not yet, I'll be ordering it next month and will hopefully have it installed sometime in April.

[rcapone]

Give Zippy a call. I'm sure he's got that covered in the tune but It would be worth the peace of mind.

Yeah, I really didn't want to bother him because I know he's so busy...I trust his tuning.

[2bfast]

Spinning a stock motor to 6400 or higher even 6600 isnt a big deal. The problem I see is if you benefit from spinning it that high I.E injector duty cycle, ect.

 

Randy, you will hear all sorts of opinions on forums. Specially on PT.net.

[rcapone]

Thanks Brian. Yeah, just like onebadmax said - know it all slap dicks are everywhere! Just because our RMP gauge only goes up to 6k doesn't mean 6k is the redline or else Chevy would have indicated red marks on the gauge to show where redline starts - at least that's the way I see it, AND there's probably not too many people around that know these trucks better than Mike anyway.

[kcsilveradoss]

Thanks Brian. Yeah, just like onebadmax said - know it all slap dicks are everywhere! Just because our RMP gauge only goes up to 6k doesn't mean 6k is the redline or else Chevy would have indicated red marks on the gauge to show where redline starts - at least that's the way I see it, AND there aren't any people around that know these trucks better than Mike anyway.

 

Fix't

[rcapone]

lol, nice touch Shawn...thanks!

[D1SCSS]

Thanks Brian. Yeah, just like onebadmax said - know it all slap dicks are everywhere! Just because our RMP gauge only goes up to 6k doesn't mean 6k is the redline or else Chevy would have indicated red marks on the gauge to show where redline starts - at least that's the way I see it, AND there's probably not too many people around that know these trucks better than Mike anyway.

What's a RMP gauge????? ;-)

[rcapone]

[JC03SS]

I have one but she goes to 7k woot woot. And I use every bit of it

[rcapone]

So we had a 70deg. day on Tuesday, took the day off work and decided to detail the truck and put a few miles on the new Trans. Something doesn't feel right, or maybe it's just me because I've never had a high performance converter...am I supposed to feel a jerk when the converter locks up?

 

From a dead stop - I stomp on it and it almost feels like it's slipping for a second or two then a very, very soft shift from 1 - 2 (most definitely not what I would expect from what's supposed to be a high performance trans. as the shift actually feels softer than my bone stock '07 Z71 classic), then around 97 mph I hit third and it shifts very firm, within 1 second after the shift, I feel another pretty firm jerk (which I think is the converter locking up). Is that normal? Also, I'm feeling jerk from what I think is a converter lockup when driving semi-normally around 2200 - 2400 rpm. So other than the "hurkey jerkey" feeling, everything else seems to be okay - trans. temp. is right around 150.

 

One other thing, and it only happened one time - Cruising on the highway, I slow down to around 45, stomp on it, get a downshift, rpms shot up to around 6k but felt like the trans. was slipping pretty bad so I let off of it because rpms kept climbing and the truck wasn't accelerating like it should.

 

I took her out the other morning to go to breakfast and noticed that slip again from a dig pulling out of my neighborhood. Mashed the throttle down and there was at least a full second delay where the RPMs go way up but the truck literally didn't move. To a novice like me, it still definitely felt like the trans. was slipping. So later that day I hooked up my hp tuning software and made a log file that included several different acceleration levels outta the hole. When looking at the injector and RPMs on the tuner screen, you see them shoot to 100% (or there about) but at that exact moment on the screen the MPH is zero for about 1/4" then it catches and starts to accelerate gradually.

 

Then today I made another file because I wanted to see if it was doing the same thing it did that one other time as mentioned above where it down shifted into first gear and I felt a pretty bad slip. So I did a 40 roll, let it shift into overdrive, then mashed the throttle - RPMs shot up to 5 - 6k and it did the exact same thing as before - the truck definitely felt like it was slipping pretty bad as it shifted all the way down into 1st gear and barely accelerated at all.

 

Does this sound like it could possibly be a bad 1st gear to anyone?

[Brentd]

 

 

_{Yeah, learning to open my wallet wider and wider! Thanks...in all seriousness though, I have learned quite a lot with this 80 swap. When I first decided to mod out this truck, I hadn't even considered doing any of the work myself since I have little to no experience. BUT, thanks to you guys who suggested doing the work myself, I was able to spend more money on better parts to stay within my budget. Plus, since I did do the work myself and my Brother (who's a Master Tech. for Chevy) checked everything I did, I know it's done right - and one of my biggest fears was hiring a tech./speed shop to do all the work, then cut corners that I would never know about until something failed. AND could never have done this without this site and the great suggestions from everyone who's commented and made suggestions, so thanks!}

Cant comment on the slipping, not a trans expert by any means, but I remember when you first came one here with your budget question and my first pointer was to maximize your budget by doing AS MUCH as you could yourself and not to be afraid to try because you could get more bang for your buck and so that at some point you would be able to type the above paragraph. I think I can speak for most everyone when I say, " Congratulations on beginning a journey that is both rewarding, positive, fun, (spendy as ****), completely worth while!" That truck is going to become more than the sum of its parts, for every person on this board their truck has become their means of expression, their outlet, the stone they carve, and the way they show that real men still do sh*t themselves. To much in life has become drive-thru convenienced, quickly thrown together, marginally accepted as THE way to do things. It is important for men to promote amongst each other the difficult path to individual perfection. We should push each other to achieve, even if it means hard work and sacrifice. You are doing a good, old school, bitchin job. Keep building it and tearing it up and building it some more till you get it where you want it. This build, even though its early in the process deserves to be here for people to see when they read builds like Dannys Ferd or Brians Super Polished SS or the Crazy Canadian RCSB With 22.5 steelies that I literally would kill for. Keep it up and hurry up and dump some air in that motor lol.

[rcapone]

Thanks Brent! I remember you're the one who suggested I do this work myself, so thanks for that because it really hadn't even entered my mind at that time! The way I chose to do my 80 swap ended up costing me waaay more than I originally thought, then tack on another grand or more if I would have hired a shop to do it for me and I wouldn't have had enough in my 15k budget to do the blower. In fact, I spent so much money on this first phase that I'm cutting it very close as it is now!

 

Overall, doing the swap myself has been very rewarding AND just in case this isn't a tune issue (which I'm currently trying to sort out now) and I do have to pull the Trans. back out because of a bad Converter or Clutch, gear, whatever, I'll be able to do it very easily - although I won't be happy about it because of this...

 

FLT has your convertor two right

 

 

They had yank send my convertor to them to dyno the two together before shipping it to me that's why I asked

 

 

oh, Chuck never asked for me to send him the converter. I told him I was getting a Circle D too.

 

 

Yank sent it to him chuck told me to have them send it to him not sure what has changed since last year it is a different transmission maybe but I would've thought it would be the same deal.

 

...anyway, it is what it is no matter what's going on. I'm the one who signed up for this and understand shit happens that I'll have to deal with to get her running like she should.

 

I will say this - I'm happy I didn't spend the first part of my budget on the blower first THEN the 80 swap. If I did do the build that way, my chances of doing damage to whatever's currently wrong would have been much greater because of all the power behind it.

[ric]

Youll be alright man, cant be nothing major, the only thing that sucks is getting the trans back down if anything. Just take your time dont rush things. Shes coming along great, this is what makes builds fun, the fact that youre doing whatever it takes to have your truck running at its best. Just keep us posted and dont give up on it

[Brentd]

Well man, I really hope you get the trans situation sorted. The one side effect of high performance parts and vehicles that often is overlooked is a rather tedious "test and tune" process. It will get there, you are learning a lot! That trans is damn near bullet proof and that is great but remember, at the end of the day, the converter is going to be what makes you love it or hate it right now (4l80's are considered go-to transmissions for horsepower numbers starting at the 650 mark, and built 65/70's are trusted up to 650 and used becuase of less parasitic loss). You arent dumping near the power to that trans that it is built for so dont be dissapointed if you arent seeing too much. The right converter should help battle through some of the parasitic loss by increasing efficiency, and shift patterns should also be better so it should be a lil quicker, but before you get upset about anything just keep telling yourself you havent even put any stank on it yet, all you have done is beefed it up to handle the power so far. Once the boost comes on, then that 80 is going to shine, I am sure you spec'd the converter with a blower in the equation so peak power and torque numbers are well under what they should be for the stall right now, once the power band matches the converter stall rating, you will not be able to get rid of the grin.