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also its a new year, lets discuss 2020 mods
if i didnt have to mess with converter/trans i would have most likely have gotten a larger turbo better suited to this combo. So i think that will probably be first on this list. most of this is in an effort to free up power/weight or just fix a few underlying issues that ive learned to live with.
I was conflicted between a "name brand" turbo (another borg warner) or a vs racing turbo. to keep all of the hot pipes the same the largest S400 frame turbos i can go with are a borg S491/102 or the VSRacing 92/110 i believe, havent been able to really find a comparison between the two but i think the borg will make more power but if i go with the VSR then the cost difference will cover new injectors anyway so i could do them both at the same time.
next new injectors ; just going to jump up to the 2200cc injectors i should have done from the start, i think with the two pumps i have at a lower psi i should be able to flow enough for some nice hp.
after that??
maybe aftermarket ECU. i was messing with a friends MS3PRO tuning software and i think im hooked on aftermarket ecu. would go with a holley dominator most likely but the software and interface was nice, tuning "on the fly" not having to load tune with every single change, and not having to worry about the entanglement of tables effecting tables effecting tables of using hptuners. dominator can also provide boost control (would be $300 minimum to control boost with something stand alone), 2-step, 4l80 (which i paid $800 for controller/harness a few months ago) would have probably been smart to look into it then but oh well.
update some of the front end steering and brake components:
i guess the 15+ trucks come with aluminum arms and spindle up front that will all bolt up to gmt900s, maybe see if the electric power steering rack will work just powered? it looks like it mounts the exact same as the gmt900 hydro rack. hydroboost would still need hydraulic pressure but i guess theres also some electric hydro pumps that are pretty common from some volvo's pumps are cheap used >$150 come with integrated reservoir and can mount anywhere. and larger brakes/wheels are still on the list but crap keeps breaking.
I'd like to swap back to the np149 transfer case out of the older escalade/denalis as it has a viscous coupler and distributes power a lot better. would have to swap the input shaft to mount up to a 4l80 (fairly common/available but expensive). the transfer cases are getting harder and harder to find and prices are starting to go up so i may grab next one i see pop up cheap. i am fairly happy with the 14bolt and 9.25ifs as bother have been trouble free for a while - would like to swap gears back down to 3.42s for lower cruise rpm. power is retarded at this point so "getting out of the hole" is no longer an issue of gear, could even go lower but still have the stock 3.42 from the rear so i would just need to buy set for the front. front cv shafts have been good for a while so i'm not going to worry about getting some made by rcv or whoever.
i think my android headunit is about dead too, wont boot up. they're relatively cheap and go obsolete after about a year anyway so its probably about time to get up with the current specs
Turbochargers don't like to pull on "a lot of gear", so going down to 3.42s would likely work out quite well, allowing the tires to bite right out of the hole. When we used to race the Buicks, guys who put 3.73 or lower gears would always wind up running slower, even when running a larger slick.
Good choice on the Holley EFI, looks much simpler and quicker from what I've read.
How about the electric steering from the Hybrids? I would imagine that it is the same or nearly so as the K2s.
Aluminum arms and spindles would help with weight transfer too, if you want it all on the rear tires... hmm...
Hurry up, we're overdue for the 3rd Annual TYF Meetup!
the 4l80 is just a brute. even without the converter moving transmission fluid for lube and cooling this thing never missed a beat for the short time i was trying to diagnose what happened.
subjective
the 6l80 worked pretty good for me for a while till i got up in the boost. good tuners have made them live in the 1k hp range ....wouldnt shift anywhere near commanded, power downshifts were a mess, even "normal" driving it would blow thru the first 4 gears and then lock the converter before 30mph. it was kind of a guessing game.
to get it to drive nice it didnt want to go WOT nice and likewise to get it to do WOT nice drivability suffered. it "should" in essence be a stronger transmission with clutch to clutch shifting and whatever else advancements over the older 4l80. but the problem more becomes the actual hard parts input/intermediate/output, drums, sprags, etc. these are all available in hardened/billet/forged aftermarket pieces for the 4l80.
I would gladly still be using the 6l80 if i didnt kill it, but at that time a "built" 6l80 was going to cost nearly as much as it was to swap to a 4l80 with abunch of billet parts.
it has a .75:1 overdrive gear to the 6l80s .67:1 so a few more rpm on the highway. 1st was nearly useless with the 6l80 WOT, the 4l80 is the complete opposite with a very tall 1st gear
also i dont know when i will ever be happy with how much hp it has
