Any Gear Vendor O/D units successfully installed in F body?

[Z28dryva]

I have been back and forth about a car that can quarter mile and be road-trip worthy. I'm not gonna open the can of worms on sticking a 6l80/90 in a 98-02 plus all the reliability complaints have steered me away from that anyways. I hear this unit from Gear Vendors actually shifts within each gear, thus making it an 8 speed. I think at that point you have eliminated the huge gaps between gears 1-2 and increased the life of the 4l60 to the point of not even wanting to convert to a 4l80. This seems well worth the money to get a multifunctional vehicle to do what you want it to and make for a seemingly bullit-proof double O/D unit without having to run a manual 6 speed.

That being said, has anyone successfully installed one in a 98-02? Any pics? Accommodations for the torque arm? How about tranny/driveshaft tunnel mods? I'm all about making stuff custom but I don't want to be the first one to do it. If anyone has any info on this, it would be greatly appreciated.

[2002ssslp]

I have heard nothing but good things about Gear vendor products. They work very well with three speed auto transmissions and should work well with a four speed trans.

[Z28dryva]

As have I but I'm just trying to get a look at one and maybe find someone with a little advice to give on what and what not to do. I've searched extensively and found nothing thus far

[2002ssslp]

As have I but I'm just trying to get a look at one and maybe find someone with a little advice to give on what and what not to do. I've searched extensively and found nothing thus far

I would call Gear Vendors and ask them.

[Firebirdjones]

I run a gear vendor behind a 400 turbo. I've never even considered running one behind a trans that is already an overdrive and frankly don't see the point so I'm not much help there. Not sure exactly what you are trying to accomplish.
Do you want a different trans all together? Not happy with the 4L60? Want more overdrive than .70? Or do you just want the gear splitting ability?

I'd call Gear Vendor and see if they even make an adapter for the 4L60 and go from there. Your next obstical will be that torque arm. One solution for that might be a tunnel mount setup and rid it from the trans all together,,,,that is providing you'll have the room for a torque arm because the Gear Vendor will add about 18" to the length of the trans,,,,,it would have to be a pretty short torque arm I'd think.
I also see some trans tunnel cutting and modifying to fit the Gear Vendor, because the trans tunnels in these 4th gens are tight tight tight. The Gear Vendor isn't a huge unit by any means, but you are going to try to fit it in the tunnel where it's already funneled down, not alot of room there.

[Z28dryva]

What I'm trying to accomplish is getting 6 speed gear ratios without T56 swapping. I want double overdrive so I can lower the rear end gears and still have the RPM's down in the 2grand-ish area. I have 3.23 gears now and pull 3000rpm at 100mph. My old 6 speed car pulled a tick over 2000rpm at 100mph and it had 3.73 gears. It's obviously not gonna be a bolt in project but I am definitely cool with doing some fabrication to get what I want. I have seen it done to an older Corvette and they had it custom made to attach the torque arm. I'm just wanting actual examples of actual F body equipped units so I can have an ideal of what all needs to be done to the car. I'm not all into trial and error and blindly bumping my way through a project.

Before you ask, the reason I don't want to actually 6 speed swap is this: 1 it's harder on all drivetrain and rear suspension components (obviously), 2 the Gear Vendors products costs less than a RPM tranny that can handle the abuse that will be dealt to it, 3 after the cost of the tranny, there's all the cost of swapping over all the 6 speed parts plus the clutch. I've already done this to 2 cars and am well aware of the cost of 6 speed swapping. I'm just wanting to go down a different road this time and this sounds like an easy solution.

[Firebirdjones]

Do you mean you cruise at a sustained 100mph?? Do you drive on the Autobaun?

When it comes to abuse that you mention, the gear vendors are bullet proof, with even the cheapest version good to about 2,000HP, but it's only as good as the transmission in front of it. You won't break the gear vendor but that 4L60E will, and even a well built 4L60 to handle the abuse will set you back $2,000 or more, plus the gear vendor unit at another $2500, then a custom drive shaft is another $3-$500, and the other odds and ends you'll need fabbing a torque arm and a mount for it.

It's a cool idea for sure, but I honestly don't see this as a cheap swap by any means. You could technically swap a 6 speed in there cheaper (and easier) if you found a donor car and have more overdrive (donors are out there if you really want one). Since the fact that all 4th gens already have an overdrive trans as well, It's all these reasons why I don't think you'll find someone that's done a swap like this in a 4th gen. But I'd sure love to hear how it turns out.

Give Gear Vendor a call. See if they even make the adapter, one that will keep the reluctor wheel on the 4L60. It's possible someone has adapted it in a different vehicle, but in most of my experience I've only seen them swapped on non overdrive style transmissions.

[Z28dryva]

They sell their units with the type of speedo that's on the tranny it's attaching to. They have units for 700R4, 4l60e and 4l80e with all the different tailhousing bolt patterns and they have the electronic speedo in there as well so obviously I'm not the only one to think of putting an O/D on and O/D. They even recommend running the tranny in 3rd with their O/D unit activated so it doesn't tear up the week O/D of the tranny under full throttle. No I don't constantly run 100 but I'd like the option to. My tranny was built by the previous owner and has 0 issues so this is one reason I want to keep it auto. I'm not doing another 6 speed swap from another donor car because both of the donor trannys were complete piles of shit. I still have one sitting in my shop that has absolutely no 3rd gear and it would cost more to fix it than it would to find another used one. I had to use the midplate and bellhousing from it to use a LT1 tranny in my last car. I had no issues with that but the car was completely stock down to the paper air filter. I'll give them a call tomorrow and see if they have heard anything about putting their units in 4th gens with O/D trannys

[35th-ANV-SS]

Do you mean you cruise at a sustained 100mph?? Do you drive on the Autobaun?

Apparently

[Z28dryva]

Actually, I took a 500 mile trip to San Antonio last summer in my 6 speed converted car and averaged 85-95 mph most of the way there but sarcasm is always appreciated........

[Z28dryva]

And by the way, my cousin is in the Air Force and has actually had his 6 speed car on the Autobaun and showing him up with an auto would be awesome in my opinion. Sorry if I don't care for 100-yard-dash mobiles, I just think a fast car should actually be fast, not just get going fast

[Firebirdjones]

They sell their units with the type of speedo that's on the tranny it's attaching to. They have units for 700R4, 4l60e and 4l80e with all the different tailhousing bolt patterns and they have the electronic speedo in there as well so obviously I'm not the only one to think of putting an O/D on and O/D. They even recommend running the tranny in 3rd with their O/D unit activated so it doesn't tear up the week O/D of the tranny under full throttle.

When I mentioned the VSS adapter, I was refering to the computer connection that not only runs the speedo, but it's also necessary for the computer to control shifts. Some companies just use a simple conversion box which solves the electric speedo issue, but doesn't solve the computer control issue. Just something to keep in mind.

On the other note, if they are recommending to run their overdrive while you keep the transmission in 3rd, then that is killing what you are trying to accomplish. You won't have your double overdrive that way and hence, your cruise RPM won't change. As a matter of fact, it will be higher, because the Gear Vendor only offers about a 25% reduction,,,,where as with the .70 overdrive in the 4L60E you are getting a 30% reduction.
Sounds like they don't want this thing under power with the overdrive in the trans engaged at the same time, and that shoots this idea in the foot before it even gets off the ground.

[Firebirdjones]

Actually, I took a 500 mile trip to San Antonio last summer in my 6 speed converted car and averaged 85-95 mph most of the way there but sarcasm is always appreciated........

Actually my Autobaun question was a serious one, because we do have members here that live there and this subject does come up from time to time.

Wow, are you always in a hurry?

[Z28dryva]

They recommend running it 3rd over for hard acceleration. 4th over is used as an economy gear the same a 6th is in the T56. The tranny would shift out of 4th over before it would have an issue overloading. No they don't want you putting a load on the tranny's od because it's weak as hell. I don't want to accelerate in 4th as most people don't.
I already called them and they said they do one a week. They usually do 400 swaps but the 60e is 100% doable. The tunnel doesn't have to be modded and the only thing need to run the unit is a rearward crossmember mounted torque arm and of course the custom driveshaft. I'd have to shift the unit manually as well as my tranny to run the gear splitting option but the car will shift correctly on it's own with the stock VSS running on the unit instead of the tranny

[Z28dryva]

Actually my Autobaun question was a serious one, because we do have members here that live there and this subject does come up from time to time.

Wow, are you always in a hurry?

I have no intentions of taking my car over seas but yes, I do like to go fast often and I was taking my vacation in San Antonio in the middle of summer driving all night long and wanting to get to the hotel ASAP. I took an 8 hour trip to just under 6 and barely used $150 in gas, there and back, and racing a few people while I was down there.

[Firebirdjones]

They recommend running it 3rd over for hard acceleration. 4th over is used as an economy gear the same a 6th is in the T56. The tranny would shift out of 4th over before it would have an issue overloading. No they don't want you putting a load on the tranny's od because it's weak as hell. I don't want to accelerate in 4th as most people don't.
I already called them and they said they do one a week. They usually do 400 swaps but the 60e is 100% doable. The tunnel doesn't have to be modded and the only thing need to run the unit is a rearward crossmember mounted torque arm and of course the custom driveshaft. I'd have to shift the unit manually as well as my tranny to run the gear splitting option but the car will shift correctly on it's own with the stock VSS running on the unit instead of the tranny

Sounds like a plan then. Hope it works out.

[Z28dryva]

Sounds like a plan then. Hope it works out.

When I get it done, I will post pics

[35th-ANV-SS]

Sounds like a plan then. Hope it works out.

When I get it done, I will post pics

Please do. Don't think I recall anyone else here ever posting pics of this.

[Z28dryva]

Please do. Don't think I recall anyone else here ever posting pics of this.

They haven't. That's the reason for me creating this thread

[Chumbini]

Any updates ? I'm seriously considering doing this as wrll