erasedhammer
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I wanted to post a write up of just some of the parts of my 4l80e upgrade, because there were a couple things that I had questions about in the beginning that I wish I would have known. So here's my experience.
My initial setup on my vehicle was an A1 series, which meant the parking brake actuated the rear brakes, meaning it didn't need to be moved in the conversion. I also started with a 242 transfer case, eliminated some of the costs of upgrading from 218. Unfortunately I was stuck with a 6.2 engine (believe it or not the whole change over was cheaper without adding a 6.5).
Augi posted an excellent write up on the procedure, but the parts list he had was a little lacking and I, and probably a lot of others, had a lot of questions on where to get parts or if others could be substituted. I got all of my parts from epay, kascar, macmotors, and some other misc. surplus websites.
My conversion involved a 2003 4l80 with a 2001 military TCM (PROM was config for a 6.5NA engine). I used a matching A2 engine and body harness, keeping it as close to the stock configurations as possible.
Since I was sticking with my 6.2l there are two things that I did to make it all work together. Putting in a 6.5 injection pump, and installing a hummer h1 engine speed sensor (although you can put in 6.5 parts to use the original military ESS).
6.5 DB2831 5149 injection pump was the one I threw on, it has the right shaft to bolt the Throttle Position Sensor on. It also gives a HP bump to the 6.2 and it helps 'wake' the engine back up to good (enough) output.
For the engine speed sensor, there are two routes here. The original military config, or the H1 setup. Mil. config requires replacing the front of the engine (timing cover, chain and gears), there’s a kit on epay for $330. The H1 way is replacing the oil pump drive sensor (used for the STE/ICE system on the 6.2) with the sensor from an H1.
http://www.ssdieselsupply.com/p230_engine_speed_sensoroil_pump_drive.html
$400
That one right there is a drop in sensor that takes about 30 seconds to install. It feeds the TCM the right signal and pulses for the transmission to properly shift. It's around the same price as replacing the whole front end of the engine (depends on if you get those parts new or not).
The factory harnesses while a whole 'adventure' in itself but ended up being extremely useful in the end because I was able to use all the documentation in the manuals to help install and hook it up. Engine harnesses go for a couple hundred (I've seen some as low as 300, got mine for 500). The engine harness wasn't that hard to install, took me around 2 hours and can be installed while the 3l80 is still in (vehicle still drive able with the A2 harness installed, both eng and body).
The body harness was... long to say the least. Probably put 30+ hours in on the harness. Getting it out and getting back in. I'd say the hardest part is routing the whole thing, after that it's just staring at diagrams for hours trying to make out wire lead numbers.
Be careful if you want to get an A2 body harness, be careful because there are some expensive ones out there, I got mine for 850, which is a bargain, but some are going for 1500.
As for all the mechanical stuff, I had a transmission shop do the heavy lifting with taking the old tranny out and the new one in (I didn't have any equipment that would be able to uninstall and install the thing).
All the mechanical parts associated with the new transmission were easy to find on epay and were mostly widely available.
The driveshafts are a different matter. You can buy A2 ones, but I didn't mostly cause there about 3 NSNs for them and I couldn't find the right ones. I had the shop shorten the rear shaft, and the front one does NOT need to be lengthened. The spline has more than enough length on it to account for the extra space.
A small note about the transfer case fill hole. Since the whole assembly is moved back, it's almost impossible to fit a wrench on the fill hole, and even harder to fill from there. (I had the transmission shop use their fancy fluid hose and we filled it from the drain hole)
Any 4l80 1997+ has the later style cooling fittings so you have to fabricate some lines of your own. The correct fittings were easy to find, then I just hose clamped on some hose to bridge the distance from the old lines to the new fittings.
At the end of all this I had forgotten one thing: dust cover for the flywheel. The 3l80 dust cover can't be used as its too small, and my transmission did not come with one. I simply found a cast one on epay and threw that up in there.
My parts list included:
A2 Engine and Body harness
4l80e Transmission (shift linkage included)
TCM
5149 Injection Pump
6.5 TPS
H1 ESS
A2 tranny crossmember
New tranny mount
Tranny to Transfer Case adapter plate
Transfer case shift linkage
4 speed shifter
Brake light switch
'97+ cooling line fittings (plus some hose)
4l80 dipstick, dipstick tube, and seal. (all came with my transmission)
Transmission warning lamp
Transmission circuit breaker
Transmission relay
4l80 flywheel dust cover (sheet metal or cast, I recommend cast)
Whole ordeal totaled around $2500 for parts and labor. Would have been a lot more with a new engine, which is the reason I didn't choose to go with the 6.5.
60 mph is now super easy to get to, and I find myself constantly accidentally getting there. Above that, you get a lot of wind noise and road noise, so it's a fun exercise trying to get those to go away.
My initial setup on my vehicle was an A1 series, which meant the parking brake actuated the rear brakes, meaning it didn't need to be moved in the conversion. I also started with a 242 transfer case, eliminated some of the costs of upgrading from 218. Unfortunately I was stuck with a 6.2 engine (believe it or not the whole change over was cheaper without adding a 6.5).
Augi posted an excellent write up on the procedure, but the parts list he had was a little lacking and I, and probably a lot of others, had a lot of questions on where to get parts or if others could be substituted. I got all of my parts from epay, kascar, macmotors, and some other misc. surplus websites.
My conversion involved a 2003 4l80 with a 2001 military TCM (PROM was config for a 6.5NA engine). I used a matching A2 engine and body harness, keeping it as close to the stock configurations as possible.
Since I was sticking with my 6.2l there are two things that I did to make it all work together. Putting in a 6.5 injection pump, and installing a hummer h1 engine speed sensor (although you can put in 6.5 parts to use the original military ESS).
6.5 DB2831 5149 injection pump was the one I threw on, it has the right shaft to bolt the Throttle Position Sensor on. It also gives a HP bump to the 6.2 and it helps 'wake' the engine back up to good (enough) output.
For the engine speed sensor, there are two routes here. The original military config, or the H1 setup. Mil. config requires replacing the front of the engine (timing cover, chain and gears), there’s a kit on epay for $330. The H1 way is replacing the oil pump drive sensor (used for the STE/ICE system on the 6.2) with the sensor from an H1.
http://www.ssdieselsupply.com/p230_engine_speed_sensoroil_pump_drive.html
$400
That one right there is a drop in sensor that takes about 30 seconds to install. It feeds the TCM the right signal and pulses for the transmission to properly shift. It's around the same price as replacing the whole front end of the engine (depends on if you get those parts new or not).
The factory harnesses while a whole 'adventure' in itself but ended up being extremely useful in the end because I was able to use all the documentation in the manuals to help install and hook it up. Engine harnesses go for a couple hundred (I've seen some as low as 300, got mine for 500). The engine harness wasn't that hard to install, took me around 2 hours and can be installed while the 3l80 is still in (vehicle still drive able with the A2 harness installed, both eng and body).
The body harness was... long to say the least. Probably put 30+ hours in on the harness. Getting it out and getting back in. I'd say the hardest part is routing the whole thing, after that it's just staring at diagrams for hours trying to make out wire lead numbers.
Be careful if you want to get an A2 body harness, be careful because there are some expensive ones out there, I got mine for 850, which is a bargain, but some are going for 1500.
As for all the mechanical stuff, I had a transmission shop do the heavy lifting with taking the old tranny out and the new one in (I didn't have any equipment that would be able to uninstall and install the thing).
All the mechanical parts associated with the new transmission were easy to find on epay and were mostly widely available.
The driveshafts are a different matter. You can buy A2 ones, but I didn't mostly cause there about 3 NSNs for them and I couldn't find the right ones. I had the shop shorten the rear shaft, and the front one does NOT need to be lengthened. The spline has more than enough length on it to account for the extra space.
A small note about the transfer case fill hole. Since the whole assembly is moved back, it's almost impossible to fit a wrench on the fill hole, and even harder to fill from there. (I had the transmission shop use their fancy fluid hose and we filled it from the drain hole)
Any 4l80 1997+ has the later style cooling fittings so you have to fabricate some lines of your own. The correct fittings were easy to find, then I just hose clamped on some hose to bridge the distance from the old lines to the new fittings.
At the end of all this I had forgotten one thing: dust cover for the flywheel. The 3l80 dust cover can't be used as its too small, and my transmission did not come with one. I simply found a cast one on epay and threw that up in there.
My parts list included:
A2 Engine and Body harness
4l80e Transmission (shift linkage included)
TCM
5149 Injection Pump
6.5 TPS
H1 ESS
A2 tranny crossmember
New tranny mount
Tranny to Transfer Case adapter plate
Transfer case shift linkage
4 speed shifter
Brake light switch
'97+ cooling line fittings (plus some hose)
4l80 dipstick, dipstick tube, and seal. (all came with my transmission)
Transmission warning lamp
Transmission circuit breaker
Transmission relay
4l80 flywheel dust cover (sheet metal or cast, I recommend cast)
Whole ordeal totaled around $2500 for parts and labor. Would have been a lot more with a new engine, which is the reason I didn't choose to go with the 6.5.
60 mph is now super easy to get to, and I find myself constantly accidentally getting there. Above that, you get a lot of wind noise and road noise, so it's a fun exercise trying to get those to go away.
