Building a monster

redline customs

Original poster
Member
Aug 25, 2016
171
northwest arkansas
Sup guys, been a while since i been on. Someof you may remember me. I had an 03 tb with the 4.2. Long story short, i shattered a rod in the original motor(found about 30 pieces of the rod in the oil pan) and in the process destroyed the oil pan, rod(of course), crankshaft cradle, as well as completely ruined all oil galleries with the rod particles. Eventually found out that the problem was one of the bolts on the #1 cylinder main cap had begun to work itself out and was grinding into the cradle. Eventually it worked out enough that it snapped the bolt in half, taking the rod with it. If you remember me then you remember the posts i made about the noise i was hearing.(will post links to the youtube vids later).
After this happened, i went out,got a new(used) motor, dropped it in and started building her up. Keep in mind that my trailblazer(named the reaper) was built for show and "fool racing"(sounds and looks faster than it is).
After i built on it for a while, my pcm crapped out on me and i ended up having to get rid of it.
Now im coming back into a little more tim and am sourcing a new tb at this point. This one is going to be built more for speed(while still looking and sounding good) than just for show. With that in mind, i do have a general idea with what i want done, while needing help with the specifics.
Im thinking about a stage 3 shift kit with a tune for full manual shifting. This i am planning to accomplish with a ratchet shifter(winters makes an electric shifter with a plug and play harness for the 4l60e). My question with this is, i have planned to swap and older sbc and eliminate the pcm alltogether. With this shifter, will i be able to completely eliminate the computer in the car altogether or will i still have to utilize the pcm for transmission control(if i stay with this trans). I know i wont be able to control the line pressures, but my understanding is that this does nothing more than increase the feel of the shift and wont actually hurt the transmission. Are there another "supporting" mods i should consider for the transmission? I know absolutely nothing about trans(dont worry im not doing tranny work myself) but kind of want to get an idea of whats needed before i take it to my guy.
As far as interior goes, i already have it pretty much planned. Im ripping all the interior out including seats, center console, dash etc. Pretty much everything except the headliner and carpet. While everything is out, i will be building a full rollcage(planning for 8 point) that goes all the way up against the firewall(ties in against firewall, behind front seat locations, behind rear seat locations and at the hatch). After cage is built, the dash will be built onto it, so that the cage is basically the mounting point for the entire dash(with exceptions where needed). The front and rear seats will be replaced with racing buckets(making it a four seater) with x braces and harness bars behind each set of seats as well as from the "c" hoop to the "d" hoop(length ways not laterally). 6 point harnesses on each seat.
The dash will be extended and molded into the center console which will be one piece extending in between the front and rear seats and will be molded into the full trunk sub box. Center console will house a tablet for music as well as gps etc. Around where the stock head unit sits, as wells as guages, toggle switches for door poppers and windows, a couple of cup holders, and usb ports. Behind front seats will be dvd players(angled toward each seat) with the audio being send to a small set of speakers mounted in the headrest of each seat. Will also have a couple of cupholders and usb ports there too.
Front overhead console will house the toggle switches and key switch for ignition, as well as a single din headunti with aux cord coming from the tablet(basically just using as a preamp and occasionally fm). Trying to decide if i want to custom make a set of climate controls to go in there also(will have to do research and fiddle around to see if this feasible of course).
Exterior is still in the air. Thinking about shaving the doors, hatch, and gas door and mounting the filler neck somewhere less conspicuous. Possibly lambo doors, eventually a split hood, nice rims etc.
Engine, im not totally sure about. There seems to be very limited aftermarket support for the 4.2. If i can find a one with a 5.3, then that will probably open a few doors. Tunes pretty much a given. Any ideas as far as decent bang for buck performance adders for the 4.2?
Sorry for the long post, just trying to get my ideas out there and maybe see if any of you guys have any comments or suggestions. I do realize how big of an under taking all this is and i am well prepared(unlike the last one, this tb will not be my daily).
Thanks guys and as stated, any and all comments, suggestions, questions, or criticisms are welcome.
 

Attachments

  • FB_IMG_1495421528092.jpg
    FB_IMG_1495421528092.jpg
    42.1 KB · Views: 11

Tiggerr

Member
Jun 6, 2013
1,324
Perrysburg, OH
Pretty sure you can get a stand alone controller for a 4L60E or 4L80E... people run them in old hot rods and 50's cars.....has to be something their using...
 

littleblazer

Member
Jul 6, 2014
9,265
I think you can get stand alone. Lots of guys go manual valve body too.
 

Capote

Supporting Donor
Member
Jul 14, 2014
24,227
Atlanta, GA
Yeah I've seen plenty of manual valve body kits out there and on people random builds on various forums.
 

redline customs

Original poster
Member
Aug 25, 2016
171
northwest arkansas
Ok . please dont think im scared to use google, i just prefer to ask fellow owners that actual have experience with this stuff. Less chance of reviews being by people that work for the company just talking stuff up. Anybody know of a good company i can use? Also will any product that is designed for a 4l60e work? Or does ithave to be trailblazer specific.
 

redline customs

Original poster
Member
Aug 25, 2016
171
northwest arkansas
Talking more about shifters valve bodies etc. The only 4l60e ratchet shifters im finding come with some description of putting it in a 3rd gen camaro. I figure that all 4l60e's will be more or less the same but want to be sure.
Ive seen some stuff about reverse manual valve bodies. I can see the obvious advantage of having one in the case of a ratchet shifter, but ive seen random stuff about them firming up the shifting. Is this basically a shift kit? If i do get a rmvb, should i get a shift kit as well? Like i said i am a complete idiot when it comes to transmissions so any help is greatly appreciated.

I found a video of reaper right after i finished dropping the motor in. Figured id post up to show kind of what i had(wanting something close to this but with more actual power ).
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1637446243214828&id=1579467749012678
 

Capote

Supporting Donor
Member
Jul 14, 2014
24,227
Atlanta, GA
You should browse the TBSSowners. I've seen a few threads there and builds where guys used manual valve bodies in conjunction with ratchet shifters. I don't recall which ones they've used, but I know B&M for sure was used on ones I've seen.
 

Tiggerr

Member
Jun 6, 2013
1,324
Perrysburg, OH
A full manual valve body you have to shift it yourself... no shift kit really required...you'd be controlling the valve body... the shifter for gen3 Camaro is going to be specific to that car as far as mounting and brackets and whatnot but probably could be adapted to work in TB...
 

redline customs

Original poster
Member
Aug 25, 2016
171
northwest arkansas
Cool thanks. Didnt think they had the same transmissions but not sure.
Random observation/question. I know that tb's are 360s and that ssr's are 368s. What would the difference between these platforms be? Are they semi related or complety different? Ive tossed around the idea of dropping the ls3(i think?) and 6 speed manual out of an ssr into a tb. Not real serious simply because of the fact of how rare those are(im asuming anyway) and expensive. Plus id have to find one that was wrecked(i couldnt justify gutting a perfectly good ssr for some idea).
Tigerr, thanks for that info. Im not sure if the ones that ive seen are actually built for a camaro or just more popular for those(hence all the mentions). I really hate the linited aftermarket support for the trailblazers.
 
Last edited:

Tiggerr

Member
Jun 6, 2013
1,324
Perrysburg, OH
If your gonna do a big LS motor in one of these...start with a V8 truck...way too expensive and too much crap is different to change a 6cyl to the V8... IMHO... I believe a manual trans has been done...
Do a search for it I think @limequat was involved with it..he's a member here and our resident tuning guru...
Think his website is limequat.com or something like that...
 

Mooseman

Moderator
Dec 4, 2011
25,262
Ottawa, ON
It's lime-swap.com. He swapped an I6 into a Supra or something like like that. Very knowledgeable about the I6. Not sure about the V8's but he can tune them.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Capote and limequat

Forum Statistics

Threads
23,273
Posts
637,498
Members
18,472
Latest member
MissCrutcher

Members Online

No members online now.