BUILD THREAD 84 Regal back half/caged/mini tubbed lq4/4l80e build

[Roblq84]

I don’t think I was clear. Both sensors and sensor connectors are the same, one is towards the front of the trans and the VSS is towards the rear. I’m curious if the FiTech datalogs input shaft speed?

Holley does and it’s extremely handy for determining converter slip %. The input shaft speed divided by rpm is converter slip %. It makes it simple to see where the converter is grabbing and where it isn’t.

I understand completely, my bad, I reworded my previous post lol, to clarify what I meant by “threw me off” as in seeing the sensor in the trans and assuming it was the way it’s supposed to be since it had a 2wd tail shaft housing, not in regards to what you said about checking the sensors, you are more than helpful and I appreciate the input completely, sorry for the misunderstanding

the fitech only uses the VSS plug at the rear, it was just a one off issue with the trans I purchased, it had to have been 4wd and had the vss in the transfer case and they switched the tail housing and left the rear vss sensor with the dummy plug, or it was always in a 2wd vehicle, and some one at some point switched the sensor and dummy plug locations. 🤷🏻‍♂️ story of my life is finding and fixing things people messed with lol

This is the only settings it gives me regarding torque converter specifically

 

[64nailhead]

Do yourself a favor and set the unlock speed 4-5mph below lockup speed to stop shuttle shifts when you’re trying to drive right at the converter lockup speed. Ask me how I know about this.

And you’ll want the converter unlocking somewhere in the area of 50% TPS. This will help the car accelerate and ‘get up’ on the converter. For a boosted application that needs to be a bunch lower. But my experience has found somewhere between 45-65% TPS is about right. This setting depends on vehicle weight, hp, cam, etc. But basically, when you want it to get up and go, unlocking the converter will help immensely.

 

[Roblq84]

Do yourself a favor and set the unlock speed 4-5mph below lockup speed to stop shuttle shifts when you’re trying to drive right at the converter lockup speed. Ask me how I know about this.

And you’ll want the converter unlocking somewhere in the area of 50% TPS. This will help the car accelerate and ‘get up’ on the converter. For a boosted application that needs to be a bunch lower. But my experience has found somewhere between 45-65% TPS is about right. This setting depends on vehicle weight, hp, cam, etc. But basically, when you want it to get up and go, unlocking the converter will help immensely.

Ok, i will definitely adjust it! Thanks for the tip! Makes total sense 🙏✍🏻

 

[Roblq84]

new fans, exhaust gaskets, and intake manifokd
Gaskets .

 

[64nailhead]

Doubt anything is hurt. Regarding your issues :

Use GM manifold gaskets with orange high temp silicone between the gasket and the header. You’ll need to retighten the bolts after a heat cycle port two. Throw those that came with the headers in the garbage. Torque the bolts to 18-20ft

Cheap fans suck. Been down that trail. The Dorman fans you bought will resolve that.

Those plug wires you had are good wires. But they can’t touch anything ever. The heat sleeve cannot lay on the header or it will melt the wire like the photo you attached.

Those style intake gaskets are a pain to get sealed. There are aftermarket gaskets that can be used in unison with those gaskets that are guaranteed to seal.

So I’ve found a bunch of issues hopefully none have caused any catastrophic damage

-passanger exhaust header was leaking due to having to bang the exhaust a bit to clear the frame, causing passanger side to run lean, hopefully the lean popping didn’t burn anything, I scoped it all, the valves look a little bit tan, same with piston top, but spark plugs are all intact, I guess we will see.

-I had 3 melted spark plug wires arcing against the header. I was using Taylor’s 10mm red with protective sleeves, but the reviews I’ve been reading say they are crap, arcing could have damaged alternator? But definitely was causing some crazy misfires, the fitech really isn’t good at picking up fault codes, I was using a used 105 amp corvette alternator that was at 13.8-14 volts, definately contributed to unknown electronic issues, just installed a c5 145 amp.

Ordered a set of accel ceramic wires 9004c race extremes, hopefully these stand up to the heat

-I had cheap fans that came with the radiator one crapped out after the alternator replacement, probably since it saw 15 volts due to low charging and weak battery, and car slightly overheated to around 240* Im praying nothing got damaged

Just ordered Dorman ls f body/corvette fan assembly 620-634

-I replaced the intake Manifold donuts/orings to felpros since fitech ones are crap anyway and at this point just may as well alleviate all possible leaks.

 

[bracketchev1221]

So after driving it today, with the computer update, it does shift to overdrive, and does now lockup, in lockup it’s right at 26-2700 rpm cruising, when i tap the brake tc unlocks, stays in od and jumps to about 3200. I want to say the TPS readings were throwing it off causing erratic shifts.
BUT, the VSS is way off, fitech was closed over the long weekend today to do some troubleshooting and how to calibrate it, that also can be throwing off the shifts and OD/TC lockup.
It shows 7-11 mph at idle which is weird, checked the vss connection to make sure pins weren’t bent.

Also, it’s definitely breaking up under hard acceleration which I may have took for the trans slipping, when I ease into the throttle it will pull like a train, but when I just hammer down it starts choking, tell tale sign of starving for fuel or bad coils, spark plugs are light, not fouled, but again, that vss may be throwing off the tables for rpm to speed, who knows, I ordered 4 new rims as well, I don’t feel comfortable street driving on the weld draglites, I prefer steelies, rear 15x10 5x4.5 currently running 27.5s, fronts are 15x7 5x4.75 on 205s it’s parked until they come in.

Thanks for the input and help, will keep you all updated and let you know what the verdict is

The weld draglites are perfectly fine for street use. I had them on a few cars and the weld Pro stars.

 

[Roblq84]

New ceramic ignition wires

 

[bracketchev1221]

Make sure they are the right nuts. The weld wheels center compresses when you tighten it and I have gotten nuts that the shank was slightly too long and bottomed out on the hub before tightening the wheel

 

[SoFloG]

Make sure they are the right nuts. The weld wheels center compresses when you tighten it and I have gotten nuts that the shank was slightly too long and bottomed out on the hub before tightening the wheel

Draglites seem to need to be retorqued a few times in a short period after initial install.

 

[Roblq84]

Here’s the new gaskets, and all I can say is wow they’re awesome, should have no problem sealing things up for any imperfections,
Finished up the the lighting, I ended up using the original harness for the lights since it still had all the correct plugs/sockets/connections and just adapted it into my aftermarket body harness, needed to replace both flashers as well since our cars have a zillion light bulbs and the supplied ones looked like they were made by fisher price .
for those who didn’t see my other post, I ended up adapting a 08-12 dodge challenger spoiler/ducktail, i really like it especially for under $200, rear pic to follow, ls fans are also installed, i ended up being able to fit the entire bottom of the assembly in between the radiator tray and radiator with enough clearance to ensure it won’t go anywhere, and trimmed the top edge to sit more Flush against the radiator as well, the pigtails for them and the ceramic ignition wires come in Friday, and it’s take 2, I’ve also been getting a continuous iac code, but once the exhaust leak is fixed I can then make sure it’s not just due to that, fitech is notorious for having crap sensors out of the box, most likely going to replace it either way with an ac delco for peace of mind

The 102mm fitech ultimate ls iac motor interchange number to
ac delco is 88865048 or 217-3458