Need opinions on trans and gears for 5.3 LS swap

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Call Her Bu

Greasemonkey
Dec 2, 2012
108
37
28
Arlington, TX
Hey GBF,
I recently bought a 5.3 LS from a 2000 Tahoe. I am putting it in a 81 Malibu. I was wondering what trans I should put behind the motor. 4L60, 4L70, 4L80? I am also wondering what gears I should use in the posi. I will be using the car mainly to cruise on the weekends, maybe race a car or two lol and test my time on the track every now and then. Any info and opinions are very much appreciated!
 

jacobdavis1979

G-Body Guru
Feb 18, 2011
700
14
18
The 4l80 is an awesome trans. But I think you need to hammer the trans tunnel to make it work. Id go with the 4l60e
 

L92 OLDS

Comic Book Super Hero
Mar 30, 2012
2,872
3,050
113
West Michigan
Call Her Bu said:
Hey GBF,
I recently bought a 5.3 LS from a 2000 Tahoe. I am also wondering what gears I should use in the posi. I will be using the car mainly to cruise on the weekends, maybe race a car or two lol and test my time on the track every now and then. Any info and opinions are very much appreciated!

I would use 3:73's or better. The 5.3 lacks low end power compared to the larger displacement LS motors.
 

cyrus_the_great

Greasemonkey
Sep 8, 2009
237
0
16
IRAN
jacobdavis1979 said:
The 4l80 is an awesome trans. But I think you need to hammer the trans tunnel to make it work. Id go with the 4l60e


no need to hammer the tunnel to fit 4L80e ... small cut on the driver side of transmission housing only
 

DannyBoy515

Not-quite-so-new-guy
Apr 2, 2013
6
1
1
You would be good with the 4l60 or 80. 80 is just a heavier duty version of the 60. I ended up going with 4l60 in my last build - 78 malibu, because I got the motor and trans as a package. It was definitely a project - took a bit of time to get everything just right. But even with some steeper gears, worked out very well. 5.3 is a nice torque motor, but Anubis is exactly correct - it was built for low end grunt. I have the same motor/trans in my 06 avalanche. It will pull or tow or dig through snow like a beast, but for a street car, definitely need a steeper gear to get the desired results. I originally had 373s then went to a 411s. Even with the 4.11s the rpm's were never too high on the hwy. Had the 5.3 worked on a bit, so it put out some decent #'s and the 4l60 never had an issue
 
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