Gearstar GM 4L65E 4 spd Auto behind 390 stroker (318 OE) .... BLASPHEMY!!!!

[VitaMeVas]

I like it. I’m building a ‘68 Plymouth as well. I have all the GTX trim, but I’m keeping the upper fender, door, quarter panel trim. I may paint it satin black to match. Also not going to use the fake wood dash. I have a .03 over 440, 308 18 spline 4 speed, and probably a 4.10 S-60 rear I got the engine and transmission back in the 80’s along with the car. I just have to get it together. View attachment 1512617View attachment 1512619

Like Mr Cash said ..... "I did it one piece at a time". Best of luck, dude!!!

 

[VitaMeVas]

THE 'OTHER' STUFF: transmission cooler and dipstick.

During my 'down time' waiting for parts, I installed the trans cooler. GearStar states that you absolutely must install this in front of the radiator and includes it with the 'kit' (no trans cooler lines included). They will put whatever fittings you want on the transmission to work with your application. I opted for the -6 AN fittings. I ordered stainless steel braided line and put my own ends on (from SpeedWay out of Lincoln, NE). I also purchased the Koul Tool kit to make the process 'easier'.

You can mount this cooler in 'series' with your radiator and utilize both or just use the accessory trans cooler they send. They did comment that if you're running an OE radiator that may have debris in it, that you should just use the accessory cooler so you don't get 'contamination' into your new tranny. I mounted my trans cooler in front of my A/C unit and ran the -6AN line with fittings up to the radiator support. Then I transitioned the fittings to regular rubber hose to go the last 6-12" since the trans cooler had hose-style slip-on attachments. Below are pics from above and underneath the car. Then I attached the braided stainless steel line along the PS frame rail and used 2-45 degree -6AN fittings at the transmission.

After that was all done (after the 4th time the tranny finally went in!!) I had to come up with a transmission dipstick. I had purchased an OE style 'hard metal' tube/dipstick for cheap from a local tranny company. When I went to install it, it dumped out directly into the PS long tube headers. I used a tubing bender to 'try' and angle the dipstick input away from the header, but after a few bends it had 'kinked' too much and wasn't worth using. I dug back into my wallet (there's no point in even shutting my wallet closed) and ordered a firewall mount flexible stainless steel kit from Lokar ($140 at Summit). Part #TD-34L60EFM. It arrived ..... slide right in tightly .... and I mounted it on the PS firewall (as far from the headers as I could) with a 1/4" thick steel spacer to keep it 'off' the firewall. I does come with an adapter tube (metal/rubber) so you can add tranny fluid with a funnel (since the inner diameter of the tube input is pretty small). It's a very nice piece.

And yes.... someday when I'm done adding wires to the engine bay, I will loom the wires nicely and make it 'prettier'. When the time comes to paint the car .... I plan to smooth down the firewall some and get rid of all the extra holes and have the A/C adapter plate be smooth with the firewall. But that is for another day.

 

[VitaMeVas]

THE 'OTHER' STUFF: rear slip yoke and driveshaft.

When I had the engine/tranny in for the 2nd time .... I decided to measure/order the driveshaft because I knew it would take awhile to come. Talked to a friend of mine and he suggested Victory NSS Performance Driveline.

I have the 8 3/4 rear end with a 489 case housing a rebuilt 3.55:1 gear and LSD. Chris Schneider at Victory had me measure the rear inner cup on the pinion yoke and it was 2 5/8".

I believe that makes the rear pinion yoke a 7290. I had the option to swap out the rear pinion yoke to something stronger that would mount to a 1350 joint, but Chris told me I'd likely break the 8 3/4 before I broke the 7290 pinion yoke. I'm sure people could argue all day about this one. ANYWAY.... I ordered a Sonnax 27 spline front slip yoke (see below) and took the measurements he asked for. I shipped the Sonnax to Chris so he could build/balance the whole driveshaft as one piece.

The slip yoke is chromoly with a 1350 U-joint and the driveshaft is chromoly as well. The weak spot (as I see it) is the rear pinion yoke and the 8 3/4 rearend. Time will tell. I pulled the trigger and it showed up just as I was fighting with getting the right hub adapter to mate the engine/tranny. I now have the driveshaft slipped into the transmission but not bolted to the rear. Next up is the column shift gear linkage to the 4L65E.

 

[VitaMeVas]

Steering Column to Trans Linkage: This Should Drop Right In.......Right??

So if you go back to 'post 22' I made a comment about using the Lokar Universal Shift Linkage kit (see below).

But there is a piece of knowledge I was unaware of. In the picture above, you see a GM steering column. If you were to take the GM column shifter lever (to the the right of the steering wheel) and rotate it down from Park to Reverse to Neutral (etc..) the 'tang' at the bottom of the steering column would rotate in a corresponding clockwise manner (as you sit facing the steering wheel). The 'tang' I'm speaking of is pictured above in the 3 o'clock position in this example. On my mopar 3 speed steering column shifter it is also located on the right side of the steering wheel, but the 'tang' at the bottom of the steering column starts at the 8 o'clock position (opposite side of the column) and rotates clockwise to the 11 o'clock position (again.... as you sit facing the steering wheel). Keep this in mind as you reading the following paragraphs.

So.... when I first attached one end of the Lokar Shifter linkage to the 'tang' and the other end to the transmission mounted alumnum lever (when in Park, as it says in the Lokar directions), I was not able to moved the steering column shifter at all because as I rotated the 'tang' from 8 o'clock to 11 o'clock, I was trying to pull/rotate the transmission aluminum lever (pictured above) forward towards the engine. BUT in the picture above, the GM 4L65E aluminum lever needs to be pushed towards the tail of the transmission. So I accomplished nothing and had cut the steel bar to the wrong length. (TRY #1)

So I purchased another steel bar for the middle of the Lokar linkage for TRY #2. This time I placed the aluminum lever that is attached to the transmission pointing in the opposite direction. Using the picture above for example....I moved the aluminum transmission lever from the 8 o'clock position to the 2 o'clock position (still with me??). This way when I rotated the steering column 'tang' from 8 o'clock to 11 o'clock, the corresponding aluminum transmission lever would travel from 2 o'clock (forwards toward the engine) to the 10 o'clock position. **have I lost you yet??** This seems like it would work fine but now the straight metal bar between the two heim joints needs a few bends in it because the drivers side footwell is in the way (it's not a straight shot). After days of trying different bends and buying more steel bar with each mistake.....I finally got the placement just about right. The ultimate problem was that no matter how I adjusted the Lokar Shift Linkage (bends.... length.... etc) I could not get all 4 drive gears (OD, D, 2, 1) squeezed into the throw of the steering column shifter. I could get P, R, N, OD, D and 2 but not 1....it just wasn't made for that much travel. That was TRY #3, TRY #6, and TRY #7. TRY #7 was the closest but there was still too much 'bind' or pressure on the linkage/bar/heim joints.

**BUT JEREMY....WHAT ABOUT TRY #4 AND #5??** Yeah.....at one point I actually put the original z-bar setup from the 727 transmission back in and built another bracket to allow it to have two linkages instead of one straight shot. It looked like this.

You get the idea.....I tried REALLY HARD to make this work. So **pause for a DEEP breath** I took a sabbatical from it and came back when the nice people in the white coats took the straight-jacket off of me.

 

[toolmanmike]

Unless you drive a million miles, you will never recoup the cost of a fancy OD transmission, but who's doing it to get paid back. We do it for fun or because we can. A 390 stroker puts out 400 horse or may be a bit more? A A500 should be able to handle that with ease with a few good parts and that's a 904 based transmission. How about the 727 based O/D? 5-600 horsepower with ease. You get a O/D and a lock up converter that can be bought with higher stalls. (watch out with your cruising rpm vs the stall). You can also run a Gear Vendors O/D for $27-2900. Modify the crossmember and the driveshaft, wire it, and rock and roll!

 

[Greg Ducato]

You can position and weld a tab on the bellhousing to accept the cross shaft bushing and use the bell crank style shift linkage your car came with, then use the Lokar piece from the bell crank to the GM transmission.

 

[VitaMeVas]

Steering Column to Trans Linkage: Going Another Direction

I considered using a cable-type setup to make the steering column shifter work, but I was concerned that I still wouldn't be able to squeeze all 4 forward gears in. So I gave up and ordered a Lokar Automatic Floor Shift Lever. I prepped the floor and approximated the location (below).

I made a template to minimize the size of the hole in the floor (below).

In my application, the Lokar Auto Floor Stick mounts to the transmission tunnel but from under the floor.

Rather than a cable design, I went with a solid linkage and it was MUCH easier to dial in all the drive gears. Due to the electronic gear shift selector (GSS-3000), there was also a linkage and sensor that mounted to transmission gear lever. Later I was able to electronically calibrate the Dakota Digital Dash using the GSS-3000 to show the PRNODD21 in the computer screen of the Dakota Digital Dash. Here's what the Lokar Automatic 4spd Stick setup looked like from underneath.

And the same view pointed up towards the transmission tunnel hump hole.

I put a black faux-leather boot around the floor stick to dress it up, attached the driveshaft to the rear yoke, and rehung the 3" exhaust. Per GearStar, I took the car on several short drives with lots of shifting/filling the transmission fluid. Once I got the transmission fluid full and chased down a couple of electrical gremlins.... it was time to try it out on the highway. Up next!!!!

 

[VitaMeVas]

You can position and weld a tab on the bellhousing to accept the cross shaft bushing and use the bell crank style shift linkage your car came with, then use the Lokar piece from the bell crank to the GM transmission.

Tried it. See post #44, TRY #4 and #5.

 

[66 Sat]

Your method of posting half a post, then returning later to add much more information and photos is confusing.
Can't you just complete a post 100% and then submit it? I understand making minor edits for typos etc but not half the info.

Quote

 

[VitaMeVas]

Your method of posting half a post, then returning later to add much more information and photos is confusing.
Can't you just complete a post 100% and then submit it? I understand making minor edits for typos etc but not half the info.

Quote

As many screw-ups and problems I’ve had with this tranny swap and your only comment is about my method of posting?! Wow…. you Aussies really take your blog posting seriously.

 

[VitaMeVas]

FINALE!!! It's done ???

I took the 68 Satellite out on the road for some more test driving and I was having issues with it shifting at the correct RPMs. I contacted US Shift and spoke with Kevin (multiple times). After a lot of time on the phone, he helped me realize that something was physically restricting my gas pedal travel. When I 'modified' the transmission tunnel (mini-sledge), I got a little 'smash-happy' and pushed the metal in towards the gas pedal. I couldn't push the pedal down all the way to WOT (wide open throttle). When I drove it initially...it seemed sluggish, but I was more focused on listening for shifting and smelling for burning. After I 'fine-tuned' the tunnel to allow pedal travel, I reprogrammed the Throttle Position Sensor to register WOT correctly. Now it seems to drive great and shift normally. FYI..... if you don't program the US Shift Quick 4 for the pedal calibration it will default to a 'Limp' mode and only allow it to drive
conservatively.

Here's a shot of what the Quick 4 looks like with the carpet in and the A/C ducting back in place.

Here's what the shifter/boot looks like finished.

And here's a YouTube video I took (just over a minute long) of what the Dakota Digital Dash Cluster looks like lit up and how it functions. In the video, I show the 2 small computer screens 'other functions' and how the screen shows the PRNODD21 indicator as you shift the stick. At the end, I flip the headlights on and show the night-time lights I currently have set up (violet). It's all programmable via Bluetooth and an app on my phone.



OVERALL.... I really like this setup. I really love the Dakota Digital Dash, the 4 spd Automatic (OD) and the new drivability of the car. It cruises BEAUTIFULLY on the highway. I can do 90 mph at 2500-2800 RPMs depending on the weather/wind. With the 727 3 spd automatic, I was running 3200 RPM at least when doing 75-80 mph.

Yes, the installation of the GearStar 4L65E was a huge pain in the a$$. Maybe I would have been better served by going with another company (everyone keeps mentioning Silver Sport Transmissions mopar kit), I definitely wasn't anticipating this much work to do this (my ignorance), and it took way longer than I expected. That being said .... I really love this modification. It makes the car so much more drivable and now I can see my dash at night (my eyes... not the bulbs). This was a HUGE step towards enjoying the car with my wife/kids. My best to everyone out there!!!! Keep at it and Don't Give Up!!!!

PS: I plan to update this write-up as time goes on to let people know about any problems/cool features I discover in the future.

 

[Nxcoupe]

Nice write up and quite the journey. Keep updating as you enjoy it. I have a quick 6 in my race car. I've tuned quite a few quick 4s as well. The software is pretty easy to use. I have my 1k hp car cruising and shifting like a stocker. Glad to hear you got yours fixed as well.

 

[VitaMeVas]

Nice write up and quite the journey. Keep updating as you enjoy it. I have a quick 6 in my race car. I've tuned quite a few quick 4s as well. The software is pretty easy to use. I have my 1k hp car cruising and shifting like a stocker. Glad to hear you got yours fixed as well.

I'm just learning what 'not to do' on the Quick 4. Someday I'd like to get my laptop hooked up to it and 'fine tune' it. Right now....I'm more likely to make it worse. I want to get some new spark plugs, wires, and install an air-fuel ratio kit and get the engine tuned better before I start playing with the Quick 4. I'll be in touch with you when that time comes though. Thanks!!