Just bought my LT1
 

Problems: i'm not sure what all the car has done to it. i haven't had it long enough to get it checked out. But this is what the guy told me. and alot of it makes no sense but anyways. 3.93 gears in the rear end, ram air intake, flowmaster exhaust and 2k rpm stall converter. It's an automatic and i am thinkin about findin a 5-speed manual tranny to switch to because right now i'm havin some problems with the auto. when i put the gas to the floor it redlines untill i let off for it to shift. so i shift myself 1st, 2nd, Drive & OD. well it's all good and dandy if i'm drivin normal, however when i get on it the tranny will downshift and redline untill i let off and let it shift which is annoying the crap outta me. also at 70mph i'm at like 2800rpm in 4th is that normal? and is there a way to take off the 107mph limiter? i'm pretty sure i will be swapping to a manual tranny. i'm goin to look aronud at some places this weekend. any suggestions on one i should find? i'm probably just gonna go pull one out of a wrecked camaro that's the same model as mine. anyways, any quick mods i can throw on there after i get the new tranny in? any opinions or suggestions are welcome as long as they have to do with the car. oh and i'm about at 95,800 miles. and i'm workin with a small budget. probably gonna do stuff at $1500 at a time unless it's somethin i need or somethin big i'm savin up for.

Thanks,
Matt

ummm, where to begin. Were first off, sounds like something wrong with the tranny for it to not be upshifting. You could pull it and have it rebuilt for prob about 800. With 3.93 gears in it, the rpms sound about right. You can go with a 6-speed out of a camaro or corvette, good luck finding one in a junk yard though, the LT-1's and 6-speeds are in demand. You can get them from several different places online though, but it will be costly. Would be a good fit with your gears though, all those gears will give you better drivability around town. You'll have to hang the clutch, get the master and overflow to set it all up, plus a clutch. And someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but I think you'll also need your computer replaced or retuned for it. It would be a big job with a pretty big price tag, but doable. One of the first things would for upgrades would be headers if you don't have them. You are the ram air setup, so a ported MAF and then a smooth elbow, 52 mm throttle body. Plugs and wires also a starter upgrade, and also a computer tune, I would wait on that until you figure out what you want to do with the tranny. After that, then you really get into the big stuff, cams, heads, turbos, and superchargers. For suspension I would recommend some subframe connectors, you can tweek the body on converts pulling runs at the track if you got the HP. The converts come with them from the factory, but there are ones that go over the factory subframe connectors and then you can also cut those out and use the ones for the hardtops. Some springs and shocks are always good. There's a ton of stuff in the sticky's in this section that will give you more info.

your 1500 budget will be eaten up just swapping from an auto to a manual. its not a cheap swap at all. your tranny sounds like its shot...consider a rebuild or buying a used auto. i wouldn't put on a 52mm TB like arrow said until you start looking at heads and a cam. rpm's on highway sounds right for 3.93 gears. computer can be tuned to eliminate the 107mph speed limiter. 2000 rpm stall is VERY small...i have a 3600 stall.

again, the manual swap will cost you probably every penny of that $1500 budget you have. after that, headers is the next step...i'd do a tune-up like arrow eluded to...if you stay auto you're going to have to get a bigger stall for most cams, but that would be your next step

Swapping in to manual tranny will cost you a lot...

OK, it's obvious the previous owner was into doing a number of performance modifications to the car.
So let's safely assume that the transmission was modified in addition to adding the stall converter. There's a good chance that it was modified so that it won't upshift until you let up on the gas pedal like you now have. A "true hard-core" performance guy would want it that way to have control over the shift points. Given the circumstances, i see NOTHING WRONG with your trans, other than the fact that you don't like it that way.
I have just one question...If you take the trans out, how much do you want for it?

that's making a whole lot of assumptions that i wouldn't feel comfortable making...but yes...that could be the case. and what do you want a 4l60e for 69?

Hmmmm....now who's making the assumptions? ;)
The 69 isn't the only Chevy in my garage.
But, if it was cheap enough, it might be worth retrofitting it into my 69. There are aftermarket management systems available for the 4L60e.
I do want to put in an overdrive trans someday. Too bad we don't know how well (if at all) his trans was built, because my engine would otherwise turn it into spare parts in no time!

yeah my dad has a 700r4 behind a 350 in his 66 nova. be nice for doin some cruisin in

wow. 1st of all thanks for the replies. big help on ideas.

Um i dont think the guy did something to make the tranny shift like it does. because he said he didn't like it. however the guy he bought it from might have because the guy i bought it from said he didn't put the 2k stall in and that it was already there when he bought it.

i'm perfectly fine with the tranny upgrade eating up all 1500 bucks i plan on spending at a time. i was actually planning on it. and there is a pick and pull not to far from here full of chevy parts so i shouldn't have too much trouble finding parts. i was actually looking in a Summit Racing magazine yesterday and i'm thinkin about getting trickflow headers and heads put in it. they have a whole big kit for the chevy small block that costs anywhere from 1300-2400 i think. it all just depends on which kit you get. but that will be after i get my transmission swapped out.

If you really want to buy my transmission i'll be more than happy to sell it to you. money is always welcome in my pockets and i'm not sure what else i'd do with it when i take it out.

you'll want to get a 6 speed...not a 5 speed.

i was unaware trickflow made headers? i would go with the more popular brands such as kooks, hooker, pacesetter, etc...you don't want to buy heads at this point...wouldn't do you any good. buying heads for what you're probably planning would be a waste of money as well. look into porting your stock heads and getting a cam to match the heads. should be able to get at least 400 rwhp out of a good setup.