Hi I bought a Chevy blazer with what seems to be a bad tranny not sure do since I've only gone up to 40 one's.The distributor is messed up and I have a camshaft sensor code.What I want to know if the tranny is bad and the truck is going to be used for towing what are the steps to swapping a 4l80e.I've been looking in multiple forums and I've found most of the info but very few pics and trans options information.Also is there a company that makes a cross member for the swap.If you've done the swap or have a truck with it plz show pics parts used and cost.there many people wanting to do this motor is stock 4.3 vortec.Thanks for the info.

 

I forgot my truck is a 2wd

 

You are probably the first to want to do this behind a 4.3 that I have seen! Your 96 won't be able to control the electronics in a 4l80e without swapping in a silver PCM and then lots of custom tuning. The 4l80e is a larger case transmission and I have only seen 1 in recent history that I can recall that actually fit in the trans tunnel without some modification. What is it that you are looking to tow with this thing? I would suggest making your motor run properly and then pulling the 4l60e for a complete rebuild/upgrade and slap it back in and call it done. If thats still not enough re-gear the axle to lower gears to help with a little extra torque. If thats still not enough then a blazer with a 4.3 isn't the vehicle you should be using to tow what your towing! I have never done a 4l80e swap in a blazer but I bet it wouldn't happen for less than $3-5K at which point you would have been way ahead buying an older chevy 3/4 or 1 ton with the 454 or 6.5 diesel.

 

Cars on a dolly and some tire burning fun.Iam working on the distributor as we type I'll install it tomorrow do.I've been reading on the s10 forum of a couple of people that have done it I just want to remove the weak 3-4 clutch pack.I have been talking to my neighbor that owns a transmission rebuild shop about the options that I have with beefing up the trans.He says that the additional clutches is not good since the metal is thinner he did that on his own truck .Cost to rebuild my trans he covers everything that is wrong installed 980.

 

Iam looking at 1000 used working trans below 100000.

 

Rexmburns you stole my truck looks the same except I have eagle alloys 203 series.

 

I strongly suggest you just rebuild your trans and be done with it. You can get a kit to bump trans pressures and shift pressures plus better clutch and steel packs,a beast sunshell and a nice cooler and you won't have to ever worry about it again behind your 4.3. People put way more power through them everyday with v8s than your 4.3 will ever make without issue. You can't just look at the $1k cost of a 4l80e that's the easy part remember after that you still have things like a driveshaft, crossmember, torque converter, adapters to bolt it to your 4.3, fab work, time and oh don't forget I said in my first post your going to need to do a pcm swap and figure out wiring to the trans then there's the tuning and I'm sure there's a whole lot more to make it actually happen. Like I said $3-5k easily to make this happen and that's if you do everything yourself.

I also think you should do more reading on the swap concerning the power you will actually be losing to the wheels pushing through the bigger 4l80e. They have a tall first gear so you will likely loss off the line power and would likely need an expensive converter to get the stall in the proper rant to ever get it to move or be able to lock the converter.

Trust me I've been there with my SAS I thought oh I can get axles cheap and make this happen cheap... I paid like $400 for my original axles and then proceeded to spend another $2k on all the "little" things to finish the project! Not to mention this isn't one of those quick weekend projects it's going to take a good bit of time whereas a good trans shop should be able to have your truck back to you in two days tops.

 

I'm gonna say I had mine first lol! Post up some pics..

 

Pcm reprogramming 80
Complete trans 500
Drive shaft shortening less then 100
Wiring is mostly repining or buying an adapter harness 80-250 or free
Adding to wires to the pcm cost of plug 5 bucks and some wire
Cross member pushing it back and fabbing up on the center something to bolt the trans cost ?

 

I will after I figure out how to post pics I just have a massive headache right now.