4L80E vs 6L80E - Are two extra gears worth it?

[Larry Callahan]

Has anyone ever driven both? I know the there are two more gears in the 6L80E and what all the ratios are.



What is it like running them? What is the experience like for a daily driver?

A 4L80E is a slam dunk behind a SBC in a '55 Bel Air but a 6L80E is not. The 6 speed takes a fair amount of trans tunnel work and my Holley Dominator ECU can't control it.

I think the extra gears and the taller overdrive would be nice but I wonder if it's worth all the effort.

[dhutton]

I have a 6L90E in my Camaro. It’s nice but will likely go 4L80E on my next project. Having the controller internal to the transmission is a bit of a PITA if anything goes wrong with the transmission. No one makes a stand-alone 6L80E controller as far as I know.

Its a juice isn’t worth the squeeze sort of thing imho...

Don

[dhutton]

Looks like I was wrong. There is a stand-alone controller:

http://www.zerogravityperformance.co...e-6l90e-6l50e/

Don

[Larry Callahan]

Ouch!!!

Yeah, never mind. 4L80E it is. LOL!

Thanks

[ULTM8Z]

I just put a gear vendors behind my TH700R4 and frankly I cant believe I was able to stand only having 4 gears for this long... lol...

With effectively 8 gears now it's an absolute blast to drive...

[Larry Callahan]

I just put a gear vendors behind my TH700R4 and frankly I cant believe I was able to stand only having 4 gears for this long... lol...

With effectively 8 gears now it's an absolute blast to drive...

Interesting idea. Does it split the gears automatically?

[ULTM8Z]

The auto drive feature can kinda do that. But the reality is I just do it manually. Actually more fun that way.

I can choose to just drive it as a regular 4 speed auto or bang through the gears. It is a fairly firm shift by the way if you have a tight convertrt, but if you have at least a 2500 rpm converter, its actually not bad.

But the bottom line is once you have that many gears at your disposal, you'll never look back... lol...

[anguilla1980]

I've driven my share of 6-spd auto GMs and in my experience, they hunt for a gear a LOT. I'd hope Holly would come out with an update to control the 6L80 since it can already do the 4L80.

Being able to custom program how you want it to behave is for sure a make or break.

Before I went Tremec Magnum, I was going to go 4L80 + GV.

[dhutton]

My 6L90E has a Speartech tune. It doesn’t hunt at all.

Don

[Timmah]

My 6L90E has a Speartech tune. It doesn’t hunt at all.

Don

I also have the speartech package and tune with the paddle shift option and it works great in either mode. It’s all about controller programming in the valve body.

[ULTM8Z]

Before I went Tremec Magnum, I was going to go 4L80 + GV.

That would be a great combo. With my double OD now I'm running like 2000 rpm at 80 mph and literally getting 30-31 mpg on the highway.

The only thing is you want to have the trigger button on the shifter. It makes it much better and smoother to operate than a foot switch. I ended up modifying my factory shift knob to add a small momentary mircoswirch and then a relay circuit to turn it into a toggle.