[Formulajones]

Is this Dave I'm talking too? I remember racing with you (67 GTO if memory serves) at Kil Kare, the old TA Nats races years ago.



I've been both ways.

If you have a good working 400 and converter setup you're happy with, the Gear Vendor starts to make more sense. It can be done cheaper than a 4L80E. The Gear Vendor offers an overdrive ratio of roughly .78 and that generally is enough to satisfy as long as the rear gear isn't more than 3.73's.
It has some drawbacks that would be lengthy for me to get into. Just to touch on one is the semi frequent fluid changes that Gear Vendor recommends would add up rather quickly on a daily driver.

The 4L80E offers other advantages that sway me more this direction. The ability to fine tune it, shift points, converter lockup points, harshness, and the ability to just let it do it's thing and forget about it. The converter lockup is nice as now stall converter slippage doesn't really factor in when cruising. When it's locked, it's locked. The drawback is cost. To do a fresh unit, with a good converter, good controller, mechanical speedo housing, cross member, driveshaft, cooler lines, 4 speed detent shifter conversion etc.... you can get over $4000 and up to $5000 pretty quickly. Cost is really the only negative going with a 4L80E and the reason why so many steer away from it.
My opinion, worth every penny!!