Thanks for the info Phoenix. It's weird that 97 Z's are listed with the same ratio as a 96 Z with a 4T60E, but good to know.

 

I had talked to Dave from triple edge performance a while ago about building a tranny. He told me that the LQ1 4t65e transmission uses a 3.05 final drive with an underdriven 33/37 sprocket set.

 

You can use a Gen V if you use the TB and MAF off a Gen III. Yes, it can be done. Heck, I've seen a fair amount of people use Northstar TBs as well.

Also, lower gears (higher numerically) are not always a good thing depending on where you make max torque. If you make your best power down low (say below 3500 RPM), then lower gears will hurt your time instead of help it. The higher gears keep you in that power band for a longer period of time. Now, if the blower is ported, or it's a Gen V blower, then it makes sense to go with much lower gears. Otherwise, it doesn't make as much sense to keep your RPMs higher. Case in point, the TPI V8s in the 3rd gen F-body. Bone stock, they never came with more than 3.23s for the 350 and 3.45 for the 305 (most 305s had 3.08s like my IROC). For a TPI with the stock intake, anything lower makes you slower overall. Now add a mini-ram or a stealth ram intake, and it makes it practical to use the lower gears because then it's making a lot of power at much higher RPMs. Otherwise, it makes absolutely no sense and will only make you slower.

Just some food for thought.

 

The car has a 3.4 DOHC which is an OK motor....but it has 200,000+ miles on it which is also OK (my 96' has 218,000 and is going strong)......but the head is leaking antifrease at a rate of a QT every two weeks. I like the car and would like to keep it alive.I just don't think putting money into the 3.4 is a good deal. The 3800 would be easer to work on.
Mike

 

is it really the head leaking coolant? or is it the lower intake manifold?

if you plan on keeping the car then just call it a day and swap it. if your going thru all the work to do the swap... just put the extra in it and get a low miles trany to go with it.

i love my Z and will keep it as long as i can keep her in one piece. i would have went with the 4t65 hd but i wanted the 3.29 gear ratio...

 

Phoenix, for your application, the 3.29 is definitely better so good choice on that one. The DOHC motor makes most of its power at much higher RPM than the 3800s do (especially the L67 and still higher than the L32). Hope you understand I wasn't trying to argue, just trying to clarify what I was trying to say.

 

you are correct the 3.43 gears in the trany would make it more difficult to launch the l67/l32 cant remember which the OP is thinking of using... but for the intended purpose the answer is yes the trany will work. its not ideal. but as long as the PCM has the correct gearing changes made and everything adjusted for it it will work.

i am more then familiar with the DOHC having set the fastest time for one NA in a monte. that was one heck of a motor. i do miss it. i had it running the 3.73 gears and it had power everywhere! i have said this before but i'll put it out there again. the DOHC has an untapped low end. GM dropped the ball when it came to tuning this beast. or maybe they did it to protect the trany? as stock DOHC's love to eat tranys but i have a new spark table that really wakes these engines up. everyone i have done tuning for was always just dumbfounded on how much a diff it makes.

 

OP was looking at an L67. My suggestion was to use the Gen V blower off the L32 and use the L67 TB (which is pretty easy to do) to benefit from the more efficient blower, which is better than a ported Gen III. That would allow him to more effectively use 3.29 gears cause he'd be making better power at higher RPMs. The stock Gen III blower would be out of the ideal power band too quickly to be at its best potential.

I've been messing with Series II and Series III motors for several years now and honestly I know more about those motors than I did about the LB9 TPI 305 in the IROC I restored or the L82 350 that's in my 73 Z28.