Preferred E38/E67 Combo(s)

I am investigating setting up a Gen IV engine / transmission for a project and was hoping to minimize my number of gotcha's along the way. The gotchas that I have read about so far include VATs (starter wiring, adding resistors), ETC (matching pedal, TB, etc..) TCM (which year OS), etc... After much reading of the issues that others have run into, it got me thinking that maybe a "Preferred Combo(s) List" might be helpful to others on this forum.

Obviously, you use what you can find, or afford, but, maybe there is a specific setup that you "should" be looking for in the first place. With this background, I figured that the options I was trying to make work would be similar to what most other guys trying to do too.

The basics for a system would be: stand alone (no BCM required), and could work for a stick shift, 4 speed auto or a 6 speed auto. The stick shift would be simple enough (no TCM to worry about) other than it might require finding an OS where you could get a stick shift from the factory. With the 6 speed auto, I think keeping the tap shift capability would also be a requirement. At this point I would like to stay away from trying to add the DOD stuff to the equation. VVT would be nice to keep, but this might also make the matrix of what your looking for get too complex.

With those 3 basic systems in mind (stick shift, A4 and A6), is there any one, or maybe a few combo's that guys should look for? My guess is that the transmission will dictate which combo you are really looking for.

The main thing that should be stressed for which ever combo is suggested is that you must keep everything (or make everything) match up. e.g. ECM, ETC system (from pedal to TB), and that it needs to match the ECM / OS you have choosen. This also implies that if you do not have access to a Tech II that you might need it to full flash the ECM to get it to the exact OS you need to start with. From there, we obviously would be using EFILive to take care of the rest :).

One last request would be to find an OS's which has produced the least issues with VATs patch capability. It would be nice if whatever system(s) were highlighted that it didn't require keeping all the original donor vehicles wiring harness to keep the VATs system happy.

Here's my stab in the dark. Please add any of your suggestions or which combination has worked best for you.

Stick shift:
Either E38 or E67 would work. Maybe the Silverado setups would work, but the newer Camaro and Corvette systems would also work since they had a manual tranny from the factory.

Auto - A4: This is probably be very dependant on whether or not it's a 4L60, 4L70 or 4L80. Again, maybe the Silverado is a good choice depending on which year you choose.

Initial Guess: 2008 Silverado 5.3, 6.2 (E38) + 4L70E (T42)

Auto - A6: Same initial guesses as the A4. I did read that if you use a Corvette TCM OS, you can have tap shifting without a BCM. This could affect which one you start with based on that alone. Also, apparently, the 07-09TCM's are less sensative to throwing codes than the newer ones. This might dictate that a preferred chioce is from an 07-09 setup vs. say a newer 2010+ OS.

OK, here's my stab at trying to come up with a list of what's out there and what combinations were produced from the factory. Up front, I admit, that this is based off general lists (supported vehicles listed on EFILive's website) and other info available from your favorite search engine (google).

Please help me fill in some blanks on exactly when certain things went into production. Like was 08 the first year silverado's got 6 speeds (believe it was a 6L80E) or was it 2009. Also, i am having some trouble trying to figure out which engines actually had VVT. I thought it would be nice to show a list of the basics for guys trying to match up combos. If you want to reply or edit the file, go ahead and post up your corrections.

Thank you for your help,
turbo_bu

I spent some time trying to finish filling in all the information for each of the Gen IV combinations. While I know this does not directly answer my original question, hopefully this list will be useful to others trying to start a Gen IV swap.

I would like to thank Taz for suggesting that I start by pulling the tunes off of the Tune Depot (duh!). This is then brings me to one of my big qualifiers: all the info on here pretty much came from the opening these tunes in EFI Live. If it said it had VVT, then I put down it had VVT. For the transmissions, I put in what information I was able to find. Most of the 4 speeds were listed as 4L60/65/70E's. For some combinations, I was able to find which one of those it really was. For most them, I was not.

This brings me to my 2nd big thank you .... thanks to ScarabEpic for his Trail Blazer knowledge. For these he was able to tell which engine / transmission came in what year of TB / Envoy.

With all that being said, here is my 2nd disclaimer: All the info came from pulling tunes and / or whatever I could look up on a given website. Obviously some sources did not quite match up to what others say regarding which years certain combinations went into production. If a row is filled out completely (including OS), then that came from looking at a tune from the Tune Depot. Other information found in an incomplete row is from seeing that something was produced, but not being able to find any other supporting information (like a tun file).

Examples:
- Pretty sure the the L76 was put into a GMT900, but couldn't find a tun file for that combination
- No Suburban tunes for any of the 07's and newer. EFI Live lists as support transmission for these years of trucks as both 4 spd (T43) and 6 spd (T43).

I would really like to update this chart with as much relavent information that we collectively know. If you can help to either clarify an existing row or provide some additional information (an OS from a different year for a given row), please reply to this post.

Thanks

turbo_bu

I managed to do some more digging and found some good reference information over at the old GM powertrain website regarding what was produced each year. One thing I would like to confirm is if during 2007, there were and Gen IV engines put in trucks with manual transmissions. From what I have found, the Gen IV engines were only put in GMT900's and not the previous body style GMT800's (aka - Classic body style). Thus, you could of had a 2007 truck with a Gen III engine and manual transmission, but that would have been a GMT800 (Classic). GMT900's never had the option of manual transmissions.

Can anyone else confirm this?

Thanks,

turbo_bu

did you get the A6 tap shift to work?? I have a truck wiring (2008 scalade)

no - this was my attempt at trying to better understand which configuration to try. I have not started on this project yet. If you find one that works better than others, please let us know so we can update this thread.

Thanks