Recent upgrades to 33 year old GM rig: NV4500 and hydroboost brakes

[Larry]

Saveitforsunrise,

You could expect to pay $400 to $1500 for a NV4500 depending on where you get it and the condition. Mine was a trade deal so no money out of pocket except for the $25 tcase and cost of the AA kit.

Chilliwak,

If you don’t mind not having overdrive, your TH350 is a great trans and work well behind a big block. A TH400 better but a TH350 is sufficient. If you would like to step up to overdrive a 700R4 or a 4L80E would be the best swaps in automatics. There is some wiring required to retrofit both and a computer needed to run the 4L80E. If I had gone the automatic route I would have gone with the 4L80E. An Allison 1000 would be idea but that requires body modifications and a body lift to bolt one in an old GM truck. Neither of which I am a fan of. The best way to figure out what it would cost is to figure out which recipe you want to go with then start pricing the parts than double the parts costs you come up with as something always comes up during the project that blows your budget. These projects are never cheap. My project took 3 months and it still isn’t truly done while some gremlins are being worked out.

[bob91yj]

Sweet looking truck for sure!

[chilliwak]

Thanks for the advice Larry. The whole idea is to keep it as simple as possible. No wiring or electric solenoids. The truck needs to be able to function with a minimum of wiring and electrical stuff. The turbo 350 is bagged, so I was wondering what I can get in the way of a (hopefully complete) 454/turbo400/transfercase cheap from some Chevy around my same year so there is a minimum of linkage and other custom refit issues.

[lostfamilyof6]

Larry,

That is a nice, and I mean NICE truck. well done on the upgrades I think you will like them a lot. When the kids grow up and move out (not any time soon) I would like something as nice as this (currently because I do have kids I am not allowed anything nice ).

Seriously thanks for the pictures and really good information.

[Larry]

Nothing wrong with keeping things simple Chilliwak. Makes life much easier that when things go wrong way out in the boonies. I just couldn’t tolerate a simple carburetor anymore when going from 5,000 ft elevation to over 12,000 ft where the truck wouldn’t run right and sometimes not run at all. To get EFI you get all of the complicated baggage that comes along with it which isn’t too bad of deal if you have experience with late model powertrains and have the tooling.

Lostfamilyof6,

Thanks for the kind words. Your kids appreciate the sacrifices you make for them even though they may not tell you or show it sometimes. One day they will! You will get much more satisfaction out of your family than I will ever get out of this truck.

[BigCountry77]

You have a sharp looking rig

[Jean-Seb]

Amazing work Larry ! Can't wait to do this to my truck, if I ever get around to it.

Interior is nice and quiet (except for the noisy NV4500 we just installed…errr)

Sorry, but that made me laugh pretty hard. hehe

Keep it up !

[Cody1771]

hey Chilliwak, i run the TH400 with NP205 in my truck and i hammer down hard on that thing all the time. i dont think i could break it if i wanted to. they are pretty bulletproof. they usually pop up on bc4x4 for about $200. im guessing your running the 208 in your truck? it should bolt right up. send me an email and i can give you the run down, the swap is quick and easy. honestly i think a 205 might be a built overbuilt for what you use, a 208 would be a good choice if you dont mind having a slip yoke style of transfer case.

[saveitforsunrise]

larry,
thats the price range i expected, i paid 500 for the whole trans/clutch setup/flywheel/transfer case in mine, its a 3500, witch i hear is complete crap from the guys on pirate, but its a fairly recent gm replacement trans, so hopfuly itll hold me until i can throw something stronger in, but ill tell ya, it got rid of that crap 4l60e they put in the gmt-400s

[chilliwak]

Thanks for the advice Cody. I would definatly be interested in picking up a trans/transfercase set-up like you are talking about. I would probably have the transmission rebuilt and have a shift kit installed with new torque converter. I do sometimes tow a heavy load, and my canopy is pretty heavy as well. I would probably need to get the transfer case rebuilt too, dont you think?