LS truck motor programming question.

Theoretical question as I'm spending way too much time painting the living room and letting my mind wander.
I have 2007 Silverado which I kind of like except I hate the transmission. Burning seething hate. With all of the LS tuning that's been done, what are the chances I could tune the factory electronics to let me install a manual of some sort (maybe a transfer case too, just because?) But retain ABS and traction contol and all of the other goodies that I like?
I know the Mexican Silverados in this body style came with a manual so a factory clutch pedal exists, and there are plenty of transmissions out there.....mostly just tossing around ideas.

I'm pretty sure you can just change a switch for the transmission type once you have a suitable tuner setup.

I learned recently that the only input that a 1990 BMW v12 computer gets from the trans is a signal that goes open when the clutch packs are disengaged. The engine computer does not allow full throttle under this condition, because the trans is in the middle of shifting and that would make for an unpleasant shift. Apparently all you have to do is ground that one pin on the ECU and the engine will run totally normal with a manual trans.

2007 anything ECU probably gets a few more inputs from the transmission... but I thought I would throw that out there.

MadScientistMatt wrote: I'm pretty sure you can just change a switch for the transmission type once you have a suitable tuner setup.

Yep. No big deal at all. I wouldn't doubt that a "manual tune" for whatever engine you have already exists in the stock tune repositories. Worst case, you have to disable all transmission errors and copy over several different maps so that the engine's cruise mode, tow/haul mode, and normal mode maps are all the same. (GM has different engine maps for those things)

At that point, one could also retune the transmission so that its operation is less scandalous, which requires a lot less work. Tweaking shiftpoints is simple and fun.

I would guess that some of what bothers you about the original transmission's behavior could be changed through a tuner box. What specifically bothers you?

In reply to Vigo:

That's my question as well. Is it a 6 speed? I have a 2008 Silverado that I also like except for the trans. But I'll wait to hear what you don't like about it until I voice my complaints.

It spends a lot of time thinking about things during off throttle, and never reaches the right conclusion about what I want to do next. Basically, the best part about driving around is being in the proper gear, right where the car makes power, 1/3 of the way through the corner so I can roll on the gas and feel the car set and finish up the corner. I do this through three corners coming into my neighborhood at least twice a day plus a few other places on any particular drive. The truck sucks every bit of joy out of those maneuvers, and it's not the suspension, because it's fine in my wife's FJ which is even floppier than my truck.

bravenrace wrote: In reply to Vigo: That's my question as well. Is it a 6 speed? I have a 2008 Silverado that I also like except for the trans. But I'll wait to hear what you don't like about it until I voice my complaints.

It's the four speed.

In reply to mazdeuce:

Well then you don't want to try the 6 speed...Much the same, only I'm guessing more. I drove a Chrysler minivan a year or so ago with a 8 speed, and it was actually fun. But the six speed in my truck never seems to be in the right gear at the right time. I was hoping there was a tune for it that would make it work better. My '01 Sierra had the 4L80E in it, and I never had a problem with that trans. I generally prefer an automatic in a truck, as rowing the manual gears is not fun like it is in a car, but I'm not happy with this one.

i reprogrammed the shift characteristics on my 03 4L60E via hptuners. mostly WOT gear change points and shift times. you can read the program and see how long the computer commands the shifts to take and adjust the times to minimize slippage. i set the 1-2 to 0 seconds. i'm sure you can screw stuff up if you don't know what you are doing, but i found it's all been done before and it is online.

and yes, you can switch over to manual in the program and literally copy and paste fuel and spark tables from other maps(like if you had a 4.8 with auto and swapped to manual you could copy and paste charts if things were different). i go that route versus just downloading another tune so i don't screw up and accidentally write a new VIN to the computer.