LS swap advice

[Ole fool]

Considering.... (scratch that)..going to do an LS swap on my wife's 79 SS El Camino and have decided to buy a donor vehicle
What should I look for and what should I stay away from... I'm thinking a 2wd truck 5.3 or 6.0 and an auto trans
I plan on using the EFI and a cable throttle body But I need a little insight as to what vehicles & what years will have what ...i.e. 4l60e 70, 80 drive by wire or cable throttle etc. I've tried to research it but the more I look the more I learn & the more my head spins ... if someone could condense the information that is pertinent to my situation that would be a great help ...... I just want a crisp driver I'm not looking to break the sound barrier or anything
Headers and a 3.73 post are about the extent of the mods I want..... and some suspension mods to plant the tires
(Wheel hops like all the rest)
Thanks in advance this Ole' Fool

 

[Ole fool]

Wikipedia.org.... LSbased GM small block engine
Wealth of information.....
Not much swap advice as far as what I want or don't want...
But I now know much more about what hoods I need to look under
Does anyone has any personal experiences they would like to share ????

 

[Injectedcutty]

If you are wanting to stick with DBC throttle....look for gen3 style silverado, tahoe, suburban, escalade, or other GMC counterparts.

I recently pulled some stuff from a 2002 suburban that had a 5.3 in it. I was lucky enough to find a freshly built 5.3 short block locally, so i didn't have to pull a motor and risk it being shot.

Check out the g body lsx thread at the bottom of the page....bunches of useful info to go from.

I actually just got it painted up yesterday.

 

[Texas82GP]

I think 05 is the cutoff on drive by cable. The 3/4 ton trucks/vans will have the 6.0's.

 

[motorheadmike]

https://ls1tech.com/forums/conversions-hybrids/750522-g-body-swap-thread.html

 

[Built6spdMCSS]

2001/2 5.3l computer, really good to tune with, cable throttle body. Harness from the same year range. Truck throttle cable works fine.

Look for a 2004-6 Engine. They have full-floating Rods.

It's a ton of info when you first start, but when you deal with it for a while it's easy to remember.

The only problem is getting on forums and digging through the 90% of the garbage that people say off the cuff that's not true

 

[Built6spdMCSS]

I think 05 is the cutoff on drive by cable. The 3/4 ton trucks/vans will have the 6.0's.

Half of 2003 is when most of the vehicles started the fly-by-wire stuff. Corvettes had fly by wire since 1997, some of the early Tahoe and Yukon will be wire Throttle Body. up till 2006 is when the Vans were still cable Throttle Body.

3/4 ton trucks, some 3/4 ton vans, Yukon Denali, Escalade, Vortec Max trucks, Silverado SS, and a few others will have the 6.0l in them.

 

[Ole fool]

2001/2 5.3l computer, really good to tune with, cable throttle body. Harness from the same year range. Truck throttle cable works fine.

Look for a 2004-6 Engine. They have full-floating Rods.

It's a ton of info when you first start, but when you deal with it for a while it's easy to remember.

The only problem is getting on forums and digging through the 90% of the garbage that people say off the cuff that's not true

Thanks grease monkey
That's some good info about the full floating rods
If I step up to an 04/06 and its a drive by wire can it be switched to cable
I'm looking at a couple possibilities an 04 Silverado and a 05 van van should be cable but the Silverado has only 80k on it ....
and I can dig all the misinformation out there....... most unintentionally....
I learned a lot on Wikipedia..... google has been my go to search engine but they usually give all the information you don't want and nothing you're looking for Times are changing

 

[Texas82GP]

Certain Gen III computers can drive an idle air control valve, which is a necessity for a cable driven throttle body. My dad's 5.3 in his 06 Sierra is Gen III but it is drive by wire. I don't know if it could drive an IAC or not. In general Gen III engines are 24x crank reluctor rings and Gen IV (07 up?) Engines are 58x. There is a funny transition period with certain engines like the LS2. It is possible to run a 58x engine with a Gen III computer, using the Lingenfeler converter box. We are using a PCM from an 05 2500HD truck (Gen III) and a 58x (Gen IV) 6.0 (L96) in my brother's LS swap using a cable driven throttle body and the Lingenfeler box.

 

[Built6spdMCSS]

"If I step up to an 04/06 and its a drive by wire can it be switched to cable "

Yes, that is why I mentioned the 2001/2 wiring and computer..just make sure you have an intake that you can put a throttle cable bracket on it.