I am not really knowledgeable with the later model vehicles. I am fairly young with an ol' skool mindset. When gas prices began their assent in '01 to where they are now, I began wondering about modding my '78 Malibu for better mpgs. At first I thought about getting an Edelbrock Pro-Flo EFI system, 3.73 Grand National rear, and a TH200R4 OD for the 305. I shoulda gone with that, but I ended up putting the stock rear, 2bbl carb, and taller tires for highway cruising (college and work). At some point I began to realize that the junkyards began getting later model vehicles in them. Hence the subject line of this thread. (sorry for the long story)
I began pricing 6.0L engines out of the Silverados and what I think are the LS2s out of the Cadillac Escalades. I figured that I would get the truck ECU and wiring from one of those vehicles, the transmission, and whatever other computer related things I needed for the Malibu. My Malibu had a toasted wiring system (I was told that the curcuit for the dash was a flimsy ribbon that would break after X amount of years), so I would have no inhibtions to ripping the dash apart for the truck wiring or whatever aftermarket wiring harness that I need to make this work. I saw that they had motor mounts for LS1/LS2 engines in Summit Racing for G-Body Monte Carlos. My father is a sheetmetal fabricator, so he said he could make a trans mount if he had to. The driveshaft will have to be modded or custom made for the engine/trans combo. I think I will have to get a GN rear out of Speedway; I forgot which rears were compatible for these cars (3rd gen Camaros or '84-'92 S-10s). I used to cut the tech articles out of Chevy High Performance magazine about G-Body mods, but I lost them sometime between moves. I will have to get a new gas tank and plumb in larger lines and fittings, possibly an in-tank electric fuel pump for the fuel system. Headers, I could go with block huggers until I can figure out which LTs to install. Other than that, this is all new to me and I don't know what I will be getting into. If there is anything missing, the plan is totally wrong, or somebody here has done this, please let me know.
The reason for this thread is to give my friend some options for her (was mine, read my new user thread) car when she gets the original equipment up and running again. The original 305 took premium gas (did you guys see the prices :evil:? ) because I think the heads were carboned up from many years of service. My plan is to do the aforementioned swap on her car (since it ain't that nice anymore) and look for a better car (better exterior) to put all this stuff into when the time comes. She is into older G-Bodys, F-Bodys, and muscle cars and won't settle for anything less. I figured that a later model engine out of a big SUV would get better MPGs in a lighter vehicle (even with an auto trans) like the Malibu, pass emissions easily, and get better overall performance than the original equipment. Thanks for your time reading all of this crap and I hope to hear from ya
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Chickenbone
I began pricing 6.0L engines out of the Silverados and what I think are the LS2s out of the Cadillac Escalades. I figured that I would get the truck ECU and wiring from one of those vehicles, the transmission, and whatever other computer related things I needed for the Malibu. My Malibu had a toasted wiring system (I was told that the curcuit for the dash was a flimsy ribbon that would break after X amount of years), so I would have no inhibtions to ripping the dash apart for the truck wiring or whatever aftermarket wiring harness that I need to make this work. I saw that they had motor mounts for LS1/LS2 engines in Summit Racing for G-Body Monte Carlos. My father is a sheetmetal fabricator, so he said he could make a trans mount if he had to. The driveshaft will have to be modded or custom made for the engine/trans combo. I think I will have to get a GN rear out of Speedway; I forgot which rears were compatible for these cars (3rd gen Camaros or '84-'92 S-10s). I used to cut the tech articles out of Chevy High Performance magazine about G-Body mods, but I lost them sometime between moves. I will have to get a new gas tank and plumb in larger lines and fittings, possibly an in-tank electric fuel pump for the fuel system. Headers, I could go with block huggers until I can figure out which LTs to install. Other than that, this is all new to me and I don't know what I will be getting into. If there is anything missing, the plan is totally wrong, or somebody here has done this, please let me know.
The reason for this thread is to give my friend some options for her (was mine, read my new user thread) car when she gets the original equipment up and running again. The original 305 took premium gas (did you guys see the prices :evil:? ) because I think the heads were carboned up from many years of service. My plan is to do the aforementioned swap on her car (since it ain't that nice anymore) and look for a better car (better exterior) to put all this stuff into when the time comes. She is into older G-Bodys, F-Bodys, and muscle cars and won't settle for anything less. I figured that a later model engine out of a big SUV would get better MPGs in a lighter vehicle (even with an auto trans) like the Malibu, pass emissions easily, and get better overall performance than the original equipment. Thanks for your time reading all of this crap and I hope to hear from ya
Chickenbone