Thoughts on a LS1 complete drop in swap-any better bang for the buck?

[Wraith]

The 5.3 with cam and headers and the 4L70E with Circle D converter, Vette servo and Transgo shift kit feel pretty good in my 08 regular cab short bed Sierra. I think it would feel pretty good in a G-Body, which is much lighter than my truck.

I would agree. This Volvo we swapped pulls like a freight train up top, we have a Circle D on order along with a Transgo shift kit. We are waiting to do the cam when we drop on the LSA supercharger, just missing a couple parts.

 

[motorheadmike]

The later 5.3s with 243/799 heads from the factory are going to work as well as the best LS1 (5.7L). That 4ths of a litre stops mattering if other parts work well. The L33s are the H.O. 5.3s and are great platforms. The 5.3 I built with ported stock heads and a Z06 cam is going to be a stout runner NA.

All that to say these engines will empty your wallet.

 

[street sweeper]

That's easy: the less you can do, the more you pay.

From what ive seen and read, the Holley system works pretty well and removes alot of the headaches. but its on the more pricey side of things

 

[81cutlass]

If I were to do it again

Holley 302 pan, pickup pan works but hangs low
Speed engineering headers, I used 4th gen F body LS headers because i did mine before speed eng. made the G body swap headers but ive heard they fit decent
UMI (I think) frame mounts with LS 4th gen block mounts. I saw a swap somewhere on this forum where he used a stock low mount compressor with those mounts and no notching was required.
If you are patient LT1 swap tells you how to do a harness.
Pickup accessories fit even if they are ugly

Is it cheap? Eh no but if you buy new everything and spend money where it isnt needed it is. It's no different if you bought a billet serpentine belt setup and aluminum heads or EFI for a SBC. If you keep an LS "ugly" it's not cheap but its not cheap to make your SBC look "good" either.

A GN tank and hanger and walbro pump off rock auto works well. It doesnt matter what engine you have if you go EFI you are going to spend $400 on tank pump and lines to get the car to EFI ready. That being said a useable carb that runs well is getting close to that rebuilt and tuned anyways.

 

[Silent viewer]

I have read through all of the comments. The desire for me buying the drop in engine is that it comes with everything and I wont have to open the engine up for anything. Yes i understand the mounts, possible oil pan, exhaust, harness rework, tune..... Engine swaps are nothing new to me and I know they can get out of hand quickly which was my push for the corvette or similar complete pull out. I swapped my first SBC into a g body at least 20 years ago now and have done at least a dozen since then, I have swapped and built multiple built BBC and BBF in boats, tuned and deleted diesel truck.... Point is i know how it all adds up. For anyone saying SBC with or without a newer throttle body efi, I went SBC with a holley stealth ram on the last engine and ended up with just as much as I would have had into a LS and maybe more. I am pretty set on trying out a LS based engine and keeping EFI. I am not opposed to the junk yard built engines, the original idea was a 4.8 turbo since its going into a turbo clone car. The turn away on this to me is that if i get a truck engine, I will need to find all new accessory brackets, low profile intake, fuel rails to match, coil mounts.... This was option to save money even if it cost a few extra bucks up front. I also liked the idea that if i am driving across the country and need a part, I can tell the inexperienced parts store guy i need a part for a 20XX corvette and they can figure it out. I already have EFI tank and sender for the car and can get a trans locally for a couple hundred and have a buddy go through it on the cheap, hoping 5k or so would cover it all. I have found several LS6 completes the other night for under 2500 but didn't have freight or tax included so they would be at 3k by the time i did all of that. Holley sells an accessories kit that has the F body brackets for 1300, add 1000 for a complete truck engine of some sort, add a low profile or aftermarket intake, rails... I will be at 3k in no time.

on another subject, from what i have read, even the F body brackets require a small frame notch for A/C. Is there any bracket setup that will clear A/C?

 

[supercrackerbox]

I did touch on it for a research paper for my business communications class actually, but not nearly as in-depth as what is truly needed. It was just something for an easy grade. What I did find is that in my area, 1999-2003 5.3 truck engines can be had for as little as $650 (car-part.com), but I don't know whether that includes all the accessories, computer, wiring, ignition coils, or even a throttle body. Still, working under the assumption that the engine does include everything (although I highly doubt it), by the time you add in the main aftermarket parts to make the engine "bolt in", you're well over two grand. This is looking specifically at G-body install parts, and includes an oil pan (ChevroletPerfomance seemed to be the best price), engine mount adaptors (Dirty Dingo), flywheel or a spacer ring to connect it to my 200-4R (Brian Tooley or Dirty Dingo), and some used F-body exhaust manifolds which some say will fit, which I priced at $75 each, used. I juggled around a few basic ideas to get the fuel system converted for fuel injection, from welding a sump to the stock tank and running an external pump, to the conversion kit from Gbodyparts.com, and basically you're spending $300-$400 for the most basic setup, but the sky is the limit on what you could spend. This still didn't get into bracketry to relocate the AC (which my car WILL have AC, and I WILL NOT cut the cross memeber), or the multitude of other things- Reflash the computer, making all the sensors work with my gages or buying aftermarket gages, cooling system upgrades/connections, and god knows what else.

The point of the research to begin with is a friend tried to convince me that I could get an LS in my Regal and driving for about a grand. But short of stealing all the parts, there's no way. My eventual goal is to buy a wrecked 6.0/M6 GTO and rob everything from it and sell off the carcass, but that's several years away. Hell, by the time I get around to it, the new LT1 might be a better choice to swap.

 

[sslow6.0]

I'd recommend an L92 out of a truck. The 6.2L has accessories that work perfectly with the G-body, will make more power, more headroom.

For the Cost of true multipoint fuel injection on an iron SBC you can have a 400+hp all aluminum LS motor.

 

[Texas82GP]

I'd recommend an L92 out of a truck. The 6.2L has accessories that work perfectly with the G-body, will make more power, more headroom.

For the Cost of true multipoint fuel injection on an iron SBC you can have a 400+hp all aluminum LS motor.

To my knowledge the L92/L9H/L94 just uses the truck accesory drive and the tall truck intake? 6.2 liters with an aluminum block is pretty cool though. They all have DOD and VVT which might not be wanted.

 

[Wraith]

Truck accessories/intake will fit on a G-body BUT the power steering pulley needs to be changed out to a smaller one, the stock one runs into the steering box if you want the engine in the stock location. Willingness to delete the AC box gives you just enough room.

 

[Silent viewer]

Absolutely not running truck accessories or removing a/c. I made the mistake of removing the HVAC in one car and it was the biggest mistake I ever made on that car. Again, this is why the ls1 or ls6 seems to make sense. I'm looking at the March front accessory kits too