Thoughts on a LS1 complete drop in swap-any better bang for the buck?
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09 6.0 specs 353HP and 373 TQ. That is without turning a bolt. Even if I have to do a rebuild It won't cost more than 2400 and I will have over 400HP when I'm done. Also the reliability of the HD truck engine/trans and components can't be overlooked.
You just sound like you want to spend money... and that's okay. But, even with your complete donor you can plan $5000 in quality swap parts. $5000 buys one really sweet SBC.
Sure he could spend $5k ......or he could spend less than half of that. Some guys overspend on their ls swap then act like that is the only way to do it.
It all depends on your objectives. Some of us are looking to upgrade to a modern fuel injected engine and have no desire to stick with a carb. Also.....some of us are looking for more of a challenge than replacing a sbc with another sbc. While ls swapping my 86 442, the aspect I enjoyed the most is the problem solving and fabrication involved with swapping a drive train that was never intended to be in that particular chassis. I doubt I would have gotten the same satisfaction from swapping a brand new sbc.
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Given enough , time ,money ,and effort almost anything is possible ! I was throwing out a option for someone that may have a limited skill set . It matter,s not to me what drive train you decide on , there are a lot of great possibility,s . Another aspect to consider is if you are at all concerned with resale at some point and time in the future , a lot of people get there feelings hurt when they have went through a engine and transmission there self and find out that backyard builds have little to no value ! The car buying public has no way of knowing what skill level the DO IT SELF-ER had so the resale is low compared to verifiable engine and trans builder,s or factory crate engines .
I already said I wasn't a mechanic and this car will be with me for a long time. I am absolutely not interested in how much some random person would give me for my SS based on a couple of receipts. I'm doing this for me. I appreciate everyones in put and ideas on the best way to so a swap. Just in this thread there are several paths taken to achieve what the builder was trying to achieve. More than 1 way to skin a cat, as it were. We can all agree that owning a hot rod is not cheap. Swapping, upgrading and horsepower costs money. There are many different ways to put an LS motor in a G Body. I think we can agree on that as well. In my case I have a donor vehicle and I intend to use as much of it as possible to offset costs. If it starts going sideways I will step back and figure the best course of action based on what I want, what I need and with the guidance of people with more knowledge and expertise than me. I know what I want to do but it is not a rigid plan. Everyone who has done a swap knows you have to be flexible.
This^ if you already have the motor and trans you can get it in the car running very cheap if you aren’t afraid to do some work yourself
Keep that 09 6.0 as it’s much better than an ls1 but I’d forgo the 6l80 in favor of the 4l80 as the gear spread on the 6 speed is too close for anything making any kind of power
The more I learn about the 6l80 the more I'm convinced that is what I want. My rebuild should be around 425 HP and that is all I need. I plan on driving this car a lot when the swap is done. I already love the way my truck runs. The extra gears keep the RPM's a little higher and it spends more time in the power. I am not going to be thrashing my car. The SS has never had any frame or suspension work done other than lowering. My SS definitely has a case of the G Body shuffles with the current setup.
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