I feel like I'm listening to Wally Clever and Eddie Haskell argue about whether the 283 will ever be better than a flathead with a 3/4 race cam.
Golly gee Beave, can’t you find somewhere else to be? Mom!!!
I feel like I'm listening to Wally Clever and Eddie Haskell argue about whether the 283 will ever be better than a flathead with a 3/4 race cam.
The big difference that nobody talks about, the one resource you never get back? Time!!!!
A 5.3 or 6.0 can all be under your control. Thousands are going into the junkyard weekly and if you buy one from a yard and it's junk you can bring it back under warranty. If you blow it up you can get a replacement and have it changed in a weekend with you and a buddy.
A new crate 383 is $4k from summit or some sketchy used build you don't know the history of. You can save money and build it yourself but you're at the mercy of the machine shop. Spin a rod bearing? Yeah you can have a crank in a week from summit, but what if you need to line bore the block or recondition the rod? Is it a week, a month, or 3 months at the machine shop? You don't know, it's not under your control!
A 383 might make more power. A 383 might be less expensive. It's probably less intensive to swap into place.
But something a 383 won't beat an LS on, is availability. Good luck replacing a custom 383 in a weekend. There hasn't been a 350 4 bolt main block go in a junkyard at a rate where they are legitimately available for 10 years. It's hunt swap meets or CL or FB for a decent one and hope its now schwasted.
Are you 400 miles from home on a sunday night and the car looses spark? The local parts store will have every sensor needed and the PCM will tell you what sensor is wrong. If your 383 looses spark and you walk in will the 19 year old behind the counter be able to find the HEI module that's covered under a layer of dust? What about that alternator that tossed the bearing. I bet NAPA has a 04 tahoe alternator! I bet they can get you 1 wire SBC V belt alternator on Tuesday morning.
I drive a fleet of junk and if something goes wrong on my LS swap car it's in stock 2 blocks from my house. If my SFI turbo buick has a problem it's a week minimum to buy a part from an old man a timezone away. If something breaks on my carb turbo buick it's hope I hoarded that part or message 'the guy' on the forum and hope they have one.
It's easy to dog LS stuff and a lot of people screw the swaps up or dump cubic dollars into them, but when you are stuck in a parking lot and need to get home, I'll take LS swap for $1 bob.
Funny you mention the carbed LS. At the show tuesday night I was talking to a guy with a carbed, nitrous LS3 in a Regal. He said it was a total PITA to get it tuned right due to the LS being more efficient with FI vs a carb.Thankfully, the carbed LS never really took off. That's got to be the worst idea ever, right next to putting a 3 speed auto behind one.
That article came up in my Google "feed" on my phone today (click bait). I clicked on it out of curiosity. $5k for a reman LS3 from AutoZone? I don't think so. You said it best. How not to do it. One would be far better off with a 150k mile 5.3 (that was halfway cared for) and a miled cam for a third or less of the cost.Here's how not to do it:
Cheap 6.2L LS3 Remanufactured LS Swap Long-Block
AutoZone now has a line of affordable remanufactured LS3 and L99 long-blocks perfect to refresh your worn ride or for an LS swap!www.hotrod.com
What did that poor Nova do to deserve that kind of hate & abuse done to it? Not every car needs an LS swap.Here's how not to do it:
Cheap 6.2L LS3 Remanufactured LS Swap Long-Block
AutoZone now has a line of affordable remanufactured LS3 and L99 long-blocks perfect to refresh your worn ride or for an LS swap!www.hotrod.com
What do we know? We have the reviled Small Block Chevy.What did that poor Nova do to deserve that kind of hate & abuse done to it? Not every car needs an LS swap.
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