What Did You Do To Your G-Body Today? [2021]

[CopperNick]

On that Evapo-rust, Didn't source it from CTC, it was Princess Auto and they wanted about $100.00 for a three gallon, +/- pail plus tax and S&H and WHMIS MSDS because it is a chemical, however benign. Needles to say did not pursue that source.

 

[64nailhead]

Northern Regal, you being a member of the LS mafia and all, this is me thinking about an '02, 5.3 for my non G-body '03 S-10. There are videos but most of them are an excuse to flog expensive parts and up things up with hot red wrenches. What I would be looking at is a stock-ish motor; probably do an R-V lift-duration type cam and the matching springs, dropped into the stock cradle using a pair of dedicated motor mounts. There is supposed to be something called a "Muscle pan" which is along the lines of an F-Body pan style with the sump shortened to gain clearance at the crossmember without cutting into it and then having to box in the hole. The big wheeze is the pipes. I would prefer to stay with the stock exhaust manifolds or possibly shorties but they would require me to fab head pipes and deal with O-2 bungs and all that complicating cr*p.

You happen to know of a reliable source or supplier who offers an all in kit for this kind of exercise that doesn't require me to sell off my non-existent first born??



Nick

I don’t want to answer for Duke, but oil pan, motor mounts and wiring are the Ls swap expenses.

A stick f-body pan will work great, but I’m my area they are like chicken lips. A Tahoe pan will hang down a 1-1.5” depending on your motor mounts. It’s not the greatest setup, but how often do you intend to bottom out the car on the front crossmember? My guess is never. I’ve been running one for over a year (1500 miles or so) and I’ve never had an issue. Tahoe (SUV) pan is free with the motor from the junk yard.

 

[Northernregal]

Northern Regal, you being a member of the LS mafia and all, this is me thinking about an '02, 5.3 for my non G-body '03 S-10. There are videos but most of them are an excuse to flog expensive parts and up things up with hot red wrenches. What I would be looking at is a stock-ish motor; probably do an R-V lift-duration type cam and the matching springs, dropped into the stock cradle using a pair of dedicated motor mounts. There is supposed to be something called a "Muscle pan" which is along the lines of an F-Body pan style with the sump shortened to gain clearance at the crossmember without cutting into it and then having to box in the hole. The big wheeze is the pipes. I would prefer to stay with the stock exhaust manifolds or possibly shorties but they would require me to fab head pipes and deal with O-2 bungs and all that complicating cr*p.

You happen to know of a reliable source or supplier who offers an all in kit for this kind of exercise that doesn't require me to sell off my non-existent first born??



Nick

Muscle pan is the Hummer H3 pan, there is a company selling a Holley factory second pan that is a great deal.

Depending on the S-10, late model ZR-2/ZR-4 has different mounts, that would be very easy.

ICT Billet has an LS swap setup and a good guide. I attached the guide.
Here is the swap info site.

ICT Billet LS Swap Guide for Gen III & Gen IV

Shop ICT Billet for great deals on LS parts, LT parts, LS engine swap kits, LT engine swap kits, LS engine parts, LT engine parts and a wide array of high-quality aftermarket automotive products!

www.ictbillet.com

ICT billet is available on Amazon and from summit which ships free and lightning fast to canada if they have the parts in the Ohio warehouse.
Holley makes an S-10 swap system, it costs more but it absolutely will bolt in without issue.

Stock truck manifolds should work, if not the holley cast manifolds are cheap and flow pretty darn well.

I don’t want to answer for Duke, but oil pan, motor mounts and wiring are the Ls swap expenses.

A stick f-body pan will work great, but I’m my area they are like chicken lips. A Tahoe pan will hang down a 1-1.5” depending on your motor mounts. It’s not the greatest setup, but how often do you intend to bottom out the car on the front crossmember? My guess is never. I’ve been running one for over a year (1500 miles or so) and I’ve never had an issue. Tahoe (SUV) pan is free with the motor from the junk yard.

I agree mostly with Jim, I disagree that mounts and pan are the most expensive. The ECU and harness are the most expensive, and probably the most conflicting. Personally, I would go Holley. For one, there are several of us here that run it and we can help. Second, for a stock or cammed setup its super EASY. You can get the stock ECM retuned and probably work the harness over to work. Motorheadmike and 81cutlass went this route and honestly its pretty advanced skill level.

If you are just doing a cam/springs in an otherwise stock motor. Look at the Summit cams, they have a stealth cam that is a beefy torque cam with great idle on stock motors and adds about 70HP when tuned properly.

Find as complete of a donor as you possibly can, try to find a running motor that you can confirm oil pressure and health. If it has oil pressure its probably going to a great swap candidate. Other than that, its pretty straight forward, if you need help or advice there is a swap thread in the LS swap section to get you started.

 

[64nailhead]

MicroSquirt® for LS with 24x Plug and Play Harness – EFI Source

EFI Source supplies Goldbox, MegaSquirt, MicroSquirt, LS, Hemi, Harness, and other programmable EFI systems and products o the performance minded automotive community.

www.efisource.com

$580 for ECU and harness. $390 for ECU only. As long as you're running a non 4l___ trans. If you need the trans controller for a either a 4L60 or 4L80, then the Holley Term X is the cheapest way out at $1100.

Skill level and junkyard ability has alot to do with saving some do re mi. If you want plug -n-play, then you'll need $2500 at a minimum. If you have some ingenuity and fabrication skills then it can pulled off for $1500- again, without a non 4L___ trans.

 

[81cutlass]

Northern Regal, you being a member of the LS mafia and all, this is me thinking about an '02, 5.3 for my non G-body '03 S-10. There are videos but most of them are an excuse to flog expensive parts and up things up with hot red wrenches. What I would be looking at is a stock-ish motor; probably do an R-V lift-duration type cam and the matching springs, dropped into the stock cradle using a pair of dedicated motor mounts. There is supposed to be something called a "Muscle pan" which is along the lines of an F-Body pan style with the sump shortened to gain clearance at the crossmember without cutting into it and then having to box in the hole. The big wheeze is the pipes. I would prefer to stay with the stock exhaust manifolds or possibly shorties but they would require me to fab head pipes and deal with O-2 bungs and all that complicating cr*p.

You happen to know of a reliable source or supplier who offers an all in kit for this kind of exercise that doesn't require me to sell off my non-existent first born??



Nick

The muscle car pan is the biggest hoax in LS swap world. It's maybe 1/2 less than a stock Tahoe pan. If you are going to bottom the gmt800 pan your are going to bottom of the muscle car pan (h3 Hummer)

Tahoe manifolds won't work, they will hit the firewall. Gmt360 v8 (envoy/Rainier) manifolds are a lot more compact but I can't garantee they clear.

Stock ecm is frustrating with HPtuners but if you want to integrate things like cruise, ac, and stock gages because you have an S10 and it's all the same gen electronics you can get them to interface pretty smoothly.

 

[CopperNick]

It's not about the bottoming out of the pan so much as it is about the length of the sump i have seen stock pans used for swaps but in almost all the cases, the swapper cuts away part of the sump and welds in an "L" shaped section to close up the hole. This "Muscle Pan, is supposedly all ready cut down, in fact casted that way. It doesn't compensate by making the smaller sump any deeper. That would make it useless to me as I don't want to have to mess with the front suspension; no stiffer shocks, no custom or performance springs, just run what the factory installed in the first place.

Like what you have suggested about the ECM. This mill is coming to me with a dedicated ecm that matches it so plug and play is about what I am after.

The exhaust manifolds are stock to the motor which is tagged as coming from an 02 Avalanche. They are shorties of a sort and seem to point almost straight down. Could go headers but then have to deal with the plug wires and possibly insulators for them.

And thanks for the feedback. Appreciate the reply and the information. At this point this is just me assembling the correct parts and bits and pieces to do the job as fast as possible once it gets started. I do not want to have it turn into a hanger queen.



Nick

 

[DSPbuilt]

Removed the seats to finish adding the kilmat and install the carpet.
As always snowball effect has kicked in.
In an effort to help my hot start issue. I’m going put a DEI starter heat shield, with the interior apart I’m going to run some 4-0 welding cable to the starter. Also plan to run some from the battery to the block.
Going to pull the dash and start working on the a/c and install the keyless entry/ push button start system.

 

[Northernregal]

It's not about the bottoming out of the pan so much as it is about the length of the sump i have seen stock pans used for swaps but in almost all the cases, the swapper cuts away part of the sump and welds in an "L" shaped section to close up the hole. This "Muscle Pan, is supposedly all ready cut down, in fact casted that way. It doesn't compensate by making the smaller sump any deeper. That would make it useless to me as I don't want to have to mess with the front suspension; no stiffer shocks, no custom or performance springs, just run what the factory installed in the first place.

Like what you have suggested about the ECM. This mill is coming to me with a dedicated ecm that matches it so plug and play is about what I am after.

The exhaust manifolds are stock to the motor which is tagged as coming from an 02 Avalanche. They are shorties of a sort and seem to point almost straight down. Could go headers but then have to deal with the plug wires and possibly insulators for them.

And thanks for the feedback. Appreciate the reply and the information. At this point this is just me assembling the correct parts and bits and pieces to do the job as fast as possible once it gets started. I do not want to have it turn into a hanger queen.



Nick

Depending on the year of the S10 it might be really easy to flash the ecm and go. My ZR2 blazer only needed mounts, headers, and Electric fans. It bolted up to the stock 4L60e and the stock fuel system was adequate for a stock LS.

I did a sector swap from a express van to the stock S10 ecu and only had a few relay box items to clean up. So depending on donor motor and chassis year it MIGHT be really easy.

 

[MrSony]

Just driving it. Enjoying it.

 

[airboatgreg]

Drove the El C to shoot with a couple buddies mine. Met for breakfast, shot clay targets then i decided to take long way home so ended up driving about 75 miles of country road. Made me feel how fortunate and grateful I am.