billsnogo

iTrader: (7)

I bought my 71 nova as a street/strip car, it has a mild 454 (enough for mid 12's with previous owner), th350/2800 stall, 4.10's and a fuel cell with electric pump. I enjoy it, but the bbc gets about 7mpg and I never have gone to the drag strip with it (any dragstrip is at least 1.5 hrs each way and I have no truck to tow it with).

Sooooo.... I am thinking about selling the 454/th350 in favor for either a 5.3, or a 6.0L truck motor and either a 460le or 480le. I drive a 2002 3/4ton at work that has an lq4, and it is pretty respectable, and should do even better in a 1500-2000lbs lighter car. So with the lousy gas mileage, high cost of gas, and no real place to race that these motors should get me twice the mileage I currently get with still a little pep in the petal.

The 6.0 has about what, 35 more hp? It is harder to find and cost more because of that. On car-parts website I can get a 6.0 with 87k on it for $775. I don't know how complete it is though.

The 5.3 gets about what, 3-5mpg more? It is easier to find and again on car-parts website can be had for $350 with 74K on it, or $1100 with 20K on an aluminum L33.

I don't know if it is stupid, but I am thinking maybe about buying a cheap 5.3 and keeping it stock, and as time and money permits (not to mention the hp bug hits) upgrade to a modded 6.0. Would this be a easy swap if I already have a running stock 5.3 in the car?

I am brand spanking new to these motors and have been reading this forum on and off, but am still so lost. So I need a few answers and honest opinions from the members here.

1.Would I be better off just staying with what I have do to the cost of swapping in these motors.
2.Should I buy a “complete package” off of ebay instead of hoping to find one at a junkyard off of car-part.
3.Can a tailhousing off of a 700-r4 be put on a 4le60 to allow me to add a drive and riven gear to work my speedometer?
4.Is it possible to get cruise control with a drive by wire throttle body, and did they come on all 2003+ motors?
5.Can a 4le80 fit in a third gen novas tranny tunnel?
6.The whole wiring harness/pcm has me worried to. The cost of aftermarket harnesses seem pretty pricey, and I don't know how to mod a factory harness, but want to keep the OBDII plug-in for diagnostics. If I go with a factory harness, what ones will not work?

Thanks if you made it through this far on the post, and thanks even more for any helpful info you can give.

LS1 Coupe

The 454 has never impressed me, I have driven a few and ridden in a few, I am sure there are a few that are impressive, but for gas milage I have never heard of a 454 getting past 12mpg and thats bone stock on a good day. As for the 5.3 or 6L truck engine, there good motors as well as the car engines that are considerably lighter with the aluminum block and better intake manifolds. With current gas pricing I would unload the 454 as quick as possible if your gonna drag race it, A lot of guys like the big block and will get you well on your way with some cash for the swapout, as for doing the swapout I would look for a complete kit, this is what I did engine/trans and all accessories with computer and wiring, in the long run a bit cheaper than buying wiring harnesses, ecms, transmission & controllers and then mix and mash it all together especially if your not all that familiar with the later model engines like myself. I got my setup through these guys, they have a full variety of early LT1 through the LS7 variation. Do some seraching on EBay.

http://stores.ebay.com/Fparts_Engine...QQftidZ2QQtZkm

G-Body

iTrader: (4)

1. Depends on how much you drive the car, the swap probably won`t pay for itself in fuel mileage but when you add in the cold starts, wide power band and dependability it starts to look better.
2. I bought mine from a junkyard on car-part, you can get a good deal if you research it and make a list of all the little parts you need. It might take a few calls to find a yard that keeps all the parts together for the motors though.
3. Sorta, it requires an adapter to make it fit (IIRC jags that run sells um??)Anyway there really isn`t a cheap solution there the adapters pretty expensive as are the motor drive boxes that use an electric motor to turn the speedo, I just mounted the guts from a electric speedo into my factory cluster.
4. Yes cruise with DBW is a 4 wire hookup, just hook the switch in.
5. Define fit, I can get anything to fit.....that 4.3L bolts into the chevette.....the second time around. But seriously I really have no idea, hopefully someone else can help with this
6. Any of the harnesses can work, just stick with the one that came with the motor and trans and that will be the easiest.

As far as fuel mileage I know that everyone says the 6.0L trucks suck fuel, but if you swap the motors into a lighter car they don`t seem to get that much different fuel mileage. Seems to me that the 6.0L only gets maybe 1-3mpg worse. But then again my fuel mileage figures seem to be backwards of what they should be, every time I get a bigger engine my mileage goes up......4cyl cavalier = 10-13mpg, 305v8 ElCamino = 13-15, 5.3L ElCamino = 14-16.........and yes I do drive very hard