stmotorsports

long story short, this would be going into my 54 chevy project so emissions/etc are not a concern.

so I found this guy locally who has a swap that was pieced together by its previous owner. The motor is an ls1 out of 98 camaro with allegedly only 45k and is 99% complete, only missing ps pump and acc brackets. The trans, pcm and harness are out of an 04 silverado with ~80k. The guy wants just upwards of 2k for everything. I know the pcm can be flashed to make everything work together (probably?), and I was planning on swapping at least the cam and probably an ls6 intake right off the bat anyways.

I'm just wondering if it's worth it to begin with, then what else will have to be invested to get it all running & driving correctly, and will the truck gearing suck *** when all is said & done, or are the differences in gearing not really enough to be all that noticeable?

thoughts? any other issues I haven't thought of?

tia

Pop N Wood

iTrader: (1)

This site usually has a good selection of engines. It gives a good idea of what going prices for a complete, warrantied pull out. You can do better if you source locally, but for the most part their prices are good. The place has a positive rep. They only list a fraction of the motors they actually sell, so calling them can often find a better match to what you want.

http://stores.shop.ebay.com/Fparts_E...34Q2ec0Q2em322

The pre 00 motors are worth less than the later motors. The site above has a 38k mile, 99 LS1 with matching auto trans for $2600 and a higher mile 98 for $1800.

So price wise what you are looking at is good but not exactly a smoking deal. Buying locally will save you shipping, but also will not get you a warranty and also won't guarantee you have everything you need. Brackets can get pricey for these cars. The F body ones seem to be the most popular too.

gofastwclass

iTrader: (2)

Another contender are the "truck" engines, essentially the same stock as the car (Vette, Camaro, GTO) engines but in iron and MUCH cheaper with 3 displacements, 4.8, 5.3 (most common) and 6.0. Last one I picked up was compete 2000 5.3 (wiring, accessories, PCM, etc) for $550 while the 1998 Vette engine on a crate next to it with 35K more miles was in the range of $3000+. You save ~80 lbs with the aluminum block but in a 50's truck the weight won't kill you and for low $$ the ugly truck intake will clear the hood. Even after converting mine to a used car intake (at least 3.5" shorter and better looking), rail, injectors I still had money left for a Vette or Camaro accessory drive from GMPD (cheaper than you would think) depending on how you want things to look and lay out. One thing to remember on accessories, the Vette has the shortest damper, the Camaro / GTO / CTS is next and the truck sticks out the farthest. Most aftermarket stuff I have seen works off the Camaro.

You may want to check out the "budget LS Swap" stickied here. Lots of good swap info for beginners, kind of takes the scare out of it.

CalEditor

iTrader: (1)

This would do just fine.
You will need to decide if you are going to run a Throttle Cable or not and then the PCM will need to be Calibrated accordingly.
The 98 Engine had a cable and the 04 truck is probably ETC.

stmotorsports

wow thx for the great info & links guys

I've been going over the budget swap guide and the comments here and I think I might try looking around for a truck swap before I jump on the one I mentioned. Seems like I may as well since there are just too many drawbacks for that price- I'll still need to supply the missing parts, then get the pcm reflashed, plus track down a car harness because the truck harness isnt exactly pretty and is quite a bit of work to get it looking pretty. Obviously being a hotrod, I'm going to want everything to be at least presentable. Figuring all this in it would end up being closer to 3k and definitely not worth it if I can get similar enough done for half of that

there has to be noticeable difference in the gearing between the car & truck trannys tho, right? I'm thinking if anything I would want to go the complete opposite of the swap I mentioned ie- truck engine with the car trans, that way its the cheaper yet close enough engine with the car gearing. Although ideally I'd like to stay away from having the pcm reflashed, at least not until I get into swapping intake and/or cam, etc

gonna start calling around locally tomorrow am to see if anyone has anything worth looking at

jomomma

iTrader: (39)

the truck harness wont just plug into the camaro engine. some of the sensors are in different locations on the harness than the motor.

stmotorsports

yeah I've since learned that also, which makes it a little more of a pain since i think I've decided I want to go truck motor (probably lq4), with the vette looking top end (rail covers, etc) so i won't be able to use a truck harness anyways

stmotorsports

so how much difference is there in gearing between cars and trucks? would I be ok with a trans out of say an express van or 2wd silverado? or should I really try to find one out of a car?

kj598bbc

I'm not sure about the difference in gearing, but i dont believe its significant enough to warrant a CAR trans. I'd shoot for a Lq9 (for the higher compression and hp) takeout and keep the truck accy, but do an awesome detail job.

gofastwclass

iTrader: (2)

Same setup I use. Injector connections are different as is the location of the MAP sensor. The other differences I found were things I was deleting anyway. To make a truck harness not go across the top of the engine and cover your pretty intake you have to mod it so what's the difference? Option 2, spend $400 - $900 for a custom harness... Yeah right!