Any 4.8 swaps out there??
07-13-2011, 02:22 PM
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Any 4.8 swaps out there?? Like the title says, any 4.8 swaps. I know it is easier to nut up and get a 5.7 6.0 ls motor. But since I have a family and the wife hates me to spend my money on my car. I am looking at doing a really low budget swap into a 88 GT I have… I Really like the 4.8 because they are so cheap and can be rev'd past 7k. I am thinking a lil 4.8 with a glide and turbo. I tried the search button and nada…Eddie
07-13-2011, 04:27 PM
#2
DO IT!
I have a 4.8L in my nova now.
I think I would have done it from the beginning if I could have.
If you want down the road, you can punch the block out and put a stock LS1 rotating assembly in and re-flash the ECM!
If you can get all of the parts, go for it.
I bought my 4.8L for $100!
I have a 4.8L in my nova now.
I think I would have done it from the beginning if I could have.
If you want down the road, you can punch the block out and put a stock LS1 rotating assembly in and re-flash the ECM!
If you can get all of the parts, go for it.
I bought my 4.8L for $100!
07-13-2011, 04:41 PM
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I had a 4.8 in my 84 cutlass that I bought the engine for $200. I ran it for a year and it ran low 8's 1/8 mile in a 3400lb car on street tires with a 2.0 60ft. It was definitely fun and embarrassed a lot of people on the street. I had a tsp220r cam and pacesetter longtubes and it pulled good all the way to 7k. I think they are great motors and can be bought really cheap. I now have a 6.0 in the car due to wanting to always go faster but I never once had a complaint about the 4.8 engine.
07-13-2011, 05:22 PM
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This is great guys!!! ChicagoTDP where did you that motor for $100 bucks??? Right now on ebay I am looking at a 05-06 4.8 out of a van for $199 but shipping would kill me..Eddie
07-13-2011, 05:24 PM
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B_evans06, That is what I want to do, embarrass people, when they ask me what you got in that thing, just a little 4.8. I mean alot of guys swap in 4.6 cobra motors, why not do it with a lil 4.8… Ed
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07-15-2011, 10:37 PM
#8
I recently bought a 4.8l LY2, this is a gen 4 not a gen 3 and they get better heads. I got $740 in mine as is sits but thats with all accessories, eng and trans computers, the 4l60e trans blah blah blah. This set up had 61k on it. I would say if you buy one get absolutely as much stuff with it as possible. Hell a $40 dollar item here and there with $15 to ship it to you.... Do that a few times and a $200 or $300 engine can start knocking on the $700 mark easy. BTW the motor and motor related items on my purchase was $450, the 4l60 trans and related stuff made up the rest.
"If you want down the road, you can punch the block out and put a stock LS1 rotating assembly in and re-flash the ECM!"
Man that one really seams interesting to me and I have hashed #'s till my head hurts. The snag is these arent gen one small block chevys. You can probably buy a kit for on old school sbc with rings, bearings and gasket ect for maybe $200 if that. You will be around or over $200 just in rod, main, and cam bearings for these ls motors. $100 for rings, $300 to $500 in the machine shop, maybe $200 to $300 in the used rotating assembly...... Complete 6.0L's are cheaper
"I am thinking a lil 4.8 with a glide and turbo"
I am a turbo buick guy and from some one with turbo experience There are a few things that make the 4.8's the best "bone stock" and add a turbo candidate.
#1 you absolutely do not need big motors to make big power with turbos. IF the 4.8's came with forged cranks, rods, and pistons, you would only need a cam and valve spring swap to go over 1000hp with a proper turbo and fuel set up. Look into any car niche with ALOT of turbo experience and Look at thier HP per liter or HP per cubic inch numbers.
#2 The 4.8l has the lowest compression. There is an advantage to having extra compression in a turbo motor, and they will easily make more HP at a lower boost number than a low compression motor. The problem is they wind up running such low boost they almost never get into the boost ranges where turbos really wake up. An example was my '89 turbo trans am (3.8L turbo buick powered). The car ran good at 16#'s but have it floored and at 16#'s of boost and start cranking the in car boost controller up to 23#'s and its like hitting nitrous. Crank it a little more and hit 30#'s it runs a little stronger yet, both cases you upped the boost by 7#'s but the gain from 23 to 30 is nothing like the gain from 16 to 23. Anyway turbos have a "sweet spot" and alot of your higher compression turbo guys arent getting into it.
#3 you have the 2 basic cranks, the 3.622" stroke cranks found in the 5.3L, 5.7L, and the 6.0L engines. Then you have the little 3.267" stroke cranks found only in the 4.8L's. Do you know what happens to a crank when you shorten the stroke? It gets stronger, and forced induction motors dont need big cranks, they need strong ones. I didnt want a a 4.8L for a possible turbo build because the thought of spinning it to 7k was a selling point, but rather the thought that I might be able to run a few more pounds of boost on that shorter stroke crank.
theres a another point or two but its getting late and I need to log off. Im not saying that turbo4.8s are going to be running circles around properly set up turbo 6.0s but the little 3.8 turbo Buicks have been making people scratch their heads in disbelief for 25 years now, and weve been doing that with crappy crappy crappy iron heads.
HTH: Jason
"If you want down the road, you can punch the block out and put a stock LS1 rotating assembly in and re-flash the ECM!"
Man that one really seams interesting to me and I have hashed #'s till my head hurts. The snag is these arent gen one small block chevys. You can probably buy a kit for on old school sbc with rings, bearings and gasket ect for maybe $200 if that. You will be around or over $200 just in rod, main, and cam bearings for these ls motors. $100 for rings, $300 to $500 in the machine shop, maybe $200 to $300 in the used rotating assembly...... Complete 6.0L's are cheaper
"I am thinking a lil 4.8 with a glide and turbo"
I am a turbo buick guy and from some one with turbo experience There are a few things that make the 4.8's the best "bone stock" and add a turbo candidate.
#1 you absolutely do not need big motors to make big power with turbos. IF the 4.8's came with forged cranks, rods, and pistons, you would only need a cam and valve spring swap to go over 1000hp with a proper turbo and fuel set up. Look into any car niche with ALOT of turbo experience and Look at thier HP per liter or HP per cubic inch numbers.
#2 The 4.8l has the lowest compression. There is an advantage to having extra compression in a turbo motor, and they will easily make more HP at a lower boost number than a low compression motor. The problem is they wind up running such low boost they almost never get into the boost ranges where turbos really wake up. An example was my '89 turbo trans am (3.8L turbo buick powered). The car ran good at 16#'s but have it floored and at 16#'s of boost and start cranking the in car boost controller up to 23#'s and its like hitting nitrous. Crank it a little more and hit 30#'s it runs a little stronger yet, both cases you upped the boost by 7#'s but the gain from 23 to 30 is nothing like the gain from 16 to 23. Anyway turbos have a "sweet spot" and alot of your higher compression turbo guys arent getting into it.
#3 you have the 2 basic cranks, the 3.622" stroke cranks found in the 5.3L, 5.7L, and the 6.0L engines. Then you have the little 3.267" stroke cranks found only in the 4.8L's. Do you know what happens to a crank when you shorten the stroke? It gets stronger, and forced induction motors dont need big cranks, they need strong ones. I didnt want a a 4.8L for a possible turbo build because the thought of spinning it to 7k was a selling point, but rather the thought that I might be able to run a few more pounds of boost on that shorter stroke crank.
theres a another point or two but its getting late and I need to log off. Im not saying that turbo4.8s are going to be running circles around properly set up turbo 6.0s but the little 3.8 turbo Buicks have been making people scratch their heads in disbelief for 25 years now, and weve been doing that with crappy crappy crappy iron heads.
HTH: Jason
07-16-2011, 03:26 PM
#11
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I recently bought a 4.8l LY2, this is a gen 4 not a gen 3 and they get better heads. I got $740 in mine as is sits but thats with all accessories, eng and trans computers, the 4l60e trans blah blah blah. This set up had 61k on it. I would say if you buy one get absolutely as much stuff with it as possible. Hell a $40 dollar item here and there with $15 to ship it to you.... Do that a few times and a $200 or $300 engine can start knocking on the $700 mark easy. BTW the motor and motor related items on my purchase was $450, the 4l60 trans and related stuff made up the rest.
"If you want down the road, you can punch the block out and put a stock LS1 rotating assembly in and re-flash the ECM!"
Man that one really seams interesting to me and I have hashed #'s till my head hurts. The snag is these arent gen one small block chevys. You can probably buy a kit for on old school sbc with rings, bearings and gasket ect for maybe $200 if that. You will be around or over $200 just in rod, main, and cam bearings for these ls motors. $100 for rings, $300 to $500 in the machine shop, maybe $200 to $300 in the used rotating assembly...... Complete 6.0L's are cheaper
"I am thinking a lil 4.8 with a glide and turbo"
I am a turbo buick guy and from some one with turbo experience There are a few things that make the 4.8's the best "bone stock" and add a turbo candidate.
#1 you absolutely do not need big motors to make big power with turbos. IF the 4.8's came with forged cranks, rods, and pistons, you would only need a cam and valve spring swap to go over 1000hp with a proper turbo and fuel set up. Look into any car niche with ALOT of turbo experience and Look at thier HP per liter or HP per cubic inch numbers.
#2 The 4.8l has the lowest compression. There is an advantage to having extra compression in a turbo motor, and they will easily make more HP at a lower boost number than a low compression motor. The problem is they wind up running such low boost they almost never get into the boost ranges where turbos really wake up. An example was my '89 turbo trans am (3.8L turbo buick powered). The car ran good at 16#'s but have it floored and at 16#'s of boost and start cranking the in car boost controller up to 23#'s and its like hitting nitrous. Crank it a little more and hit 30#'s it runs a little stronger yet, both cases you upped the boost by 7#'s but the gain from 23 to 30 is nothing like the gain from 16 to 23. Anyway turbos have a "sweet spot" and alot of your higher compression turbo guys arent getting into it.
#3 you have the 2 basic cranks, the 3.622" stroke cranks found in the 5.3L, 5.7L, and the 6.0L engines. Then you have the little 3.267" stroke cranks found only in the 4.8L's. Do you know what happens to a crank when you shorten the stroke? It gets stronger, and forced induction motors dont need big cranks, they need strong ones. I didnt want a a 4.8L for a possible turbo build because the thought of spinning it to 7k was a selling point, but rather the thought that I might be able to run a few more pounds of boost on that shorter stroke crank.
theres a another point or two but its getting late and I need to log off. Im not saying that turbo4.8s are going to be running circles around properly set up turbo 6.0s but the little 3.8 turbo Buicks have been making people scratch their heads in disbelief for 25 years now, and weve been doing that with crappy crappy crappy iron heads.
HTH: Jason
"If you want down the road, you can punch the block out and put a stock LS1 rotating assembly in and re-flash the ECM!"
Man that one really seams interesting to me and I have hashed #'s till my head hurts. The snag is these arent gen one small block chevys. You can probably buy a kit for on old school sbc with rings, bearings and gasket ect for maybe $200 if that. You will be around or over $200 just in rod, main, and cam bearings for these ls motors. $100 for rings, $300 to $500 in the machine shop, maybe $200 to $300 in the used rotating assembly...... Complete 6.0L's are cheaper
"I am thinking a lil 4.8 with a glide and turbo"
I am a turbo buick guy and from some one with turbo experience There are a few things that make the 4.8's the best "bone stock" and add a turbo candidate.
#1 you absolutely do not need big motors to make big power with turbos. IF the 4.8's came with forged cranks, rods, and pistons, you would only need a cam and valve spring swap to go over 1000hp with a proper turbo and fuel set up. Look into any car niche with ALOT of turbo experience and Look at thier HP per liter or HP per cubic inch numbers.
#2 The 4.8l has the lowest compression. There is an advantage to having extra compression in a turbo motor, and they will easily make more HP at a lower boost number than a low compression motor. The problem is they wind up running such low boost they almost never get into the boost ranges where turbos really wake up. An example was my '89 turbo trans am (3.8L turbo buick powered). The car ran good at 16#'s but have it floored and at 16#'s of boost and start cranking the in car boost controller up to 23#'s and its like hitting nitrous. Crank it a little more and hit 30#'s it runs a little stronger yet, both cases you upped the boost by 7#'s but the gain from 23 to 30 is nothing like the gain from 16 to 23. Anyway turbos have a "sweet spot" and alot of your higher compression turbo guys arent getting into it.
#3 you have the 2 basic cranks, the 3.622" stroke cranks found in the 5.3L, 5.7L, and the 6.0L engines. Then you have the little 3.267" stroke cranks found only in the 4.8L's. Do you know what happens to a crank when you shorten the stroke? It gets stronger, and forced induction motors dont need big cranks, they need strong ones. I didnt want a a 4.8L for a possible turbo build because the thought of spinning it to 7k was a selling point, but rather the thought that I might be able to run a few more pounds of boost on that shorter stroke crank.
theres a another point or two but its getting late and I need to log off. Im not saying that turbo4.8s are going to be running circles around properly set up turbo 6.0s but the little 3.8 turbo Buicks have been making people scratch their heads in disbelief for 25 years now, and weve been doing that with crappy crappy crappy iron heads.
HTH: Jason
Bozz
07-16-2011, 04:02 PM
#12
07-17-2011, 01:53 AM
#15
WOW!! they are saying over 1000hp on stock internals....yeash!
I was thinking 700 or so would be easy and pretty reliable, but that was just a guess based off of my buick experience. I think it really comes down to all the knowledge out there about making big HP with turbos and not breaking stuff. I'd bet a few bucks that if you tried to make 1000 hp on that stock stuff 10 years ago you wouldnt have done it with out breaking stuff...... the horse power gods where not very nice to turbo guys not to long ago.
I was thinking 700 or so would be easy and pretty reliable, but that was just a guess based off of my buick experience. I think it really comes down to all the knowledge out there about making big HP with turbos and not breaking stuff. I'd bet a few bucks that if you tried to make 1000 hp on that stock stuff 10 years ago you wouldnt have done it with out breaking stuff...... the horse power gods where not very nice to turbo guys not to long ago.
07-17-2011, 02:28 AM
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Uhhh try 1360 FWHP on a stock 6.0... for a season... on one engine. Look that one up. I remember a video somewhere of a stock 6.0 block and crank living up to 1900hp on an engine dyno before self destructing, but I cannot find the information/video on it. It was quite a long time ago.
and here's a 4.8 swap for ya... https://ls1tech.com/forums/forced-in...ock-4-8-a.html
Cam swap, 60mm turbos, 7700rpm... STOCK EVERYTHING ELSE. BTW that's a low 9 when converted to 1/4.
You won't be disappointed by the 4.8... It's what Im starting my jet boat build with. I sold my 5.3
It will eventually get a 6.0 when I blow a few 4.8s up. The 4.8/5.3 as a block should be the strongest of all LS series block due to the cylinder wall thickness. The 4.8 has a shorter stroke crank (that's living to almost 8,000rpms...) Talk about the underdog junkyard engine of the century...
and here's a 4.8 swap for ya... https://ls1tech.com/forums/forced-in...ock-4-8-a.html
Cam swap, 60mm turbos, 7700rpm... STOCK EVERYTHING ELSE. BTW that's a low 9 when converted to 1/4.
You won't be disappointed by the 4.8... It's what Im starting my jet boat build with. I sold my 5.3
It will eventually get a 6.0 when I blow a few 4.8s up. The 4.8/5.3 as a block should be the strongest of all LS series block due to the cylinder wall thickness. The 4.8 has a shorter stroke crank (that's living to almost 8,000rpms...) Talk about the underdog junkyard engine of the century... Last edited by Adam Connell; 07-17-2011 at 02:35 AM.
07-17-2011, 05:30 AM
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fwiw, i bought my 5.3/4l60e, computer, harness, manifolds, head pipes(for 02 bungs, stock airbox, all accessories, everything i needed for the swap into my 85 swb. i paid $1500 for all of it and spent another $1500 on all the tank, pump, mounts, fittings, new radiator, and all the heres and theres putting it in. just thought i'd throw a few numbers out there at ya. you can spend 3k real fast on an old sbc and have the same torque and not have the driveability. you couldn't have slapped the smile off my face the first time i fired it up on a -15 degree night.
granted, i don't rod the bag outta my truck and did the swap mainly for overdrive, reliability, and driveability.
granted, i don't rod the bag outta my truck and did the swap mainly for overdrive, reliability, and driveability.
07-17-2011, 08:37 AM
#19
07-17-2011, 09:59 AM
#20
I will take a stock 4.8 ovet a warmed over lt1 any day of the yr.
My dd 4.8 has 350k miles. On the clock.
My project gta is built around a 4.8 shortblock. 317 heads.ls9 gaskets. And still tryn to decide to use my procharger or tc78. I expect 20+psig on pump gas yhru built a3 and 12bolt rear
My dd 4.8 has 350k miles. On the clock.
My project gta is built around a 4.8 shortblock. 317 heads.ls9 gaskets. And still tryn to decide to use my procharger or tc78. I expect 20+psig on pump gas yhru built a3 and 12bolt rear