SlowestTransAm

First of all - I'm not even sure if this is the right place for this so I apologize if this is the wrong page.

All my knowledge of cars is modern 1990+. I can do most things in my own garage - heads, exhaust systems, fuel systems, turbo's, etc... I never have owned a classic car nor have I pulled an engine, swapped or gone further than swapping a set of heads.

I'm inheriting a 1957 Ford Del Rio Wagon from a relative who passed away. The motor is in pieces and his wife nor I know how much work it needs or what he is missing. My thoughts were to do an LS1 swap. I'm looking for some speed (nothing crazy by any means) and reliability.

Anyone with knowledge of doing LS1 swaps into classic or anyone for that matter give me some input?

• How much should I be looking at for a running/working assembled LS1 motor? (sub 50-100k miles)
  
• Motor mounts? Will this job require to make my own mounting points?
• Transmission?
  
• Clearance issue's? I assume I will have plenty of space but I am looking for working AC/Heat/the works. This will be a cruiser, not a racecar.
  
• Is there a website that sells LS1 swap specific parts? I found several for Miata's, Nissan 240, etc...
  
• Is an LS1 just too much for this car? Am I going to snap an axle as soon as I put this in and take her out?

I'm sure I'll have more questions as I think about this.

Thanks in advance.

ckaram

iTrader: (1)

I paid $5000 for a 2004 GTO LS1/T56 pullout. Computer, harness and pedals included. Had 67,000 miles. There are deals to be had apparently, but I looked for 6 months and this was pretty typical for the year range and miles I was after.

76larkman

I would find a rusty donor truck/suv scrap it. nothing wrong with a 5.3 or 6.0 combo. cheap to get a hold of. Im in iowa and know where bunch of 5.3s are & 1 6.0. The 6.0 has 99k on it come with everything but tranny for $1000. the 5.3 with 4l60e can get you for $800 dressed. You would have shipping to pay. around here you can get a rusty driver under $1500. you sell off stuff scrap rest for some money back.

SlowestTransAm

Found a nice LS2 with 80k for $3,900 off craigslist. Wasn't sure if that was a good deal or not. No tranny, clean looking.

76larkman

I would think for that you would get tranny. I got lucky on my last deal. $500 I got a 06 silverado motor /tranny complete 100k with everything wanted but had to pull it. luck was they had front off 3 days before i got it. dont get in hurry something will come up. my buick I bought L33 5.3 complete no tranny off ebay 42k $2300. motor is great but wasnt cheapest way to go. rebuilt tranny was $700. It was my first since then bought 2 more but like said cheaper. Look into Just chevy trucks.com, they are your direction. Have motor packages on ebay ready to go in.

1989GTA

Seeing as it is a Ford and its sounds like a daily driver type car maybe you might want to check out some of the newer Ford offerings in motors and drive train.

tfi racing

iTrader: (2)

Save your money.Should be able to grab a decent 5.3/4L60E complete combo for half that money in your part of the world.Truck intake and accessories should clear with room to spare in a barge of that vintage,wasn't 1957 or so when Ford introduced that weak suck of a rear end called the nine inch?

M_Minnick

iTrader: (1)

Looking on car-part.com I see a bunch of 5.3's available in Temple Hills for $650. A couple of them have less than 75k miles.

Mike

oldgoat69

I agree that you should be able to find a good 5.3 or 6.0 and trans for under $2000.00 . Make sure to get EVERYTHING when you buy. Wiring harness matching PCM or ECU and the trans controller if a later model. Brackets and the accessories would be very helpful. The truck bracket layout has the AC compressor low on the passenger side. If I recall the frame architecture of the 57 Ford that should work for you. Brendon at www.lt1swaps.com has a good resource for modifying the harness and he can flash your PCM if you use the red/blue or green/blue style. If you go with the later style there are several others that can do a basic tune for you.
Ask tons of questions before you spend money. There are lots of combinations that just will not play well together. In any event I would advocate DBW since everything packages up so nicely and by all means stay with the EFI.

Project GatTagO

iTrader: (7)

What engine is in that car now? Is that car full frame?

I doubt that anyone makes swap mounts, but if it is a full frame car, you should be able to make motor mounts fairly easily.

Also, Ford liked front sump pans. Does the engine that is in there have a front or rear sump pan?

This swap isn't going to be trivial, I can tell you that right now. I thought my 67 Cougar swap was going to be straightforward, but there were a lot of issues to resolve, and I have done several swaps before.

Andrew

1950_Buick

How bad is the current engine?

You can get a complete rebuild kit for $1700 off of ebay http://www.ebay.com/itm/Master-Engin...381565&vxp=mtr

How good of shape is the wagon? It's not one of those cars that are sought after, however, they aren't too common either so depending on shape it could be worth something or not... I guess what I'm getting at, is remove sentimentality of the vehicle, i.e. passed on to you by a relative and take a hard look at it.

An LS swap is always going to cost you much more than you anticipate - if you want to keep the car and it has worth, well then price doesn't factor, on the other hand, if you are doing the swap to enhance the value to sell... i would think again and just do a rebuild to get it running.

just my $.02 worth!

tuske427

iTrader: (1)

I'd say you're in the right place.

The good news is there are so many options and ways to do this swap you can do it how you want to (buying parts or making parts). The bad news is there are so many options and parts for these swaps it's difficult to say that there is one way to go about it, or one parts place, etc.

11 years ago I swapped an LS1 in a '57 Plymouth. (yes, this pissed off the purists. Nope, didn't care) At that time options were considerably fewer. Aside from shorty headers the engine was stock. LS to small block chevy adaptor plates and mounts were used and this was mounted to brackets welded to the frame. The stock rear axle was used and I added disc brakes to it. It was a cruiser and this combo worked fine for me. I think you'll be fine with your axle as long as you're not drag racing this.

Transmission- Try to use the one that comes with the LS engine. As mentioned get a complete take out assembly if you can. the computer plugs into the trans so it'll be the easiest way to do this. Besides, you'll have overdrive and the torque converter will lock up as designed. If you can weld then make your own crossmember.

What will be important is setting up your engine/ trans angle, the rear axle "pinion angle" and setting up the operating angles of your driveshaft. You'll want to first determine the ride height of your car and you should be able to calculate the rest. Once you determine your ride height, body rake, etc, then you want to have the engine and transmission angle back maybe 3º down (transmission pointing downward) or so. I believe this is to allow the steam to escape from the cylinder heads towards the radiator hoses. Here are a few links on the subjects which is good reading. They helped me with my current build (LS1 '67 Firebird) and I don't have any drivetrain vibrations.

http://www.pro-touring.com/threads/1...ck-Performance

This link above is obviously aimed at PT, however, it's still good info to help understand the basics and there is info on leaf spring suspension in there. More importantly there is info on setting up the pinion angle.


more info on driveshafts and operating angles:

http://www.driveshaftshop.com/angle-calibration
http://www.driveshaftshop.com/driveshafts-101
http://www.iedls.com/Education-Zone.asp
http://www.hotrodhotline.com/md/html..._harmonics.php

Don't let this intimidate you, it's not nearly as difficult to set this up as it might first appear by all the reading.


Unless you're saavy with electrical wiring I recommend you either send the wiring harness out to get it converted to a stand alone set up or buy one. They come with the wires labeled making assembly and life much easier. Sure, you could modify the harness yourself (there are folks here who do this and the info how to is on this site, as well as how to videos on youtube) but I find this service money well spent.

I've personally had good service with Speartech for wiring harness modification (used them 2x), as well as Painless Performance (standalone harness)

Also, with this swap you may want to consider also upgrading your brakes and car's wiring. Any late model engine will likely exceed the abilities of the stock 1957 wiring and brakes. Good grounds are especially important on an LS engine.

I hope this is helpful.

wilnutt

Whatever happened here?

243

Hard to say, it's been three years since the thread started...and ended.

wilnutt

I think it's funny how if you post a question in a forum, people tell you to search the site. But, if you ACTUALLY search the site and try to look into an older post you're curious about, people want to make passive or smart remarks about digging up a dead thread.

G Atsma

I think some people will find the thread and comment or ask about it as if the OP is still around, when many time there might be 10 years gone! I will comment on it in a nice way just to make sure the new poster knows what's going on.

wilnutt

10.4 captain, I appreciate it. ;-)

BillyFargon

Big problem I am finding while researching before asking is the whole photo-bucket fiasco.. There info is there just not linked anymore

243

Don't take it personal, I have brought a post back from the dead on accident and intentionally, in this case the OP has not logged on since 8/15 so what I said was true

Project GatTagO

iTrader: (7)

There is a Firefox and Chrom plug-ins that fix the problem.

Andrew