New to building. I have an interest in building for longevity. Im reading a lot about how you should not use the LSX 454 with boost as the walls are thin. My question is what would be a proper application for someone using the lsx 454. My second question is if Im interested in building cars that are enthusiasts builds (coming over from the world of building pcs, we build stuff just because) how can I tell what small block v8 will fit in what car. For example will a lsx 376 fit in a hevy ss sedan how are you able to find out what motor will fit in what car?

 

ALL LS-type engines are the same external size, so a 6.2 will fit anywhere a 4.8 will. There are tons of books about LS engines. Read a few of them.

 

that's some nice gatekeeping there

 

People come here all the time looking for the absolute quickest possible answers to questions found here on this site in abundance. And quite simply, for your last question - there is no one size fits all answer and you did not post what vehicles you are considering for engine swaps into - and we are not clairvoyant. So until then, get out your tape measure and note pad and start walking the junk yards. Take a lot of measurements and notes to learn that you probably can't answer the question perfectly anyway until you are well into the actual swap on your desired vehicle.

Its not gate keeping or goal tending. Its us measuring how serious you are about doing swaps before we pour a bunch of time into answering your harder questions later on.

Rick

 

As others mentioned please be specific.

Seems like if a 2.5 liter inline 4 cylinder fit then an LS engine with displacement from 4.8 liters to 7.4 liters of some sort can be swapped in with work. If it had a V8 or inline 6 an LS will probably physically fit.

Saturn Sky & Porsche 924 or 944 are two examples of 4 cylinder cars that can accommodate an LS swap. Likewise with a Pantera to Porsche 911 or Datsun 260Z etc.

Wiring harness, tuning can be a challenge.

Mating an LS to a non GM transmission can be a challenge.

 

Thank you Rick!
The above is typical of those completely ignorant of their situation, yet will not do any homework that applies to their situation. His question indicates his supposition that LS engines come in different external sizes, which indicates he has done NO research into the matter. A bit pompous if you ask me.

 

theres no dialog. When people come to me asking about pc building on a FORUM, its because they want to learn. Thats the point of a FORUM the season people can teach the younger people it helps push the COMMUNITY FORWARD. Afterall that is what FOURMS are for. Info gathering. And Id be buying crate. Id like a blank canvas no issues or worrying about what the last owner did or didnt do.

 

are you kidding me that's how this works you have questions you're supposed to get answers. I did not come in assuming anything rather asking questions. For instance as you two are saying the ls is the same size but per my question the car may not accommodate certian engine configurations with out fabrcation. An SS is the same as the GTRS W1 but will not fit an LS9 that is in the W1 with out moving things around so my question is valid how would one know which Ls fits in what application. Who hurt some of yall lol

 

You're absolutely correct.. This is a FORUM where people are able to come in and ask questions in hopes of finding answers and every once in awhile there's those who actually share their knowledge. I myself am guilty of posting a thread on a topic without doing some research on the subject and I could usually find my answers on the forum after doing a little research. A tall deck 454LSX can handle boost but it should be built for it as the General's crate engine probably not gonna hang. Also fitting one into certain engine compartments can get a little tricky too but if a standard deck LSX454 keep it NA.

BTW.....Welcome to LS1Tech!

 

OK, I get it. You need to have specific questions, not just general "I know nothing about this stuff" queries. That is why I mentioned reading up on this stuff, so you will be more up to speed on LS engines. Any time you want to learn, there will be homework.

 

OP you've already learned some things about LS engines. G Atsma pointed out that most of them are the same size configuration which includes the LSX standard deck block, just not the tall deck block. Oh and just for the record not all LS engines are LSX engines.

 

Just like with computers - as I also build high-end gaming PC's 'just because' - engines are a build-able platform. However, much unlike computers, there is a lot more of accuracy and research you'll need when building an engine that building a PC doesn't require. There are torque settings, clearance measurements, compression ratios, and more. There is no forum on earth that will spoon-feed you these answers because it is rare that two engines are identical. Even if they are, they can produce completely different numbers and act completely different. While there are articles, books, posts, and research findings posted all over the internet, you will need to have the motivation to go find it. Not everything is in one place. As someone said, all LS-based engines will share the same dimensions but not the same materials - some iron, some aluminum. Some displacements and material are better for different options. If you've already planned on using/already own the LSX 454/7.3L bare/short/long block, then you don't have to do necessarily as much research as someone not sure what size engine they want to run to obtain the power goals they had in mind.

Things you'll need to ask yourself before you ask any other questions:
1. What are my power goals?
2. Do I want to stay N/A or go forced induction?
3. What is my budget?
4. What transmission do I want to run - auto or manual - and more specifically, what model of auto or manual?
5. What is the year/make/model of the chassis I picked and what engine was in it last?

Once you start giving yourself a plan, then we can help answer more specific questions but if you're going to literally ask every question under the sun with the volume of information already out there covering that topic, you may not last here long and I put that in the nicest way possible. You can probably tell how much reading I do compared to how often I posted by looking at my join date versus my post count.

 

SupaDoopa- Thank you for putting many of our thoughts in a clear and concise manner! Hopefully OP learns from it.

 

Speaking as someone who 'built PCs' many years ago, either building engines or swapping engines into cars are not really comparable. You will have no transferable skills, no transferable tools, and really the whole parts selection / speccing process is a totally different mindset to PCs, which are also comically basic in comparison.

Not trying to criticise, just saying that if you're wading in thinking "I can build PCs, I've got this" then you may end up disappointed.

I'm unsure whether you want to do this as a business or for yourself, if for yourself, my first suggestion would be simply copy what everyone else has done. This will be a well trodden path, parts will be available off the shelf, will probably fit and work together, the problems will have been overcome and documented (on places like this) and you'll be far less likely to end up selling an "unfinished project" which amounts to a pile of expensive parts and a hollowed out shell after your girlfriend / neighbour / mum tells you it's been 5 years and you need to get that mess shifted.

In the meantime, there are loads of books on building LS engines, parts combinations, LS engine swaps etc. They're valuable resources, not necessarily to give you the immediate answer you seek, but you need some understanding and context of the actual complexities of the process you want to undertake, which is why people on here can't just give you a quick answer to such an open ended question.

There are threads with thousands of posts of people discussing how best to measure pushrod length, there almost invariably isn't a definitive "this is best" answer to any question you might come up with, the closest you'll ever get is "this is probably best suited to that application when combined with these conditions, but won't work well under these other conditions".

Also, you mention SS and GTSR W1, are you an Aussie? I have a few Holdens myself here in the UK, great cars

 

I also forgot to delve deeper into the comment you made when you said you'd be buying a crate engine. If you're planning on buying a crate engine already built and assembled, then this thread isn't really necessary as those building these blocks generally know what they're doing and have taken most of the guess work out of the equation. The only real things you'd have to think about are fuel injectors, intake manifold, throttle body, and a few other bits but if you ask for recommendations or surf their drop-down menus, I'm sure they'll sell you the better options at the time of purchase. If you have the cash to toss around to buy such a unit, do it. It'll save you time, money, and damage by installation/assembly error on your end for learning as you go. Sometimes learning is best done on junkyard motors or something that you're not investing a ton into rather than a fairly expensive, non-traditional engine.

A personal side note - bigger isn't always better. I assume [and pardon my ignorance if this isn't the case] you went 454 because it's a pretty big engine. Depending on your power goals, going something more traditional i.e. 5.7L, 6.0L, or 6.2L is beneficial due to the plethora of parts available on the used market. While you can make just about any LS-based part work on any LS-based engine [with some exceptions], rotating assemblies are not universal and some head-packages work best on specific displacements. There is a lot of methodology and planning in this field that screwing computer parts together in a case doesn't prepare you for.

If you are just getting a bare block, disregard this follow up post. You'll have your work cut out for you and I suggest discussing your plans with a good, reputable engine builder.