Reckin

I am starting brand new with LS engines. I know a little about them from research, but have not worked on one.

I did have a 5.3 conversion in a jeep, but I didn't do the work.

I am looking to build a dependable engine.

I plan to run a supercharger on it, to keep the nostalgic theme of the vehicle and give it some more power.

I will probably upgrade the trans as well. I currently have a 4 speed and would like to do some more highway driving these days.

Where should I start with looking for an engine?

I was initially thinking the 6.0 because of displacement, the fact that a 6.0 engine was technically available in Ponchos back in 76, and because people always assume bigger is better, grunt grunt. I myself have a 557 Big Block Ford in my jetboat, so guilty as charged.

SHould i go with a 4.8, a 5.3, a 6.0? Look for a 6.2?

I don't know the benefits of one over the other, so please, give me some advice! I am finishing up on the 350 for a Vette project I have been tinkering with, and then my Pontiac engine and trans come out to start working on the LS swap.

Any advice, experience or opinion is welcome!

Thanks,

Reckin'

B52bombardier1

The 5.3 liter truck motors are inexpensive and abundant because there's so many of them reaching the yards. The 6.0 and 6.2 engines are considerably more expensive. I would stay away from anything with Active Fuel Management / Displacement On Demand due to the complexity and as some would say, unreliability.

I read two LS swap books cover to cover and did literally HOURS and hours of reading here on this site before getting very far into my swap. Eventually, I settled on using mostly Holley swap parts on my 1970 El Camino.

You will likely need to find somebody to tune your powertrain control module and possibly transmission control module to get your engine to run. I started with a local guy using "HP Tuners" to tune my PCM for $150 but I have since moved on to personally doing it for no money with "Tuner Pro RT" and "LS Droid".

Lots to discuss here . . . and plenty for you to read.

Rick

Reckin

Thank you very much. I think I will start by looking for a good book on the subject.

Do you have a recommendation?

cookseyb

Amazon has several good books on building and swapping these engines...

Spamfritter

iTrader: (1)

Generally speaking, bigger is better. All things being equal, a 6.0L will make more power than a 5.3L engine will. That's not any different for the LS world. The 5.3L and 4.8L swaps are popular because you can throw a turbo kit on them for cheap and make a ton of power on a largely stock engine. The iron 4.8L and 5.3L engines are extremely cheap and even if you manage to grenade one, a replacement isn't all that expensive. And if you go with a 6.0L+ engine and add boost, you can still make even more power but your costs go up as you'll likely need much bigger turbos or a set of twins.

These cars aren't generally daily drivers, so the allure of the 4.8L and 5.3L engines is largely price. Ebay turbos are cheap as hell and for weekend cruisers that get frisky on the street, they are a lot of fun with very little financial investment compared to other options.

B52bombardier1

Hello,

Here you go and this is the updated edition from what I read back in 2017.


Rick

Reckin

Thank you all very much.

I'll order the book!