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A favorite saying of my grandmother was "I can not fathom how people have the time and money to do something over yet do not have the time and money to do it right the first time." Short cuts in the swap process usually equate to repairs in the future, which means more time and money. Buy quality equipment the first time. If it takes another year too save up the difference, so be it.
I am BY FAR no expert on this... I'm just in the "asking questions" stage myself... BUT I was told that a good route to go is to buy a good running Buick Roadmaster... use the LT v8, keep the transmission and get the "cheap" AA adapter to the cruiser TC... Does this sound like a decent option?
The Buicks are generally grandpa cars, not beat to snot Camaros etc... often dealer maintained.
Sounds good. I will reiterate that I plan to fully detail in a separate thread but the most exhuberant costs are obviously the engine and transmission. I am in Huntsville and scoured craigslist and junkyards for a month before finding a 2wd 2004 Tahoe (L59) with 140k that was t-boned. I was able to hear it run and engage the transmission (not drive it). It had a full life worth of service records in the glovebox and an up to date oil change sticker on the windshield. Transmission was serviced roughly every 30k. Checked all fluids, pulled a plug and tested compression for completeness. It was a little sleepy, but I have completely resealed the engine now. I asked for everything that connected to the engine including fuel lines to the tank, trans cooler lines, ac lines, ps lines, pcm, harness, breather box, battery cables, etc. I paid 2k cash loaded onto my truck.
Add the AA adapter and that is 2818.00 spent for a bunch of parts that still won't fit. Here comes a can of worms...
I should mention that I weighed the cost of swapping the tcase and rear axle to something more common. BUT I only plan to go 33" tires as this will be my DD / family camper. No offense but if I want something HARD CORE, I will get another jeep to chop and drop ton axkes into. Probably for less than this v8 swap is costing.
I will start a thread soon. Only the title is holding me back ,)
@Jesper no problem dude. Hopefully you are getting some good info from this. Unfortunately research has been halted while I am in Co helping family prep for incoming twins.
One of the main variables that you need to think about is what you will ultimately do with your truck, then build accordingly from there.