8x Series V8 Swaps (20 Viewers)

[Squad1]

It might be possible but why is my question. You certainly are not going to improve the power of mileage much if any. When we speak of "LS" engines it is generally in a very broad sense that refers to any of the 3rd or 4th generation gm v-8's from 1997 and on. They are so easy to work on and so powerful compared to the original small block that I can't imagine a scenario where you would want a first gen chevy in there.
Not to say the first gens are bad ,cause they are not, just that if you are going to do all the work why not have something more modern and powerful. Besides with all the truck engines out there, it is totally possible to buy a running and driving donor for $1000 or less and be ahead.
I'm pretty sure you wouldn't be happy with the 180 ish maybe on a great day power output of a TBI engine. In my opinion you could do the LS swap for the same money and have easy 300 horses.

 

[JohnnyFish]

Quick question for the collective. Beno, I hope you don't mind that this is non-technical, but it's on topic.

Let's say I were to take stock '97 LC, interior and exterior in great condition, and swap in a known good 5.3 LS and a freshly rebuilt 4L80e. If I had $15k in it at that point, could I count on selling it for that?

Here's the story - I'd like to use a local shop for an LS swap into my LX450. They do great work in general, but they've never done this. I'd like to have them do the swap on another truck so that mine will go more quickly and smoothly, but I don't want to lose my shirt.

Thanks for any and all opinions.

Bonus question: aside from the obvious "it sucks in traffic", any good reason not to swap in a 5 or 6 speed manual rather than a 4L80e or 6L80e? I prefer manual transmissions, and they're a great anti-theft device these days.

 

[OGBeno]

As long as it is related to this topic, I am cool with it sir.

 

[Squad1]

Hard to say. I paid more for mine in stock form than book value. I paid 12k for mine and book was like $8500. I'm not expecting to get any more out of it with the engine swap. A lot of people don't want to buy a modified vehicle. It's a great question to ponder though. I bought mine never planning to sell it and factored in an engine swap into the mix so I knew what I was getting into. My experience with custom vehicles is that you never get your money back due to modifications and it never seems to add to the value except to you. Just my opinion

 

[Pat80]

Bonus question: aside from the obvious "it sucks in traffic", any good reason not to swap in a 5 or 6 speed manual rather than a 4L80e or 6L80e? I prefer manual transmissions, and they're a great anti-theft device these days.

I run the toyota 5 speed behind my LS. I got the adaptor through marks 4wd, and i love it. In australia we normally set up trans coolers for the 4l80s and 6l80s just for piece of mind in our climate.

And there are a few 6speeds around apparently but its all custom made bellhousings and you need to custom make an adaptor to fit the t/case back onto, plus a custom made crossmember and you would probably need to mod the floor pan to fit the shifter.

hope this helps

 

[bloc]

Bonus question: aside from the obvious "it sucks in traffic", any good reason not to swap in a 5 or 6 speed manual rather than a 4L80e or 6L80e? I prefer manual transmissions, and they're a great anti-theft device these days.

I think the main reasons most of the US based swaps written up so far on this board stayed auto was to avoid having to find and install a clutch pedal box, and the holes in the transmission tunnel for the 5-speed are different.. even if they were making the shifter come out in the correct location could be a bit of work.

Realistically neither of those reasons are huge problems, IMO.

 

[FJ60Cam]

Drive fast and take chances.

^^This^^

My FJ80's motor swap is technically on an FJ60 frame, so I'm really not supposed to post in here, but I want to second the Pacific Fabrication wiring harness recommendation from @Squad1 . I used them for my harness, engine reprogramming, and transmission computer tune on my Gen IV 5.3/4L60E swap. I could not have been happier with not only the harness itself, but the level of service I received. That means a lot in projects like this, especially to a novice.

 

[bloc]

Are most of you guys not using an engine oil cooler on your swaps?

 

[cme4lyt]

Are most of you guys not using an engine oil cooler on your swaps?

No engine oil cooler on mine !

 

[bloc]

That makes me nervous, especially with the reduced oil sump capacity of the F-body pan everyone uses.

It appears 2010+ camaros with the LS3 have a fluid/fluid oil cooler mounted on the pan.. it is 1.5" deeper than an f-body pan, and the cooling lines tap into a freeze-plug adapter and a T in the radiator hoses. Guys tracking their LS3 are seeing high temps and upgrading to a bigger air cooler, or the LS9 oil cooler.. but IMO it seems good enough for what we'd be doing. And especially far better than nothing..

Plus, as far as I can tell it has an 8+qt capacity

2010+ LS3 camaro pan

cooler and one of the lines

I found a take-off pan on ebay for $99, and see a closed auction for the cooler itself for $80. They are something like $400 new from GM.

Any idea whether this would have room, esp when using the rear-dump cast manifolds? The pan being deeper is a concern, but I am lifted 2"..

 

[FJ60Cam]

Are most of you guys not using an engine oil cooler on your swaps?

That makes me nervous, especially with the reduced oil sump capacity of the F-body pan everyone uses.

It appears 2010+ camaros with the LS3 have a fluid/fluid oil cooler mounted on the pan.. it is 1.5" deeper than an f-body pan, and the cooling lines tap into a freeze-plug adapter and a T in the radiator hoses. Guys tracking their LS3 are seeing high temps and upgrading to a bigger air cooler, or the LS9 oil cooler.. but IMO it seems good enough for what we'd be doing. And especially far better than nothing..

Plus, as far as I can tell it has an 8+qt capacity

2010+ LS3 camaro pan

cooler and one of the lines

I found a take-off pan on ebay for $99, and see a closed auction for the cooler itself for $80. They are something like $400 new from GM.

Any idea whether this would have room, esp when using the rear-dump cast manifolds? The pan being deeper is a concern, but I am lifted 2"..

I'm sure someone on here has used an oil cooler before, but it never came up in the dozens of swaps I researched.

Unless you plan on racing your truck, you should be able to keep your truck adequately cooled with a quality radiator/fan/shroud.

 

[bloc]

While I agree that we arent the hardest on our oil, I'd counter that toyota felt the need to install coolers on pretty much every model of land cruiser. Many people doing a vortec swap now have more horsepower, significantly smaller sumps, much bigger tires, usually heavier...

My personal opinion is that the need for an oil cooler is obvious. I've grown to like the coolant/oil coolers installed on many cars because they will help warm the oil up more quickly, which is arguably as important as keeping it from getting too hot. This is what made the LS3 cooler attractive.. now I just need to figure out whether the 7" deep pan will fit. If not, I'll run the F-body pan and regular LQ4 air/oil lines and plumbing with a heat exchanger in front. I really wanted to avoid having to add oil lines to the front of the truck but will do so if there is no other option

 

[MANUCHAO]

@FJ60Cam are you using a low profile oil pan?
I am, but will be going back to either a stock, or higher capacity oil pan.
Also looking at one of these for the tranny.
I don't run an oil cooler, but do run a tranny cooler....

 

[bloc]

A more useful question for the overall thread: how much clearance are existing 80-series swaps seeing between the pan and the axle/tie rod?

If possible, please list the type of pan you used, how much lift, and whether you used a LS (car) or vortec (truck) intake.

 

[FJ60Cam]

@FJ60Cam are you using a low profile oil pan?
I am, but will be going back to either a stock, or higher capacity oil pan.
Also looking at one of these for the tranny.
I don't run an oil cooler, but do run a tranny cooler....

I'm using the muscle car pan, which has a 5 quart capacity (though it takes 5.5-6 to fill it per the dipstick).

I'm using an 80 series transmission cooler plumbed in line with the radiator (custom unit from a local rad fab shop). Transmission temps so far have been 170° max slow crawling on the trail, and 150°-160° driving 85 all day on the interstate.

Coolant temps fluctuate from 195-200, maybe 205 as the t-stat opens and closes.

 

[azcrackshot]

I am running the oil pan from Marks Adapters. I am also running a 25 row Setrab Oil Cooler on my LS3 6.2 / 6L80E set up. I am also running a mechanical fan on the advice of Ron Davis Radiator since I am going to be towing a little. Living in Arizona changes things a bit with ambient temps in the summer around 120 degrees. The Arizona summers are tough on oil / water cooling systems especially when towing up the the hills to the mountains and offroading at a slow pace through deep sand washes.

 

[bloc]

I am running the oil pan from Marks Adapters. I am also running a 25 row Setrab Oil Cooler on my LS3 6.2 / 6L80E set up. I am also running a mechanical fan on the advice of Ron Davis Radiator since I am going to be towing a little. Living in Arizona changes things a bit with ambient temps in the summer around 120 degrees. The Arizona summers are tough on oil / water cooling systems especially when towing up the the hills to the mountains and offroading at a slow pace through deep sand washes.

Have any pics of the oil pan clearance and oil cooler mounting/lines? Or are they posted in your build thread?

 

[thatcabledude]

Haven't seen any mention of anyone using these supposedly bolt in engine mounts:

Engine Mount Kit - Chev V8 to FZJ/HZJ LandCruiser - Bolt In

Sounds like it bolts up to factory frame mounts using factory LC rubber isolators.

Anyone try them?

 

[slow95z]

If you have a right hand drive they work great but they don't fit for lhd

 

[Squad1]

I have been using the f-body oil pan with great results. I have one on the 6.0L in my Jeep also. Its been trouble free in the wheeling environment here in the north east. I don't run an oil cooler on the 6.0L or the 5.3L