I think I may have made a fairly big decision recently. That is just to go with the 5.3L. Here's why.....
Money!! Haha, truly everything comes down to hard cash. I have a 4L60e in great shape that has a shift kit in it and the AA adapter and a real nice split case behind that. I have had it for sale for months at $1250 and not gotten any interest. I am feeling I am nearly giving it away at that price. I really liked this combo in my 80 other than there is no room for a front DC shaft. Next up, I have spoken to a tuner/builder of GM v8's to much! He has told me more than once, "why buy the 6.2L!? All we need to do is cam and tune a 5.3L or 6L and you can easily have the 400hp of the 6.2L." Now I feel 300-400hp is plenty in just about any Cruiser. I have had one with 265ish and one with 350hp. Even the ole 5.7L with the 265ish it was rare I felt I needed more, even in a 6,000lbs beast of an 80, that is partly due to the great torque of the 5.7L vortec. I have driven plenty of 5.3L and have an LQ4 6L. The 6L + 4L80e is a bit of a slug in stock form (at least my 2001 LQ4 with 200k on it is) but both engines are adequate for this build and my uses. I know for a fact a cam and a tune will be a whole different engine too compared to the stock v8's I am used to.
I am looking at $4-6k or more to get into a 6.2L with the 6L80e. I am looking at about $3k to get into a good 6L + 4L80e. Keep in mind when I say "good" that means an engine/trans under 50k miles in "like new" condition. It will be at least mid-summer 2016 before I got that much spare coin laying around for the build. Now I can find a good 5.3L for $1-2k and I already have the rest of it. That allows me to get the engine sooner and get the drivetrain into the Cruiser sooner. I need to do some research but I am hoping and I see no reason atm why not that I can't get a 5.3L that my 4L60 will bolt up to as well as a 6L80e in the future. That means I can still get the 6spd trans down the road and I really do want the 6spd, moreso than 405hp. I can also modify the 5.3L whenever I want and easily get 350-400hp out of it. I feel anything over 400hp and you really are going to have to buff up the rear axle if not go full sized swap. I don't want to swap in a non-Cruiser rear axle. Obviously the front would need to be looked at too, for me only off-road would breakage be an issue. Regardless, I want to be in the 350-400hp range and that is it.
I been thinking about this for a month or more, recent convo's with bro's and the tuner dude have kind of helped make up my mind. So there it is, my plan is to get a 5.3L, the newer the better. I may or may not do some upgrades to the 5.3L right away, at some point I will definitely squeeze some more umph out of it. I will just use my current 4L60/split case combo until at some point I decide to upgrade the trans. I am already all set up for this in the chassis in terms of cross member and engine mounts. Although I don't like my engine mounts much and will re-do those when it comes time.
I am still planning to do a RuffStuff front housing, as far as axles I really have not changed my mind on anything. As far as the frame though, I am really thinking about using an 80 frame I have laying out back of the shop. It was for "The Mongrel" project that I axed. It is also a real nice rust free frame just like the 91 80 rolling chassis I have. Main reason I am thinking of using it is because I already chopped off all the body mounts and cleaned them up on the frame. I also cut out the rear cross member already on it. The only reason I am hesitating is I cut off the front coil buckets and shock towers on this frame, I didn't save them they are gone. But it is seeming like less work to use it and just put aftermarket coil buckets and shock towers on the frame. Or cut them off the 80 rolling chassis and re-use on this frame but I can tell ya' from experience, they are a real pita to get off. A little voice in the back of my head keeps telling me to just go coilovers in front because I have the RS c/o towers already but I really don't want to go to c/o's even if I retain the radius arms. I don't want to deal with getting the c/o's dialed in, the expense of the actual c/o's or the notching of the c/o tower for the steering shaft. It would be nice to not have a "pin" mount shock tower up front though so getting a new coil bucket and shock tower is likely how I would/will go if I use this frame. Any ways, I really been thinking about using this frame that is already mostly prepped. What do you think, less work?
Cheers
