How deep is the pitting on that cylinder? If it's just a bit of surface rust it could be cleaned up with not too much effort.
Good Low Tech OEM EFI 350 Swap Engine???
- Thread starter LucyProject
- Start date
This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.
LucyProject
FJ Adventures
- Thread starter
- #22
I'm going to try to figure that out tonight. I'm also concerned it's been bored once already, but I guess I can measure that as well. I'm sure my wife wont have any complaints if I spend the evening with the FJ instead of her on Valentines day, haha...
Also, the heads are in pretty bad shape. I think at least two valves are rusted closed
Hobbies... You gotta love them...
One plus, if it's just at the top of that one cylinder I wouldn't write the engine off quite yet. Even if it's pitted the rest of the that bore might be OK.I'm going to try to figure that out tonight. I'm also concerned it's been bored once already, but I guess I can measure that as well. I'm sure my wife wont have any complaints if I spend the evening with the FJ instead of her on Valentines day, haha...
Also, the heads are in pretty bad shape. I think at least two valves are rusted closed
Hobbies... You gotta love them...
Heads are a bit of a problem but you can get truck heads for 350's really cheap most of the time.
The nice think about the LS is the computer. Its well developed and makes it easier to diagnose issues. In addition, since everybody in their brother is swapping them in, you can get gobs of info on the internet and gobs up upgrades that are rather inexpensive. Want to step up to a 200 amp alternator for a LS motor? Only 100 bucks on rock auto. If he charges 3100 for a 5.3, how much is it for a 6.2?
LucyProject
FJ Adventures
- Thread starter
- #25
Here is a link to his recently sold engines. Looks like a 6.0 is $3600 to $3800. He doesn't have any Gen IV or 6.2's listed.
-GEN III Engines --- FOR SALE ------------ — BD Turnkey Engines LLC
Current Engines For Sale
bdturnkeyengines.com
My buddy has a 5.3 motor from BD Turnkey and it was a simple install. He's had no issues so far, though the 300 hp in a Land Rover Series 1 with an 88" wheelbase makes things interesting if you have a heavy right foot.
I used BD Turnkey engines on my 69 FJ40 and couldn't have been happier. He mods the harness and it's like 4 wires you have to connect. He also provides documentation on what is needed for the install. I went from a 283Sbc/SM420 to a LM7 (5.3l)/ SM420. I changed very little to get that motor in. I left the sbc mounts in and used adapter plates that put the LS exactly where the sbc was so the trans mates up easy.
Here's a link to my build thread. You can see the BD engine in the first post and all the part numbers I used are there.
Stepping up to a Vortec (LM7)
Been waiting a while to start this thread but it looks like things are finally underway with the Vortec Swap! I ordered a LM7 from BD Turnkey Engines in Reno, NV. Awesome guy to work with and the new engine arrived here Friday. It's out of a '03 Suburban with 86k on the clock. It will be...
forum.ih8mud.com
1 thing I would do different is my stock tank setup. It high a really high frequency whine from the pump I never could get rid of. Worked great, just annoying on longer drives.
When I bought from him, he was using a GM performance products cam that was sold as an upgrade to that motor. He offered up the PN so I could Google the specs, it wasn't anything he had made for him specifically. Granted this was several years ago.
He does get some of your specs for the tune, I know he asked for gear ratios, tire size, and something else for the tune. I thought his pricing was a bit high as well but I was really impressed with the motor when it arrived. The work put into modding the harness into a single small fuse block makes it a really simple install.
LucyProject
FJ Adventures
- Thread starter
- #29
Thanks @badsamaritan for the info! I'm seriously leaning towards BD Turnkey, but I did discover yesterday that my local decking yard only charges $360 for LS engines. That savings make it really tempting to struggle through the wiring mods and programing challenges, haha...
Anyways, I’m pulling my 350 today. I noticed the only other support other than the motor mounts is at the rear of the transfer case. I was considering temporarillly supporting the tranny/transfer case and just pulling the engine, but I'm not sure that's the best option. Does anyone have any advice on what I should take and what I should leave? Opininions? Thoughts?
Anyways, I’m pulling my 350 today. I noticed the only other support other than the motor mounts is at the rear of the transfer case. I was considering temporarillly supporting the tranny/transfer case and just pulling the engine, but I'm not sure that's the best option. Does anyone have any advice on what I should take and what I should leave? Opininions? Thoughts?
FJBen
SILVER Star
If you can get a decent mileage LS for $360 then its a no brainer. I would get a junkyard ecm/harness harness as well and try and learn/struggle.
I did a TBI swap years ago from a junkyard police cruiser. It wasn’t that hard, just lay everything out and with all the documentation online now, you can get tons of help. The only gotchas's I had were needing Ramhorn exhausts because of where the steering was at (PS conversion) swapped back to mechanical fan, the electrical were causing havoc for some reason, and I never got the VSS working right as I was too cheap to buy a specialized adapter at the time. Only issues were occasionally it would lope at idle.
All that $3000 saved from a turnkey engine will buy a lot of good stuff. Tires, lockers , winch, all sorts of parts.
Here’s my old gen 1 tbi swapped FJ40, I think I had about $500 into the TBI conversion including pump. An LS for $360 would be a no brainer for me if I were in your shoes.
If you go the junkyard route, make sure they have the COMPLETE harness/ECU from donor car, it will make life a lot easier. A lot of times the junkyards will cut the harness to save time pulling the motor. I've only helped a friend do the harness wiring, and like others have mentioned, it's not impossible just time consuming. You're really just removing crap you won't need like the security stuff etc. I'm pretty sure you will have to get it tuned at some point, some settings etc will need to be removed from the ecu, so that will be some additional costs.
This isn't critical but if you can find a decent motor that has a cable operated throttle instead of drive-by-wire that will save you some time. It took me awhile to find a drive by wire pedal that worked, and then to modify it to fit in the cruiser.
I went the BD Turnkey route to save time. I had pulled the old engine and was just going to take my time with the swap. Then life happened and we found ourselves both looking at layoffs with a newborn at home. We decided to sell and head back to CA where the work was better and more stable for us. Going the BD route got the rig running quick and gave me options on whether to sell it or take it to CA.
Since I was re-using my trans/transfer case, supported the trans and just pulled the engine off of the bell housing. That helped with making sure the motor mounts I used put the engine in the right place, since I had the trans still there.
PS when I did my swap (several years ago) I was living in Maple Valley, WA. I really miss it up there sometimes, beautiful place.
This isn't critical but if you can find a decent motor that has a cable operated throttle instead of drive-by-wire that will save you some time. It took me awhile to find a drive by wire pedal that worked, and then to modify it to fit in the cruiser.
I went the BD Turnkey route to save time. I had pulled the old engine and was just going to take my time with the swap. Then life happened and we found ourselves both looking at layoffs with a newborn at home. We decided to sell and head back to CA where the work was better and more stable for us. Going the BD route got the rig running quick and gave me options on whether to sell it or take it to CA.
Since I was re-using my trans/transfer case, supported the trans and just pulled the engine off of the bell housing. That helped with making sure the motor mounts I used put the engine in the right place, since I had the trans still there.
PS when I did my swap (several years ago) I was living in Maple Valley, WA. I really miss it up there sometimes, beautiful place.
Last edited:
pb4ugo
SILVER Star
I've pulled the engine only many times on my sbc conversion with the stk trans/tcase. Even swapping the sbc to a bbc. If you're anticipating moving the whole driveline within the frame, then I'd pull everything. In the past, when Ive swapped out the stk trans/tcase for a sm420/dana 20 I left the sbc in the 40 and moved the rear crossmember. Idk if you'll have to move the trans within frame for a ls swap.
The first is 100% true. It really isn't THAT bad
The second isn't true. I run a drive by wire and it works fine in my FJ55. It feels just a little bit different but basically, it adds a few extra wires and depending upon year, another 'mini-computer' to mount. Again, not a big deal.
by "worked", I meant fitment wise in the land cruiser. My engine was sourced from a Tahoe, which has a huge DBW pedal assembly (because the pedals had some kind of height adjustment to them), I had to try a few different vehicles to get one that I didn't have to cut apart in 20 different ways and re-weld back together to get it to fit. In the end I used a corvette pedal assembly if I remember correctly. I never had driveability issues with it, or wiring issues because all the wiring was already done by BD. Here's a pic of the Tahoe pedal I got from BD Turnkey engines:
Here's the C5 Corvette pedal
Last edited:
I tried three Aerotec external mount fuel pumps and they all did the same thing. After my stock tank continued to puke debris and ate the second one, I had a custom tank made using a stock 99 Camaro ending unit
I like the camaro pumps, I can't remember if I got the camaro sending unit to work or not. In the video here, it looks like I was using it. You can hear that wierd pump whine also. IIRC I put some heavy foam between it and the seat and drove it.
