Yet another LS Swap - CO

[wyodog]

Hello --

New to the fourm, thought I would introduce myself and my latest project. I am from Northern Colorado and I like working on a number of projects. This will be my first Toyota of my own. I am a Ford guy a heart so this project is really pushing a number of my comfort zones...

A good friend of mine had a 1995 Land Cruiser. The truck had seen it's share of running around. It was his daily driver, and he would do some light off roading with it. Well he blew the motor. Won't get too much into the details but the motor got hot and very low on oil, and developed a serious knock. We struck a deal for the truck as I had seen some videos where some guys had done a LS Swap and that was something I was interested in.

Great starting point though. Rust free, already had a 2.5 inch old man emu lift, snorkel.

My other good buddy owns a Machine shop in Colorado, and a customer has a LS1 6.0 that he had built. About a 550HP motor, no stroked, but upped the compression, comp cam rebuilt heads, the whole thing rebuilt. But the customer never came and got it or paid for it. So I was able to come into it reasonable. I picked myself up a 5.3LS as a core and a 4L60E and had it rebuilt (offroad package). The 6.0 I got from the machine shop was basically a long block, and I need intake, front accessories and all the little bits that eat at your wallet, so that is why I picked up another donor.

So with all that we had ourselves the start of a good ol 80 series LS swap.

I decided to take my queues from the men who had come before me.

Another Texas LS1 Swap

So far the project has gone well. I am coming to you after making a good progress.

What is done :

Engine, tranny, t-case are in. I am having a new front Drive Shaft made. While I have the driveshafts still out, I am putting a Eaton limited slip up front with a Eaton Detroit locker in the rear. Rebuilding the front knuckles and new rotors / pads all the way around. And I am doing the bulk of the wiring now.

I got my new wheels and tires on. 17in rims with a set of 33s. Wanted to go 35s but I came into a deal on these 33s I could not pass up. I am not to far from Slee here in Colorado, and they have a new bumper waiting for me in willcall that I need to go pick up.

I will do my best to post updates. But thought I would say hello to everyone and show everyone what I have going on... I uploaded some pics to a album...

New Shoes

• wyodog
• Dec 23, 2015
• 1

New Shoes 2

• wyodog
• Dec 23, 2015

LS 6.0 in.

• wyodog
• Dec 23, 2015

LS new home

• wyodog
• Dec 23, 2015

Prep work on the 6.0

• wyodog
• Dec 23, 2015

Big hole

• wyodog
• Dec 23, 2015

boat anchor

• wyodog
• Dec 23, 2015

boat anchor

• wyodog
• Dec 23, 2015

Heart transplant day 1

• wyodog
• Dec 23, 2015

 

[canman]

Welcome. Nice shop. Looking forward to more updates.

 

[steven17]

550 hp in an 80 would be... nice

 

[bigfj62]

You will be a Toyota guy soon enough.....

 

[SNLC]

Sweet! The more 80's with v8's the better!

One suggestion, put a shift kit in the 4L60e and then tune it. My v8 80 with the 4L60e had this done to it. It was simply friggin' awesome. I have a bunch of chevy work trucks and they all "coast" badly when you throttle down. Like coming down a slight grade to my house in my 01 2500HD with the 4L80e, it coasts badly and I have to brake to keep it at the speed limit. Now my 80 in the same spot, just throttle down and the engine brakes and no need for using the brakes. Another example, coming down Teton Pass here where I live, very steep pass, in the 01 it coasts badly, even if I down shift to 2nd. I have to brake a lot on the pass. Same drive in the 80 with 4L60e with the shift kit, I drop it down to 2nd and I barely have to brake down the entire pass. Offroad you get the same kind of results with the right shift kit in the trans. Engine brakes awesome and requires much less use of the brakes and gives heeps more control.

Look into it, it really is a simple mod that is affordable and gives super awesome results.

Cheers

 

[landcruiser80]

I hate Fords, more than @LS1FJ40 hates Texas. Good to see you are coming over from the dark side.

Oh yea, (Official 'Mud Welcome)

 

[SmokingRocks]

Seen the rig around. Visit horsetooth 4 Wheelers FB page or our club section here. There are many of us here in NorCo.

Like what your doing.

 

[LS1FJ40]

I hate Fords, more than @LS1FJ40 hates Texas. Good to see you are coming over from the dark side.

Oh yea, (Official 'Mud Welcome)

I'm not sure that is possible...

 

[wyodog]

Thanks everyone for the welcome. Over the Holiday I ended up spending more on bumpers then what I had on my first three first cars... Got my Order in with Luke over at 4x4 labs for my rear bumper. And Just got back from Slee this afternoon from picking up a short bus bumper, along with a extra battery tray, bottle reloco kit, center lock switch and a few extra light switches. I will be eating cheese sandwiches for the foreseeable future...

My lockers came in. I am putting a Detroit locker in the rear, and a eaton limited slip up front. We'll see how it goes. I know putting a limited up front there are pros/cons. We'll see how it goes is all I can say. I have a good buddy who is a retired mechanic, I am tossing him a few bucks to swap out the gears for me. I can do most things, but I know he can get these gears in his sleep so appreciate his help.

Also just got my new power steering hose from Tues&Hoses. So will be able to get that crossed off the list here soon, along with all my new fuel components. Like most people who do these LS swaps, I went with a external pump with a self regulated fuel filter. Spent a bunch of money with summit to get all the fittings... Man I went into the wrong business... This is one area where you either have to spend $10+ bucks on a single fitting, or double down on the hose clamps..

I will work on taking some pictures later this week when I can get back out to the shop. Need to return to the job to help pay down my newly inflated credit card bill...

Oh almost forgot - RMP&O - Thanks for the suggestion on the shift kit. When I had the tranny rebuilt they did put in a whole new kit. I will dig up the paper work and see what they put in. Keep warm up in Wyo, was just home in Cheyenne for the holidays.

 

[SmokingRocks]

Are you keeping a running $ total? I'd like to know what it comes out at as an L series V8 is more than likely destined for work in my trail snail.

 

[wyodog]

So, I was keeping a running total in my head. And when you posted this I thought... Yeah let's add this all up. I should also say I debated on if I was going to post this. I didn't want to send the wrong message with posting dollar amounts as don't want to come off show boating or what have you. But maybe if I would have seen this total before I started I would thought twice.. And I am sure this could have been done "Cheaper", but so far this is what I have into it.

$3500 - LS1 6.0 (new rebuilt engine, not a used core)
$500 - LS1 5.3 (core) + 4L40 core
$1,278 - 4L60 rebuild and convert from 4WD to 2WD
$798.73 - PSI harness + computer
$1200 - Eaton Detroit + Eaton Limited Slip (parts only)
$1615 - 4x4 Labs rear bumper
$60 - Land Cruiser shiftier
$202.12 - New Fuel pump + filter + fuel line
$171.64 - Various Russell fuel fittings
$90 - New power steering hose
$700 - 4x 33 inch Cooper tires
$230 - 4x 17inch steel rims
$223 - Custom front drive shaft
$1598.42 - Advanced Adapters - LS1 Motor mounts, Marks Adapters GM to Toyota adapter
$172 - Slee off road, Center diff switch, 2x aux light switches
$1208 - Slee Washer bottle reloco kit, Second battery tray, ShortBus bumper
$339.97 - Brake Rotors/Pads, Drilled/Slotted, Iron, Zinc Plated, Ceramic Pads, Front/Rear
$254.95 - Hooker headers
$500 - for the 80 series

And let's add on $200 (forgot what I paid for the speedo sensor) for all the other odds and ends thus far... Drum roll please...

$14,841.83

And I'm not even done yet..

Now obviously things like wheels, and tires could have been optional for the engine swap. I also see a lot guys pick up a 5.3 used motor. I was able to pickup my LS 6.0 for $3500 for what should have been a 5K motor. I will also say I have been working on this for 8+ months did not drop 15K in one sitting.

Things I know I still need to get are :

Electric fan - $200-ish
Electric fan relays and extra parts - 200-ish
Shiftier linkage - Hoping to make my own
AC Lines re-worked - $150-ish
Exhaust - $700-ish
Throttle Cable - > $100
*** Part time job to help pay for this

Well I'm now depressed...

 

[LS1FJ40]

If it makes you feel any better...when I put the LS1 in my 40 back in 2002 it had never been done before. Advance Adapters didn't make a kit. Nothing was known. Plenty of people had put 350TBIs in but nobody was stupid enough to do an LS1 swap.

I spent $20k. Just on motor, trans, transfer case, drive shafts to handle the torque and necessary related parts. Not including any labor. And I used the wiring harness from the Camaro.

It was possibly the most fun and most stupid thing I've ever done.

 

[9780LC]

I think you'll need to add an expensive aluminum radiator with dual SPAL fans to your list. It was required for my build. It gets real hot under the hood with those hookers, cats and V8 under there.

 

[wyodog]

I think you'll need to add an expensive aluminum radiator with dual SPAL fans to your list. It was required for my build. It's gets real hot under the hood with those hookers, cats and V8 under there.

Mind me asking what expensive radiator you went with?

 

[SmokingRocks]

So basically about 9-10k for an LS1 in an 80. Good to know, thanks!

 

[9780LC]

I have a Ron Davis radiator. This was custom made to my measurements.

 

[slow95z]

So basically about 9-10k for an LS1 in an 80. Good to know, thanks!

Can be done MUCH cheaper if you buy a wrecked truck to get your harness and ecu from. Can turn a factory harness into a stand alone in a weekend taking your time. Part out what's left of the truck and that helps. Last ls swap we did was in a car but cost around 5k total.

 

[wyodog]

So basically about 9-10k for an LS1 in an 80. Good to know, thanks!

I would say "Depends". Like most projects you always spend more then what you budget. It also comes down to a time vs money. If you have the time to field a wrecked truck, pull all the parts you need, build the harness yourself, have the ECU re-programmed by someone local (if needed),etc, etc then you can save yourself money. But if you're like me who never trusts anything used, you end up treating things as a core and rebuilding them anyways.

But in the end I would say budget for 10K and try like hell to come in lower.

 

[RockJock82]

Build it once and be done with it... New or low mileage is the way to go...

 

[SmokingRocks]

I would say "Depends". Like most projects you always spend more then what you budget. It also comes down to a time vs money. If you have the time to field a wrecked truck, pull all the parts you need, build the harness yourself, have the ECU re-programmed by someone local (if needed),etc, etc then you can save yourself money. But if you're like me who never trusts anything used, you end up treating things as a core and rebuilding them anyways.

But in the end I would say budget for 10K and try like hell to come in lower.

My thoughts exactly. I know it can be done much cheaper but in the end there are several items you are always questioning when you are driving it around. I don't want to have doubts about anything between the top of the valve covers all the way down to the hubs on the wheels. You pay more to remove those doubts, thats why Mr. Slee's v8 swaps cost so much $$$, because when you get it back you know its as good as a factory job.