Gen 3 or gen 4
 

Just wondering what your thoughts are on these engines? Are the gen 4’s as good or better than the gen 3’s?

I personally went with a gen 3 because of the price and dbc.

I also heard around 2007 thru 2014 gm was not doing well financially and so maybe I should stay away from those years.

Re: Gen 3 or gen 4
 

If you're dropping in an engine/transmission combo and are not concerned with cruise control, go with gen 4. If you're bolting up a manual or older automatic, or want integrated cruise, go with gen 3.

I'm not following any of that. I'm slogging through a gen 4 swap. I'll need to use the body control module for the cruise interface, and I'm hoping my manual swap will work out okay. There's some hope of using the instrument cluster as a "black box" to provide cruise and battery lights on my '87 dash. We'll see.

Re: Gen 3 or gen 4
 

Gen 3's are easier to find and cheaper and easier to tune. Also no AFM to deal with. That being said, a lot of the Gen 4's are aluminum blocks so you get a weight savings. Gen 4's also have a nice small PCM, so no big bulky computer and TAC module like a Gen 3. We put a Gen 4 5.3 in my dad's 64 and it was pretty easy. We're putting a Gen 3 6.0 in my 68 and it's not hard either.

Overall, I think the Gen 3's are more user-friendly and are my preference.

As far as DBC and DBW, I think it's more user-preference. DBC can be hooked up to your stock linkage and throttle pedal setup and gives you a better "feel" whereas DBW requires a throttle pedal swap.

Re: Gen 3 or gen 4
 

Just got my Gen3 5.3/4L80E combo road worthy. The motors are solid, no variable displacement non-sense, wiring is super easy, powers, grounds and interface to the interior. I went with DBW and my only complaint is the height of the pedal from the floor. Its not bad but its not factory by any means. Otherwise Gen3 is probably as easy it gets.

Paul

Re: Gen 3 or gen 4
 

Thanks for the replies.