List for LS swap

[jeffs56]

Hey gus I'm working on my 56 Chevy pickuo, and I have the opportunity to buy a LQ9 out of a Denali with 40k miles for $1,000. What I'm trying to figure out is if it's worth buying without breaking the bank. It's a complete pullout motor. But what's all the other parts I will need to get it running and going. For ex, motor mounts, lines. I'm not sure what all I need. Thank you so much guys

[dsraven]

it can depend on what the front end of your truck looks like for suspension. solid axle, camaro clip, aftermarket IFS etc

mine in these pics is a 57 with boxed frame and MII from TCI. you will at least need to consider these items

-complete engine with all accy including alternator, starter, water pump, a/c compressor-may be usefull for use if you plan on a/c, power steering pump and hoses-may be usefull to graft new hoses to the pump, coolant overflow bottle-may be able to use it and you need something, rad-may be able to use it and you need something, coolant hoses-for sizes and may possibly be of some use for mock up, belt drive system, all wiring from engine to fuse/breaker box, battery cables, ecm, accel pedal if drive by wire, exhaust o2 sensors, exhaust y pipe with cats-can possibly modify to fit the camaro manifolds, trans if 2wheel drive because it will match ecm and best to keep as a set-grab the cooler lines as well because they are already formed and have the correct ends on the trans end, driveshaft yoke or complete shaft if possible because it can be shortened to match your new driveline, engine oil pan-baffle-oil pump pick up-dipstick-dipstick tube-gasket-because truck pan is too deep and will hang below frame a considerable amount-I used a gen 4 camaro pan. engine mounts-I used gen 4 camaro that bolt to block and then fabbed connector plates over to the frame in such a way as to clear steering column shaft to the rack and pinion, exhaust manifolds-truck manifolds are too wide to the frame rails-I used gen 4 camaro, some sort of coolant fan whether belt or electric.
can't think of other items but it is late and prolly think of more later.
in a way it is good to get a complete donor vehicle because you have all the stuff there to convert your truck to a runner. stuff like seats steering column, park brake pedal, etc etc, but a low mileage engine complete for $1000 seems like an ok price to me. I am in Canada though so different scenario. there are lots of ways to do it but try to keep the engine low and back to keep the centre of gravity low and more to the centre of the truck. they are light in the rear and heavy in the front already. on mine I fabbed up a new firewall and kept the engine as low as possible. the truck intake is taller than the car intakes as well but shouldn't be a problem.

check out pirate 4x4 for a lineage of the LS engines and what the different ratings are and also the shapes of different oil pans etc. you may also need to get the ecm flashed to get rid of displacement on demand, security, cats etc or turn on electric cooling fans etc depending on what you want to run. ls1tech is another good site for info and classified's

[dsraven]

sorry pics wouldn't load. try again tomorrow I guess. at least you have an idea. grab as much stuff as you can from the donor is always best.

[jeffs56]

I appreciate all the help. I just dont want to spend too much getting it going. Im running the Camaro clip on mine, not sure if I'm doing airbags yet. But if all the other parts are going to add up to alot, I would think of just going with a old school 350 or something.

[mongocanfly]

Raven covered it pretty good..but ill, say this..a 40,000 mile lq9 for $1000 is a steal

[yossarian19]

What year Camaro? May / may not need an oil pan, I think the earlier years you couldn't use the truck pan but I'm not a Camaro guy.
What is your trans? You'll need to get an adapter flywheel / clutch or flex plate spacer. Bellhousing will bolt up fine, sans one bolt.
You'll need to feed the engine higher pressure and no air. So that's a sump welded to the current tank, Holley Hydramat in the tank, or a new tank. Plus the pump, high pressure filter & some nylon line (oem uses it) + connectors.
I've gone through my LS harness a few times and I'd either send it out for a few hundred bucks or plan on taking most of your time in the swap on just thinning out the harness and wiring in a new fuse box from somewhere. It's not hard, you just need patience (more than I've got)
Cooling isn't a big deal. Don't go nuts and buy a swap radiator, either. Just lob the engine in there, get a tape measure & a coat hanger to figure out the bends, and order silicone reducers / bends at siliconeintakes.com. It's just 16 psi of hot water & glycol.
You may need to swap exhaust manifolds. Ebay will set you up with used F-body manifolds that look pretty good and tuck pretty tight. The stock manifolds flow pretty well. Headers are available from $200 up to $1200, depends what you want.
I run a 4.8 liter and my '57 moves out pretty good. Not "fast" by car guy standards but it makes you smile and third gear has all the throttle response I can ask for. It also starts up immediately in any weather and will make 700 horsepower with cheap, well-pioneered turbo setups. I mean, what else do you want from a motor?
At $1,000 for a 6.0 it's a steal. Go for it. You won't regret it.

OH: Edit: here's the big "con" - LS motors look like garbage under the hood unless you spend a lot of time & money to dress them up. You can put AN fuel rails, relocated coils, finned valve covers, aluminum intakes & all on them and make it look more old school. Even a 4150 style throttle body on a carb intake if you want. But darn, will you pay for it all. If under hood sex appeal is a big factor... the LS motor isn't much to look at.

[dsraven]

if you are doing it on the cheap then look at copart or some other auto auction and buy a complete running insurance write off. most of the stuff you need is on the wreck and when dome you sell the wreck for parts or scrap weight.
the price on the LS you are looking at is a steal of a deal. I would consider it at least. maybe resell to finance a sbc but really, the sbc is hard to compare to an LS once it is a done deal and running in the truck. there are swap adapters made to install the LS into the camaro so I would assume that would be what you would need to install into the camaro clip. check ionto some other builds on here and ask what they usaed for manifolds, rads etc. Yossarian is right, if you do it on the cheap you can re-use a bunch of the old stuff.

[spectral]

My list (not including engine mounting as that varies depending on your front end setup) :

* Keep the factory EFI and 4L60E trans - superior in every way to carb or aftermarket EFI
* Trans x-member and new mount - they are often rubbish even on low mileage swap motors
* Tail shaft - 4L60 yoke with a uni joint, need to adapt to stock tail shaft and balance it (professionally, ask me how I know! )
* Wiring - unless you have heaps of patience - get an off the shelf Hot Rod LS conversion wiring kit, turns days into hours.
* Manifolds - F-body as above - i'm using most of the exhaust system as well from my donor, terminating in a pipe in front of each rear wheel
* Sump (depending on your front clip setup)
* New radiator with auto tranny cooler (or separate tranny cooler)
* EFI fuel pump, and EFI compatible tank - mine is going under the bed
* High pressure EFI fuel hoses - hardline as much as possible
* Tune on Factory ECM if necessary to remove anti-theft and enable you to run without the MAF sensor
* Gauges - tricky getting the 4l60E to run the stock mechanical speedo gauge - I'll be using Auto Meter with their 2208 bezel/mount.
* Shifter - modified column shifter and convert the 4l60E to cable operation, or something like a Lokar tunnel mount setup looks neat.

I got my donor vehicle (alloy block LS1) for around $3000, making around $1000 back on wrecking the rest - all up when finished I'll be around $5000 out of pocket.

Agree with above they don't look special, but when you fit the Corvette style engine covers it does start looking a bit better. My truck is no show truck though, and too much bling would look out of place.