New Project, Feedback Wanted On Engine Swap

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#43
What about just a budget 351w? Maybe some new forged pistons on the stock rods and crank, and a basic used hci (gt40, tfs, edie, whatever you can find). the truck should already be mostly setup for it, you'd have to change the firing order in the ecu from the 302 (or im sure truck pcms can be found cheap) but should be at least around the same power as an ls with as much room to grow, without all the fab work and custom parts to make it fit.
 
#44
Chuckman said:
What about just a budget 351w? Maybe some new forged pistons on the stock rods and crank, and a basic used hci (gt40, tfs, edie, whatever you can find). the truck should already be mostly setup for it, you'd have to change the firing order in the ecu from the 302 (or im sure truck pcms can be found cheap) but should be at least around the same power as an ls with as much room to grow, without all the fab work and custom parts to make it fit.
Click to expand...

Oh, well I forgot to mention there is something fouled in the engine management system in the truck.. most likely engine harness, but my buddy has been trying to find it for a couple years with no luck. He's changed computers, etc several time with no luck. It'll just cut out and die, won't start, then start back up and go... cuts in and out going down the highway.. I think it's a bad engine harness since that's all that hasn't been replaced, but who knows? Part of why I was going to tear it all out and start over.

Anyway, 351s are getting hard to find. I just sold one last year to @hoopty5.0 and have been looking around for another one here, a builder is around 600 bucks, and by the time you have gone through it you have several thousand bucks into it.. with a big cube engine like that (stroker) you really need larger heads than gt40 or tfs170, so you're looking at 2 grand for heads.. on top of building the shortblock.. 5k by the time it's said and done.. ugh. It can be done, but man it's a lot of work and money.. I've done it before, just looking to do something a little different this time.. does that make sense?

EDIT: sorry, I just noticed you said stock crank and rods.. I may consider it IF I can find one, but again, they are hard to find.. and expensive to fix.. and bad stock engine management..
 
#48
hoopty5.0 said:
Oh no man. I found a GT motor/harness/ECM in Pasadena for $3k. The truck ones are even cheaper.
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Im teetering on the edge of going coyote in my cobra because of this. I've got a friend that wants to buy my 5.3 pretty bad and it's wearing at me.
Prices are getting better. $ to HP is still heavily toward the LS but the cool factor is there
 
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#49
2000xp8 said:
I'm a little skeptical about that price point for a 400hp LS especially with trans.
I like gm ls2's and ls6's. One day i'll probably own a car with one, but they aren't cheap.
Cheapest one on ebay is at $3600 and it's still has 5 days to go and penty of bids. Probably goto around $5000.

I don't even think you could find the 325hp ls4 with a trans for $2500.

Even if you do actually find one at the price it's an anomaly and you still have to deal with what else it takes to make it work.
Click to expand...
Obviously it's dependent on location but you can find nice stuff for about half or less of what's you're estimating. I've had 2 5.7s, 4 5.3s And a 6.0 to compare.
All depends what you're trying to do. eBay is a bad measuring tool, LS stuff goes for crazy prices on there.
But while the MOTOR is cheap in terms of bang for your buck don't be fooled into thinking the whole swap is cheap. Sure you can "sloppy mechanics" your way to a running car but it's thousands of dollars to do it cleanly and reliably
 
#51
tannerc91gt said:
Im teetering on the edge of going coyote in my cobra because of this. I've got a friend that wants to buy my 5.3 pretty bad and it's wearing at me.
Prices are getting better. $ to HP is still heavily toward the LS but the cool factor is there
Click to expand...
The problem with a coyote swap at your level (read: boost) is that if you really want to make a big number, the blocks start shi tting themselves around 800. A lot of the guys building big HP coyotes around me have been sleeving the blocks which is $$$$$. @Sharad does the SF have a sleeved block? I know you said it's around 700whp, what do you know about going higher?
 
#52
Boosted92LX said:
I guess I need to buy a diesel truck and a big trailer to make trips up north for hotrod parts because they are around 700 here for a clapped out one.
Click to expand...

Even ebay has them at around $300.
All they are used for is cores so someone can get it ported without pulling their car apart. Send the core to steg, pull yours off, sell it to someone at $300.
Ported rebuilt SC's sell on svt performance for about $800. I was going to go that route, just didn't feel at my power level it was worth the trouble for 25rwhp, not sure i'd notice it.

tanner, I didn't only use ebay to check for pricing, I also used the junkyard site car-parts.com then sorted by distance.
I didn't find any really cheap Ls2's, ls6's and certainly not Ls3's (they appear to be 6-10k engines). The cheapest I could find were 5.3's (and they weren't that cheap), not sure that matters though, that engine isn't worth a swap into a ford. The cheapest were the 5.7 ls6's, and that was 3 grand and up with no trans.
Even Silverado engines were $4000+

Junkyards also tend to keep the computers too, not sure about the harness'.

Not saying they are never cheap, but I don't think someone is going to wake up tomorrow, decide to do an ls swap and immediately grab one complete with trans for $2500. You probably need to find someone that doesn't know how to work the internet.
 
#53
2000xp8 said:
Even ebay has them at around $300.
All they are used for is cores so someone can get it ported without pulling their car apart. Send the core to steg, pull yours off, sell it to someone at $300.
Ported rebuilt SC's sell on svt performance for about $800. I was going to go that route, just didn't feel at my power level it was worth the trouble for 25rwhp, not sure i'd notice it.

tanner, I didn't only use ebay to check for pricing, I also used the junkyard site car-parts.com then sorted by distance.
I didn't find any really cheap Ls2's, ls6's and certainly not Ls3's (they appear to be 6-10k engines). The cheapest I could find were 5.3's (and they weren't that cheap), not sure that matters though, that engine isn't worth a swap into a ford. The cheapest were the 5.7 ls6's, and that was 3 grand and up with no trans.
Even Silverado engines were $4000+

Junkyards also tend to keep the computers too, not sure about the harness'.

Not saying they are never cheap, but I don't think someone is going to wake up tomorrow, decide to do an ls swap and immediately grab one complete with trans for $2500. You probably need to find someone that doesn't know how to work the internet.
Click to expand...


FYI: there is a lot of info out there on LS engines that will tell you to not bother with an ls1, ls3, ls6, etc.. because too many ppl want them because they don't understand the truck engines (read:lq4, lq9) make the same horsepower for half the money or less.. So many people are caught up in the hype of corvette motors, they don't take the time to read...
 
#54
Also.. fwiw fellas... this truck will get mods, but not 800hp worth. It'll be a hot street truck. Keyword: truck.

edit: I'd be tickled with a coyote if I could find one... it should more than meet criteria. . I just need my buddies in NJ where they give them away to mail me one...
 
#56
At a certain hp level I believe the $$ are usually about the same.
@Boosted92LX - seems to me if you can find a LS based motor as cheaply as stated it would be a no brainer for me:shrug: even if it ends up being a 4-5k swap(motor-trans-harness) I'd do it.

After all this is a "hot rod" project. Not one of our precious fox body's :rolleyes:
 
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#59
hoopty5.0 said:
The problem with a coyote swap at your level (read: boost) is that if you really want to make a big number, the blocks start shi tting themselves around 800. A lot of the guys building big HP coyotes around me have been sleeving the blocks which is $$$$$. @Sharad does the SF have a sleeved block? I know you said it's around 700whp, what do you know about going higher?
Click to expand...

There's a 90 hatch around locally with the stock M50 and a DS1 that puts down right at 700 hp dyno'd, no issues, Aluminator can handle more...
 
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