great craigslist ad for 5.3 conversion
 

thought this was a good deal, 1000 for motor and trans, and im sure youd might be able to get the harness frm him as well
lubbock.craigslist.org/pts/1471067615.html

Re: great craigslist ad for 5.3 conversion
 

for 1000 i would want the harness and the ecm
there around for $450 without trans but with the harness and ECM

Re: great craigslist ad for 5.3 conversion
 

I'd shop around. I'm sure prices vary from area to area but guys are buying them locally with everything for under a grand. That's a 75k miles motor, trans and ecm.

Excellent swap btw.

Re: great craigslist ad for 5.3 conversion
 

the 5.3 in these squares are a great swap well worth the effort!!

Re: great craigslist ad for 5.3 conversion
 

I'd take a LT1 anyday over a LSxpensive.

Re: great craigslist ad for 5.3 conversion
 

each to there own!! i would never look back at a gen 1

Re: great craigslist ad for 5.3 conversion
 

LT1 bolts right in, you can make as much power CHEAPER, explain to me why a set of LS1 plug wires are almost double in price ad uses way less material than a set of LT1 wires? Why a set of LS1 headers cost as much as I could buy a complete LT1 for? Plus they are just over engineered. If you just had one laying around I could see using it, but I wouldn't go out of my way to buy one.

Re: great craigslist ad for 5.3 conversion
 

well i brought my passsetter shortys for 153 bucks nothing fancy but they work and work great ! as far as the wires a new set of lsx bosch wire set are 59.99 a set of vette bosch wire set are 57.99
soon as these engine become more popular and common you will see part prices drop !! if you remember when the LT1 came out they where very expensive too
they ae a great engine!!! that make great power!!!!

Re: great craigslist ad for 5.3 conversion
 

Nothing wrong with the LT1, but I will have to ask you to "show me" how you can do it cheaper.

Besides, the LSx motors "look" right in our trucks.

Re: great craigslist ad for 5.3 conversion
 

The LT1 (gen 2) engines have most of thier parts in common with the gen 1 engines so parts are cheap. The LSx engines have nothing in common with the gen 1 and gen 2 engines. The LS1 engines have been out for 12 years and the more plentiful truck engines have been out for 10 years. The aluminum headed truck engines came in the '02 and newer trucks so only seven years. Compared to 55 years for the gen 1 engines. With time the prices will come down. My dad used to have a similar complaint about the 5.7 in my T/A vs the 396 in his Chevelle until he drove the T/A.

Re: great craigslist ad for 5.3 conversion
 

the aluminum headed trucks started in 1999!

Re: great craigslist ad for 5.3 conversion
 

right on the money there!!!!!!!!! :devil:

Re: great craigslist ad for 5.3 conversion
 

Saw one (5.3 w/ trans) with I think about 80k for $750 on KC, MO craigslists earlier this evening.

Re: great craigslist ad for 5.3 conversion
 

It had power, but the LT1 was a horrible design thats why it was only around for 5 years (distibutor behind the water pump, dumbest idea ever,) I owned a 96' Impala SS and believe me, it gave me the most headaches out of all the GM V8's I've owned, I own a 03 tahoe Z71 with the 5.3 and havnt had a problem yet and it has great power!

LS motors are the way to go the technology is unbeatable!
LT1's are good for boat anchors thats about it, I'd use a L98 TPI motor before an LT1 for a second choice!

Re: great craigslist ad for 5.3 conversion
 

Having owned several LT1 and LS1 F-bodies and a 02 6.0 truck and an 03 5.3 Tahoe plus dozens of gen-1 small block and mark-IV big blocks I can say hands down the LSx engines are the way to go. Beyond about 350 hp dollar per HP with street manners the LSx engine is the winner.

Yes you can build great power with all the Chevy V-8's but when looking for the best 350+ hp street motor bang for the buck the LSx has no rival.

Try adding up the cost of adding aluminum heads, a hydraulic roller cam setup and direct port fuel injection to a gen-1 small block or a big block just to get it up to the technology of the LT1 & LSx motors. You are easily adding $3000 to the build cost.

The LT1 falls short because of the design flaw ignition system and the poor flowing heads. Do a little work and convert it to coil on plug ignition and install a better set of heads and you are in the LSx ballpark on power but you are typically dealing with a 2-bolt cast crank motor still and it cost you more than an LSx to get there.

The durability of the LSx motors is incredible too. There are dozens of turbocharged 5.3's out there making over 600 hp to the wheels with stock block, crank, rods, pistons, heads and intakes on pump gas.

Re: great craigslist ad for 5.3 conversion
 

aside from engine cost how much money is involved doing one of these swaps

Re: great craigslist ad for 5.3 conversion
 

Poor flowing heads on a LT1..LMAO the iron heads are based on the Vortec truck heads..LMAO and there is nothing wrong with the opti, I've seen em last over 200k , and have never had one damaged by the W/p leaking on em.

Re: great craigslist ad for 5.3 conversion
 

they are easy!!!
mounts , headers ,harness

Re: great craigslist ad for 5.3 conversion
 

Poor flowing is relative. Yes the LT1 & vortec heads flow pretty well compared to the older gen-1 heads but I am comparing them to the LSx heads. The L92 and LS3 heads flow like rectangular port big block heads and the older cathedral port LS heads still substantially outflow even the LT4 heads.

200k on one opti is not typical or even close to typical.

I had to replace the one on my 96 Z/28 three times. The first one failed within three months of rolling off the assembly line.

Replaced two on my 95 Formula before it hit 90k and one on my best friends 97 SS that only had 37k on it.

These were all on cars with the newer vented opti that was an improvement over the older design.

Opti's are an expensive piece of junk plain and simple. Spending $500 on a redesigned MSD one still doesn't fix the fact that it is low on the front of the engine where it can easily get wet driving in the rain or the fact that it is under the water pump so when that goes out it will dump coolant on the opti and likely kill it too.

Re: great craigslist ad for 5.3 conversion
 

The water pump going out and leaking through the weep hole is probably what killed my best friends opti on his 37,000 mile 97 SS.

Re: great craigslist ad for 5.3 conversion
 

Don't forget the fuel system and the computer tune to eliminate VATS.

Re: great craigslist ad for 5.3 conversion
 

I have a TBI setup.. what would I have to do the fuel system to be compliant with an lsx swap?

Re: great craigslist ad for 5.3 conversion
 

I have had a dozen caprices, never once had any problems with the opti whether washing the engine, driving in the rain, or w/p leakage at over 100k miles. Don't like em, thats cool, more for me. but I will NEVER own a LS engine.

Re: great craigslist ad for 5.3 conversion
 

Great! more LS motors for us!

Re: great craigslist ad for 5.3 conversion
 

:lol: i cannot believe this thread has turned into a debate on the ls vs. lt1.

matter of fact i was just over at a buddys today and he was talking about pulling out the gen. II in his '68 camaro and throwing it in the trash to drop in a 5.3! :haha: he was saying how he cant sell it and they just dont bring the money anymore. i told him DO IT!! heck he was even contemplating a supercharged 2.2 out of a cobalt(recycle place has 1 we saw for cheap) and again "throwing his gen. II fuel injection and all IN THE TRASH! crazy i just happened to open up this thread and seen this:haha: