Finally going under the knife, but what to choose?
 

Wanted to create a poll since I am a little bit at a crossroads with choosing a path with Audrey here. Had her 13.5 years and I think its finally time to put her under the knife and do drivetrain and some suspension. Part I am stuck on is what type of motor. BBC, LS (FI), LS (Carb), or new LT series motor. They are all expensive but this is the one vehicle that will never really have a price limit over time as it will never be sold.

Truck is going to be build as a cruiser with a six speed, IFS/IRS with Coilovers. What are your thoughts on the motor?

Re: Finally going under the knife, but what to choose?
 

Wow , that is a nice one . I voted LS with fuel injection as Im about to do with my 72 Shorty . My crate motor sucks , less tan 10000 miles and it uses mucho oil and fouls plugs .

Re: Finally going under the knife, but what to choose?
 

LS with FI. Currently doing an LS3/TR6060 swap in my 86.

Bubba

Re: Finally going under the knife, but what to choose?
 

Emphasis on handling? LS all the way.

How come no option in the poll to keep it the way it is? ;)

Re: Finally going under the knife, but what to choose?
 

A couple of questions (or so). I'm more interested in what you want than any similarity would have to something I'm building. So it will be a cruiser, how important is its level of performance? Is the goal just that it drives nice? How important is fuel economy? Do you place any importance on any factory systems or visual cues? What motor do you have now? What does it look like (pic)? What are the modifications in general? And what do you want out of your new motor that you don't have now? Do you place any importance on originality or being different than others?

Does that seem too much like an interrogation? Totally sorry if that's the case and I missed the point. If you asked me what I would do if I had that truck I can answer it without knowing more. If you want to know what I think you could or ought to do with that truck, it begs a bunch of questions per the above.

Re: Finally going under the knife, but what to choose?
 

Great questions LT7A.

I have a 400sbc in there now. Pic attached. Modification to that engine is just the serpentine setup with a small rv cam, 202 heads, air gap intake, performer carb and MSD billet distributor. Trans only has a shift kit.

I have had the truck for so long but not really spent any money on it because it has always been nice enough to drive anytime and I have always had other projects ranging from 70' Chevelles to 2dr 2wd Tahoes and new Silverado's. Right now I have a 23k original mile 550hp Firehawk with a six speed that is fully build as a track car as my other car. In the time I have had this truck, everything has been mostly cosmetic. I think it is high time to spend money on it instead of others. The Firehawk is done and I might wind up selling it to funnel the money into this.

The truck itself, I want it to get smoothed out a little(By this I mean some tucked and smoothed bumpers, and capping the bed and doing some alterations to it, and through some new suspension under it first. It will be coil overs on all four corners BUT I am working with a friend that has a shop to see if we can graph in and retain the functionality of a newer IRS out of a Corvette or Camaro. The idea is to have a seemingly nice looking restomod looking truck that can handle and put down some decent times on the track. MY ultimate goal would be for it to outperform a newer Camaro bare minimum in stopping and a straight line but be on par with it on the track...outperforming a C7 would be the whip cream and cherry on top but that will probably never happen.

I plan on retaining an AC system in the truck, the power windows and power locks. The CC will be integrated with an LS or LT based motor ecu so I am not worried about that. For the most part it will retain all factory options as far as comforts.

IF the truck had the original motor I would probably not do this, but since the motor was swapped at some point I now have no problem tearing it down and rebuilding it exactly how I want it.