[Firebirdjones]

I do LS swaps here for customers as well as myself. An LS swap done properly will completely wipe out and go beyond his $5k budget.

By the time I find a nice used low mile 5.7 or 6.0 LS, do a custom harness, spend time tuning with HP tuner, revamp the entire fuel system properly with an "in-tank" pump setup and all new lines, not to mention all the fitment issues. You may as well do an electronic overdrive trans to take advantage of the computer you will already be running for the fuel injected motor, it only makes sense. In a 4x4 you'll be spending some coin with Advance Adapters to mate all that stuff together. Then you have the option of cooling fans, fabbing a custom air intake, exhaust fabrication, a custom cross member is needed (in the earlier trucks) and the list just goes on and on. It's not a swap for the faint of heart. I've gone over my own personal 6.0 swap in my 72 blazer many times in the past on here. It's very involved to do one properly and make things look factory. I quickly dropped $7500 in parts alone in the swap before it was done. Not including my labor. In the end it was still a stock LQ4 with nothing modified other than a custom SD tune.
It ran decent, with 3.73's and 33" tires it clicked off 14.30's and was a ball to drive. I have video of it here somewhere putting a hurtin' on a new 2010 SS Camaro at the time. Funny stuff.