Successful 5.3l Engine Swap thanks to CPP

[Jfarns03]

For the past three weeks I've been trying to get my 5.3L into my 1968 C10. Everything has been problems until now. The motor is in thanks to CPP. With my last thread " Say it aint so CPP " I gave a fairly negative review of their motor perches. That's old news thanks to their new sheet metal motor mounts! Let me start from the day I picked them up. I walk into their new warehouse ready to stir up hell with the past purchase but with the help of CPP's staff and understanding of my problem they leapt forward and get me a great price and a brand new product. They gave me the first set of their new motor perches powder coated in black. A clean slick look that meshes with the engine bay perfectly while still doing its duty as a major component in this swap. When installing the motor I had a few problems. With the lack of information of how to install and where to install all the parts to make this kind of LS based swap happen, it took quite a bit of time. For some reason the passenger side mounts would not line up so after a bit of modification and a great deal of the classic " what if I do this and that will happen " I got the motor in. It by far was not a breeze but my knowledge of this kind of swap has grown. CPP is a good company with a friendly staff and I would buy from them again. On the other hand their lack of instructions for all of the products is confusing, and after trying out every combination of moving the mounting plates around the six different positions I finally found the right recipe. I had to take a grinder to the air conditioning bracket and got it all to fit nice and neat. I'm happy with the mounts themselves and for my next motor swap like this I can depend on CPP for the right part and the right price. ( 5% percent off for forum members ) here's a collection of pictures for you guys!

[BigRed76]

Glad to hear you got everything in place. Is that engine in stock location compared to a small block?

[Jfarns03]

I really have no idea because this truck came with an inline six originally. The fan shouldnt interfere with the radiator from what i can tell. I have a good 7 inches of clearance from the firewall to the back of the intake manifold. Oh and i forgot to say the stock Silverado/Avalanche exhaust manifolds fit snug with a little cutting of the frame on the passenger side!!! .

[BigRed76]

How much was the whole new CPP motor mount setup?

[Jfarns03]

Well the entire setup cost me around $315 and some change. Rubber Motor mounts and plates, motor perches, transmission crossmember, and polyurethane trans mount. I got a smoking deal on everything because I drove down there and talked with the founder of CPP Jim, and he hooked me up for my troubles. The new motor perches are $159.99. That's really steep. I can safely say that I would have gone a different route with mounting the motor because there are much cheaper options, but I would definitely buy another trans tubular crossmember. That was the easiest part of this entire swap
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[BigRed76]

Originally Posted by Jfarns03

Well the entire setup cost me around $315 and some change. Rubber Motor mounts and plates, motor perches, transmission crossmember, and polyurethane trans mount. I got a smoking deal on everything because I drove down there and talked with the founder of CPP Jim, and he hooked me up for my troubles. The new motor perches are $159.99. That's really steep. I can safely say that I would have gone a different route with mounting the motor because there are much cheaper options, but I would definitely buy another trans tubular crossmember. That was the easiest part of this entire swap
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Good to know. I have the CPP tubular trans. crossmember and polyurethane mount on my '71 and I can agree that's its a nice setup.
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[flykelley]

What are you using for exhaust manifolds? Pictures of those would be nice.


Mike