Anybody swapped in an LS1?

[Russell]

A stock 6.5L is still tons better than even a turboed 6.2L. Unless you buy one from a 93 truck, which is their first year, and also when they were mechanically injected, you'll still have to deal with the electronic injection controls, just like any fuel injected gasoline engine.

I've driven turboed 6.2Ls, and I'd estimate the horsepower to be closer to 180 - 190 horse, stock they are like 145 - 160, depending on the year and version. They definitely won't win any races, but I agree, they are good enough for a daily driver

Lots of guys frown on fuel injection controls, but they are so incredibly superior to anything a carb, esspecially if you live in an area like Alberta, where you get some pretty wild temperature changes, and even elevation changes. Carbs are great for being extremely simple, but I've personally had more trouble getting a carb to run properly than a retrofitted fuel injection system. And truthfully, as long as you arn't talking late 80s, early 90s TBI or TPI, they are also extremely reliable system, that require next to no attention.

They arn't hard to swap in either, only have to patch in a dozen or so wires, get the engine mount adapters, PCM flashed to disabled VATS, a few other minor emissions systems & other minor changes, and the proper kit to bolt in whatever flywheel or flexplate you need to bolt your stock transmission up.

Biggest difficulty is in earning the money to buy the engine + swapping parts, and finding a good engine to start with.

[Roper]

Originally Posted by Russell

A stock 6.5L is still tons better than even a turboed 6.2L. Unless you buy one from a 93 truck, which is their first year, and also when they were mechanically injected, you'll still have to deal with the electronic injection controls, just like any fuel injected gasoline engine.

I've driven turboed 6.2Ls, and I'd estimate the horsepower to be closer to 180 - 190 horse, stock they are like 145 - 160, depending on the year and version. They definitely won't win any races, but I agree, they are good enough for a daily driver

Lots of guys frown on fuel injection controls, but they are so incredibly superior to anything a carb, esspecially if you live in an area like Alberta, where you get some pretty wild temperature changes, and even elevation changes. Carbs are great for being extremely simple, but I've personally had more trouble getting a carb to run properly than a retrofitted fuel injection system. And truthfully, as long as you arn't talking late 80s, early 90s TBI or TPI, they are also extremely reliable system, that require next to no attention.

They arn't hard to swap in either, only have to patch in a dozen or so wires, get the engine mount adapters, PCM flashed to disabled VATS, a few other minor emissions systems & other minor changes, and the proper kit to bolt in whatever flywheel or flexplate you need to bolt your stock transmission up.

Biggest difficulty is in earning the money to buy the engine + swapping parts, and finding a good engine to start with.

My friends turbo 6.2 also has cold air intake and dual exhausts. He bought the truck second hand so I dont know what all was done to it. It also has an auxilary transmission. Anyway what I noticed about it was all the power was in the upper rpms. Example you had to wind it up pretty good before the turbo even kicked in. You really had to wind it up to get all 10 psi of boost. Anyway the gear ratio of your rear ends will really effect the power of a turbo 6.2.
But yes its still no hot rod. But 20 mpg with decent power for a low buck engine is quite attractive to me right now with gas prices.
Hey with the 6.5 can you bolt right up to a TH 350? Does anybody make adapters or do you have to swap in a new tranny/ transfer case?
About fuel injection. I had an 88 Ford that has turned me off of electronics and Fords.
My Jeep TJ works great though and thats fuel injected. Course a friend of mine had a Jeep cherokee with the same 4 liter motor as my TJ and he had tons of troubles with the electronics. Its funny hias has the same motor as my TJ but under the hood he has 4 times the amount of wires and electronics as my Jeep does.
Like electronics isnt so bad on a new vehicle but when them vehicles get old its more scary. Its like power doors. Great when new but 25 years down the road your always fixing them.
I just like everything to be as simple as possible. The less stuff under the hood the less to screw up. The electronics stuff I just dont understand at all so if something iasnt right then I cant fix it. Plus im under the impression that most mechanics dont understand it either. They sure seem to have a hard time fixing anything. Its like try this $500 electronic part that you cant return after they try it on your truck. That 88 Ford I spent a fortune on. Took it to lots of different mechanics to. Nobody could fix it. Worst Lemon piece of crap that Ford ever made. I wouldnt ave a Ford parked in my driveway after that truck. Man I still get spiteful thinking about that truck. NEVER AGAIN will I own a FORD!

[Russell]

Yeah, that can be really frustrating, throwing parts at an EFI system in an attempt to fix a problem that can be caused by something seemingly completely un-related. Best way to service those rigs is to take it to the stealership, where they can use the factory service manual's troubleshooting guide to build up a list of suspect systems, and how to test them without simply replacing them.

The biggest thing to keep in mind is that it costs money to switch engines around all the time -- Is the money you spend on converting to diesel well spent? Diesel isn't that much cheaper, at least up here (99 cents a litre vs 1.17 for 87 octane), and I'd imagine it'd take a long time for the swap to pay itself off in fuel savings. You can buy a fair bit of gasoline for the 1500 or so you'd need to count on spending to install a 6.2L (including buying one) then turboing it.

And as far as the TH350 goes, it isn't possible to install one of them behind a diesel. Those transmissions need a vaccum signal to shift correctly, which can be solved with a special variable vaccum valve installed on the 6.2L / TH400 Military trucks, but, there is no such thing as a diesel TH350 torque converter or govenor, as far as I am aware.

Best bet is to run a standard, those diesels, even turbocharged, don't like being revved much past 2800 - 3000 rpm, and an auto simply has too much parasitic drag to work nicely.

SM465s are bolt ups to 6.2 and 6.5L diesels, and are 3 speed transmissions. You'd either need big tires, or very tall gears to keep your revs around 1800 - 1900 at 100 km/h for getting the best mileage, but that also means it is a real slug off the line. 700r4s, or NV4500 5 speed standards are a much better choice, since they have an overdrive gear, which lets you run a lower gear ratio to get up and go a bit better, but still get good highway mileage