Swap to Ls or Stick with sbc on my 64

[SuperCtruck]

Originally Posted by suburban99

Almost done my LS swap on my 62 longbox. I bought the whole truck (2000 Sierra 5.3 2wd) removed what I wanted and sold the rest. My engine and tranny cost me about $50 now that I recovered my investment. The challenges I have found are the narrow frame on the '62, and the engine mounts as mine is a disc conversion from a '78. I did my own EFI harness (actually quite easy if you read up on it), and modified my stock fuel tank for electric fuel pump with return.
Just got my 3 core rad last week. I drilled and tapped the water pump for the steam fitting. Also shortened my own driveshaft.

I don't have a fancy shop just a normal garage like most guys on here. Whatever you decide take your time and good luck with it.

Thanks Suburban99 Do you have a build thread on this bad boy? Sounds Like a killer build! I'm going to call around tomorrow for a computer and see about talking to modern vintage systems on Instagram for a harness.

[OsOdeDIABLO]

I make my living building high end vehicles with ls based engines. they are fine, but all my personal rides , 65 bwlb, 64 biscayne wagon, have 350s. Easy to tune, swap, repair, and upkeep. All my engines have plenty of power and reliable. Just one mans take. Jimmy

[Aaronoregon]

Originally Posted by OsOdeDIABLO

I make my living building high end vehicles with ls based engines. they are fine, but all my personal rides , 65 bwlb, 64 biscayne wagon, have 350s. Easy to tune, swap, repair, and upkeep. All my engines have plenty of power and reliable. Just one mans take. Jimmy

You do LS conversions for a living and run 350's?? That right there is funny! The Vortec LS's are cheap to buy, easy to tune, swap, repair and upkeep once they are in. Oh, and once installed they don't need any of that but oil changes. They will run 250,000 miles and get you 22-23 mpg if tuned correctly doing it. Somethings wrong with this picture....................You sure your not just the guy installing them for $15/hr?

[SuperCtruck]

Originally Posted by Mathew21

Yes I did it all myself. Well with a lot of advice from the good people on this board. Yes mine is injected. I think I read every LS swap thread 10 times. This was my first motor swap I ever did.

Yes mine is fuel injected.

I can honestly say it wasn't that bad. As far as cost go I really don't want to ad it all up. But I'm over $3000.00 including the cost of the motor and transmission. I could've did some things cheaper like the fuel tank and radiator. I went with Boyd welding tank with electric fuel pump, Radiator Entropy with dual electric fans.

Read this thread there's a lot of good information in it. http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=456787

Good info, thanks for sharing

[MikeN]

Originally Posted by OsOdeDIABLO

I make my living building high end vehicles with ls based engines. they are fine, but all my personal rides , 65 bwlb, 64 biscayne wagon, have 350s. Easy to tune, swap, repair, and upkeep. All my engines have plenty of power and reliable. Just one mans take. Jimmy

I have a 350 with a Q-Jet in my 64 C10, and I wouldn't change a thing. If I wanted an LS motor I'd buy a new truck

[SuperCtruck]

Originally Posted by MikeN

I have a 350 with a Q-Jet in my 64 C10, and I wouldn't change a thing. If I wanted an LS motor I'd buy a new truck

NICE

[PGSigns]

I have one LS truck and one old school truck. When I did the 66 a LS swap would have been cheaper but was not the look I wanted. By the time I bought a new vortec head crate engine, new intake, new carb, new MSD ecurve, had a 700r4 built, bought a lock up controller and all the other stuff needed to put this engine and trans in I am a grand or more over the cost of my 31,000 mile 07 5.3 takeout with a 4l60e and the stand alone harness. So an LS is a very nice option but not the only option when building what you want in the end.
Jimmy

[MikeN]

Just to be clear, I'm not knocking LS swaps, in fact I think they're cool. It's just that the old school simplicity of carbs and distributors is a big part of what I like about tinkering with cars and trucks.

[siggyfreud]

Could go the franken'motor route like I'm doing and pull some of the tech from an LS (and other FI motors) like the crank/cam triggers, coil packs, etc and put them on a Gen 1 block. Potentially more work and not much savings (if any), but definitely unique'ish.

[CES2749]

I've starting working on my 64 C10 swb truck and I'm doing the LS swap. I had a 400 smallblock with a leaking intake gasket. I was going to have to completely rebuild since it had been sitting a while. I picked up a 6.0 LQ9 that has been massaged and had everything for an LS swap in place (oil pan,headers,harness) but I did have to purchase a Boyd tank with fuel pump,sending unit etc. I liked the 400, but it was going to cost me a lot more to repair it than the power I would get out of it. Either way you go the trucks are cool, just personal preference I guess. Good luck.

[SuperCtruck]

Originally Posted by siggyfreud

Could go the franken'motor route like I'm doing and pull some of the tech from an LS (and other FI motors) like the crank/cam triggers, coil packs, etc and put them on a Gen 1 block. Potentially more work and not much savings (if any), but definitely unique'ish.

That looks Killer siggyfreud I like that look

Originally Posted by CES2749

I've starting working on my 64 C10 swb truck and I'm doing the LS swap. I had a 400 smallblock with a leaking intake gasket. I was going to have to completely rebuild since it had been sitting a while. I picked up a 6.0 LQ9 that has been massaged and had everything for an LS swap in place (oil pan,headers,harness) but I did have to purchase a Boyd tank with fuel pump,sending unit etc. I liked the 400, but it was going to cost me a lot more to repair it than the power I would get out of it. Either way you go the trucks are cool, just personal preference I guess. Good luck.

Yeah very true about the leaks on the Gen1's. I spent countless hours chasing leaks on my water pump and rear valve cover leaks on my old 71 c10 350, but I think the cheap bill it was most of the problem not the gaskets. This was another reason I would consider the Ls

[AcampoDave]

I'mm an old school guy and I love my old small block. Sure it's outdated, but so is the truck! (Maybe the driver is too) I guess it's just my style as I also love old signs, bottles, hubcaps and hey I even have a working black rotory dial wall phone with the chrome hook and real bells inside that I'm going to put in the garage. Preserve the past or embrace the future...it's a personal decision.

[zach_carver]

I went through this same decision about 2 months ago, I ended up with a 2007 LS2 motor. I drive my truck daily. I went outside yesterday and it was 17* outside, the LS motor just boom started right up and sat there and idled all by itself. No giving it gas nothing. I have 400hp and reliability to drive anywhere. Im young so i love the LS stuff of course. But on another note theres no way id removed my old sbc 327 from the truck for any reason. Until it decided to blow up, busting pistons and the block. If it had been repairable I would have. But Im not by any means regretting the LS motor either. On these trucks though the more original the better. But my original motor is scrap metal.

[SuperCtruck]

Originally Posted by zach_carver

I went through this same decision about 2 months ago, I ended up with a 2007 LS2 motor. I drive my truck daily. I went outside yesterday and it was 17* outside, the LS motor just boom started right up and sat there and idled all by itself. No giving it gas nothing. I have 400hp and reliability to drive anywhere. Im young so i love the LS stuff of course. But on another note theres no way id removed my old sbc 327 from the truck for any reason. Until it decided to blow up, busting pistons and the block. If it had been repairable I would have. But Im not by any means regretting the LS motor either. On these trucks though the more original the better. But my original motor is scrap metal.

True, if I decide to swap it to Ls I'll for sure keep my 283 stored away.
What efi fuel tank did you go with? Thanks