- Dec 4, 2011
- 248
Fellas, I'd like to bring this topic up again.
There's always been conflicting reports of what's possible in this scenario and I'd like to get the collective in on this, hopefully turning it into a real resource for questions. Most topics on this are young kids or uneducated guys that fly in with a 2 post count, ask "hOw cAn i pUt a v8 iN mAh TB?" with no real intent to properly take on the task or ever actually do anything, much less document the project for the collective's benefit.
Other (personal) reasons are:
1. I have an 02-only Victory Red LS, clean as a whistle, no rust, and they don't make an SS in that color. As far as I'm concerned, it's by far the finest color offered on these things.
2. My truck is paid off and has been for a while. It also only books for somewhere in the 3-5K range. Even high mile SS trucks are still 12K+. I'd have to kick essentially 10K to basically upgrade 2 cylinders and 100HP. Not economically sound. I'm sure this swap could be done for less than 30% of that.
3. Since my truck is an LS, I really have JUST the basics... PW, PL, AC, tilt, cruise, and selectable 4wd instead of AWD. No DIC, no power seats, no leather, no auto wipers, etc etc etc. NO bullshit. Less shit to go wrong, and I honestly don't want any of that garbage.
4. Truck has 155K on it and it ticks a little in the lower end of the motor. At some point, it's going to need a transplant.
5. Aftermarket support. 4.2? There is none... 5.3? Quite the opposite.
Sounds to me like the perfect candidate for a well-documented 5.3 swap that can finally put this whole mess to bed, if it's feasible.
All that said, let's discuss the issue. My initial thought is, find a rolled 5.3 EXT, swap powertrains and maybe the dash and underhood harnesses, and this should really be a plug and play deal.
Thoughts?
There's always been conflicting reports of what's possible in this scenario and I'd like to get the collective in on this, hopefully turning it into a real resource for questions. Most topics on this are young kids or uneducated guys that fly in with a 2 post count, ask "hOw cAn i pUt a v8 iN mAh TB?" with no real intent to properly take on the task or ever actually do anything, much less document the project for the collective's benefit.
Other (personal) reasons are:
1. I have an 02-only Victory Red LS, clean as a whistle, no rust, and they don't make an SS in that color. As far as I'm concerned, it's by far the finest color offered on these things.
2. My truck is paid off and has been for a while. It also only books for somewhere in the 3-5K range. Even high mile SS trucks are still 12K+. I'd have to kick essentially 10K to basically upgrade 2 cylinders and 100HP. Not economically sound. I'm sure this swap could be done for less than 30% of that.
3. Since my truck is an LS, I really have JUST the basics... PW, PL, AC, tilt, cruise, and selectable 4wd instead of AWD. No DIC, no power seats, no leather, no auto wipers, etc etc etc. NO bullshit. Less shit to go wrong, and I honestly don't want any of that garbage.
4. Truck has 155K on it and it ticks a little in the lower end of the motor. At some point, it's going to need a transplant.
5. Aftermarket support. 4.2? There is none... 5.3? Quite the opposite.
Sounds to me like the perfect candidate for a well-documented 5.3 swap that can finally put this whole mess to bed, if it's feasible.
All that said, let's discuss the issue. My initial thought is, find a rolled 5.3 EXT, swap powertrains and maybe the dash and underhood harnesses, and this should really be a plug and play deal.
Thoughts?