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Engine SwapEverything about swapping an engine into your Third Gen.....be it V6, V8, LTX/LSX, crate engine, etc. Pictures, questions, answers, and work logs.
Well, it looks like this will be an ever increasingly popular direction for people seeing as how the price of gas only goes up in relation to our income. I was just wondering how many people are interested in making the swap here.
those kids already got one done. So it's far from unworkable. Pretty soon the price of gas will make the conversion and maintenance extremely attractive. If my priority wasn't to try and get a house I would be saving to do this. Luckily i got no kids so hopefully this wont have to wait long after my first goal.
anyways, just lookin to see if anyone outside of academia has done this to thier thirdgen or is already in planning stages. I'm not looking to argue cost of battery maintenance or weight of the car making it less than ideal or the lower range of lead acid setups.
the range depends on the end weight, desired performance, gearing and terrain you are driving in, and the types of batteries you use.
the thing about range is that the batteries contribute the most weight and are the storage units of "fuel". This also means that as battery tech advances, you can simply swap in the new batteries (possibly altering the charger) and not only affect the weight of the car greatly, but the range too becuase not only is weight being reduced, but density of energy storage is being increased.
So yes, you may only get 40 miles per charge on a third gen that can hold it's own in the quarter mile but that's mostly due to the batteries and those can be replaced by better batteries as the tech advances without having to change the rest of the system.
luckily for me, I can probably get away with not driving 40 miles a day, but just barely. Battery tech is really what is holding up widespread adoption, and all the good battery tech is quite expensive, hence most people using the lead acids and getting less than 100 mile ranges, but high end $100,000 dollar EV's get equipped with LiIon and go for 200. That and Li (poly and ion) are very dangerous when damaged and internally shorted. Bad combo for a daily driver.
oh i understand all that...but their 120 MPH max or w/e it said is something i woudln't mind having...so that would limit me. I would be using it as a daily driver to college of which is 60+ round trip, so i would need that 100 miles at least a day, my terrain is horrilble with hills everywhere, and gearing is just something you would need to tool with once you had the unit to figure out what runs best for performance compaired to economy. I understand most of the under-pinnings of these concepts, not that i know all of it or antyhing by any means, lol. It's just most people aren't limited to that 40 miles per day, thats all.
All in all i can't agree wtih you more about battery technologies and i wish that they made a more effecient battery physically and monetarily. I wouldn't mind owning an electric/hybrid car but the fact that it costs more than the fully loaded models and with less features, and often times uglier (like the rims on honda hybrids most of the time and big bulky grills), it's just not my style. IDk, but it would be nice for chevy to make something that potentially with tweaking obviously can be a drop in for our cars. IDK, just a little future dreaming on driving the cars we love with the fuel economy and decent drivability our world needs nowadays
Keep in mind, the optima batteries used in the camaro was the type in 1999. The article i posted later showed that major advances have been made in lead acid batteried since then for those batteries geared towards EV use.
I think it would look bad *** to open the hood and see heavy gauge cables and blinking led's and such around 2 big electric motors.
i can't agree with you more...as long as it performs well too! I mean even if it had the power of the stock LO3 i personally wouldn't complain, although i wouldn't complain if it could have longevity with numbers like TPI 305/350 or LT1-LS1's either...then again neither would most people, lol.
I think technically that would be a "motor swapped for an engine,"...
As I understood it in the past, it would be "engine swapped for a motor".
Engine = power produced within the device.
Motor = power produced outside of the device.
Internal combustion engine, electric motor.
This forum was called "Motor Swap" originally. I and a couple of others protested, saying it's an engine, not a motor.
But, that seems to have been lost these days.
In Kalifornia, it's the "motor change" referee you need to go to when you change out the engine - another perfectly good term that's been californicated.
it looks like it should just drop in pretty much. I’m currently doing an LS swap. However, this is a $30k swap for the electric motor. If I had the funds, I’d give it a shot. More and more cars are doing it too. Tesla swaps could be the next LS swap. Thoughts?
it looks like it should just drop in pretty much. I’m currently doing an LS swap. However, this is a $30k swap for the electric motor. If I had the funds, I’d give it a shot. More and more cars are doing it too. Tesla swaps could be the next LS swap. Thoughts?
I agree, in another 10 years nobody will be spending big bucks ($10K) on an ICE, it will all be electric drivetrains. Ive been following gas to electric conversions with intrest for the last 5 years and the popularity and publiclly available parts and knowledge has grown tremendously. All this is against the backdrop of auto manufacturers outright saying they will stop ICE production 2032-2035 and California saying no new ICE cars after 2032 and the fact that a $40K Tesla family sedan is faster than most of the sports cars middle income households can own. GM now sells a (fairly pathetic) generic EV conversion kit. With the huge space available in our engine bay and the trunk an EV conversion with a 300 mile range is totally doable.
I agree, in another 10 years nobody will be spending big bucks ($10K) on an ICE, it will all be electric drivetrains. Ive been following gas to electric conversions with intrest for the last 5 years and the popularity and publiclly available parts and knowledge has grown tremendously. All this is against the backdrop of auto manufacturers outright saying they will stop ICE production 2032-2035 and California saying no new ICE cars after 2032 and the fact that a $40K Tesla family sedan is faster than most of the sports cars middle income households can own. GM now sells a (fairly pathetic) generic EV conversion kit. With the huge space available in our engine bay and the trunk an EV conversion with a 300 mile range is totally doable.
Battery capacity and location will be a problem. They'll need to balance that out. You can gain some space back from the gas tank, and if you cut the rear hump you can spread the batteries out.
But you gotta keep these things LOW in the car. They weight a lot, far more than gas. Thats why most everything designed to be an electric car first puts the batteries in the floor. Heaviest component, lowest down. Anywhere higher, and it really throws the handling off.
The motor might drop in, but without really cutting up the chassis to keep the battery mounts as low as possible will cause severe handling issues.
I don't think in 10 years you are gonna see a major shift towards EV conversions. They'll be more popular, but I doubt they'll replace the LS swap.
That and think about a 3rd gen's stock braking setup. Adding an extra 200-300lbs, on top of passengers will really stress an already undersized system out.
I certainly see the sales of EV's taking over, maybe in 10 years EV's will approach 15-20% of sales (they are about 5% right now). But the government really needs to handle the charging infrastructure, that includes handling things like Apt owners, or street parking for city residents. If the only way to charge the car is to go to a 'gas' station and sit there for 30-60 minutes the existing model of 6-12 stations will not work. At peak busy times, those gas stations with even up to 12 pumps still get swamped during rush hour, and that's just when it takes 5-10 minutes to fill up a tank. If you have to occupy that spot for 30-60 minutes its just not gonna work.
The grid in some places can't even handle peak energy usage on hot days when the AC runs nonstop, what are they gonna do when people wanna charge their cars?
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PS, I don't want anyone to think I'm against EV cars, I'm not. Its happening, and performance wise its better, as shown by the Hobby grade RC car industry. Electric RC has taken every single performance record imaginable.
If I owned a house I'd probably have a Model Y performance (want that hatch back and 4 doors.). But since I don't really have a place to charge the car, I'm staying ICE.
not sure what that motor swap might be, but assuming $10k+, and im not sure just how much stuff comes with that. the batteries would be at least $30k+ i would assume. Might as well buy a used tesla for $40k and put those guts into a third gen. (but why, just drive the tesla)
I certainly see the sales of EV's taking over, maybe in 10 years EV's will approach 15-20% of sales (they are about 5% right now). But the government really needs to handle the charging infrastructure, that includes handling things like Apt owners, or street parking for city residents. If the only way to charge the car is to go to a 'gas' station and sit there for 30-60 minutes the existing model of 6-12 stations will not work. At peak busy times, those gas stations with even up to 12 pumps still get swamped during rush hour, and that's just when it takes 5-10 minutes to fill up a tank. If you have to occupy that spot for 30-60 minutes its just not gonna work.
The grid in some places can't even handle peak energy usage on hot days when the AC runs nonstop, what are they gonna do when people wanna charge their cars?
Lol...The government has no incentive to get the infrastructure in place before EVs crash an already overtaxed electric grid. In fact they're opposed to abundant energy.
The whole goal is here is to get everyone 100% dependent on the public utilities and the government, at which point they can solve the energy crisis on the demand side rather than the supply side.
Why else would you mandate everyone buy cars that youre not set up to power (and wont be for decades)? In fact trying to reduce energy supply by getting rid of all the cheapest and most reliable sources. It defies all logic, so the only other explanation is malicious intent.
Just the other day folks in Colorado had their home thermostats locked due to energy shortages. Think that's not the model for how the government wants to handle personal transportation too?
You create the shortages for a commodity that you control... the communist global warming cult is absolutely salivating about this.
California mandating EVs and days later telling people to avoid charging their EVs to avoid overtaxing the grid? WTF? The highest taxed state in the country telling its people they don't have enough energy? WTF are we getting for all our tax money? WTF have you been doing the last 25 years when you were starting with all the green energy pie in the sky talk?
Theres a totalitarian mindset thats driving all of this, but too many people are just oblivious, willing to be the frog in the pot that slowly gets boiled and won't realize it until its too late.
Lol...The government has no incentive to get the infrastructure in place before EVs crash an already overtaxed electric grid. In fact they're opposed to abundant energy.
The whole goal is here is to get everyone 100% dependent on the public utilities and the government, at which point they can solve the energy crisis on the demand side rather than the supply side.
Why else would you mandate everyone buy cars that youre not set up to power (and wont be for decades)? In fact trying to reduce energy supply by getting rid of all the cheapest and most reliable sources. It defies all logic, so the only other explanation is malicious intent.
Just the other day folks in Colorado had their home thermostats locked due to energy shortages. Think that's not the model for how the government wants to handle personal transportation too?
You create the shortages for a commodity that you control... the communist global warming cult is absolutely salivating about this.
California mandating EVs and days later telling people to avoid charging their EVs to avoid overtaxing the grid? WTF? The highest taxed state in the country telling its people they don't have enough energy? WTF are we getting for all our tax money? WTF have you been doing the last 25 years when you were starting with all the green energy pie in the sky talk?
Theres a totalitarian mindset thats driving all of this, but too many people are just oblivious, willing to be the frog in the pot that slowly gets boiled and won't realize it until its too late.
All this "Flex Alert" bull@#$! and propaganda about how "you have the power to help conserve" commercials trying to spin shortages into a positive...
All they're doing is conditioning people to believe shortages are normal and positive. Unfortunately in this state (CA) the population is in fact as stupid as the politicians need them to be.
not sure what that motor swap might be, but assuming $10k+, and im not sure just how much stuff comes with that. the batteries would be at least $30k+ i would assume. Might as well buy a used tesla for $40k and put those guts into a third gen. (but why, just drive the tesla)
A number of youtube channels have gone over the cost, i think the highest number was $26K for everything before selling the old engine and drive train.
A number of youtube channels have gone over the cost, i think the highest number was $26K for everything before selling the old engine and drive train.
$26k for battery too? im assuming that would be out of a salvage vehicle. and if using tesla hardware, how do they get around tesla disabling the salvage vehicle?
I’ll get into pricing here in a minute. But first, I want to share a few thoughts on the matter.
1. There was a time when muscle heads scoffed at computer controlled fuel injection and said they’d always stick with good old carburetors. The new technology was undeniable. And it did turn into the future. Could EV be next? Are we being bullheaded about a superior technology?
2. I agree that it is quite shady that the government is pushing so hard for full EV. ESPECIALLY since they have no infrastructure to support the demand for charging if we all have an EV. It makes no sense and seems very “agenda” ish to me.
3. We know it’s not more economical. The plants to produce the electricity put out far more carbon than our cars do. And mining for the materials to make the batteries is absolutely atrocious. But damn, electric cars are pretty fast!
4. There’s not much we can do. They do plan on going full EV by what, 2034? Sooner maybe? We know Dodge is dropping their V8’s. That’s harsh!
So I absolutely love a good V8 ICE. But the option for electric is a pretty cool thing to me. I inquired about it with reVolt Systems and here’s their prices.
Definitely not cheap. But, very professionally done and could be really fast! Honestly, if I had the money, I’d do it and share with all the enthusiasts I could every aspect of it. I bet it would be fairly straightforward to swap back and forth between gas and electric.
Definitely not cheap. But, very professionally done and could be really fast! Honestly, if I had the money, I’d do it and share with all the enthusiasts I could every aspect of it. I bet it would be fairly straightforward to swap back and forth between gas and electric.
But alas, I’m not that rich yet. Maybe one day.
i felt the same way before i bought a civic hybrid many moons ago. i bought it to save money on fuel obviously. car was maybe 6 years old at the time, and i knew the original battery would need replacement soon. at the 8 year mark, the factory battery died. $2500 later i had a new "much better than the factory cells" battery. i hoped for 8+ years out of that one, but only got 4. at that point facing another $2500 i determined my fuel savings were a wash and i should have just bought a more powerful fun to drive gas car instead lol.
the battery in a tesla is most of the bottom of the car to my understanding. to mimic that in an old gas burning car would require rebuilding the entire car with a custom tube chassis or something like that. now factor that in with the fact that they will make it so these batteries do not last more than 10 years or so, and youll have to add another $30k+ or whatever each time you replace the battery.
the tech is neat, and we will be there one day, but for now this stuff is being forced on us because (in my opinion) killing fossil fuels will tank the economy and destroy the middle class.
All this "Flex Alert" bull@#$! and propaganda about how "you have the power to help conserve" commercials trying to spin shortages into a positive...
All they're doing is conditioning people to believe shortages are normal and positive. Unfortunately in this state (CA) the population is in fact as stupid as the politicians need them to be.
I saw a news report from Beaver Utah, I believe, where Tesla put in a couple of charge stations in town. They where a big success so Tesla added more. A few weeks later they had to be removed. I guess when they where all being used at the same time it overloaded the towns electric grid and would kill power to the town. I also read where if you have an average household of 3-4 cars and all where electric it would add $150-$220 per month on your electric bill. I pay $225 in the height of summer so this would effectively double my electric consumption in peak times. This will work, how? Maybe we can live in our EV's when the power goes out in our homes!
For this car enthusiast I would love to have one for the performance aspect, but not for a daily driver, I would rather have my home A/C work on a daily basis.
PS, I don't want anyone to think I'm against EV cars, I'm not. Its happening, and performance wise its better, as shown by the Hobby grade RC car industry. Electric RC has taken every single performance record imaginable.
If I owned a house I'd probably have a Model Y performance (want that hatch back and 4 doors.). But since I don't really have a place to charge the car, I'm staying ICE.
I just recently converted this ICE RC Piper Cub to an electric setup. It went from being a really docile flyer to a literal beast, we're talking true "unlimited vertical" here. For the RC airplane hobby, the LIPO battery has completely transformed the game.
This plane is a fairly sizable one, and the electric conversion has truly made it a fun flyer, great performance with no oily exhaust residue to clean up afterwards. I've got plenty of ICE powered ones that will remain ICE, I'm happy to have such awesome power choices for my planes (and yes that is a 4 stroke powered plane sitting next to the Cub)
I really like reVolt Systems. They make a great product and I love that they’re muscle and performance car enthusiasts. I think they have the right idea. Giving it as an option for performance minded individuals.
I believe they are some of the good guys. If the next generation of cars are a bunch of super powered electric cars, it’s great that we have a shop that specializes in converting older cars to match. But like I said, I’m very cautious as to the government mandating EV on everyone, and find it absurd that they plan to do so without the infrastructure to support it.
02-01-2008, 09:38 AM
