Hey everyone, I am in a bit of a delima here. I have a 91 RS Convertable w/ 140k miles. Its got a 305TBI/5-Speed with a few mods. (Click Sig) So its pretty slow. I will be giving it a new engine in Febuary/March. My plan was to put a used LS1/T56 combo in. I have done all of my research, I know what the cost will be, I know what the problem areas are, I know what I have to do. Now I just have to figure out if I should do it! Adding everything up, it will cost me about 5k to make the change. And that is getting a 60-70k mile engine. I have been thinking about it non-stop for the past couple weeks and I just cant seem to make a decision. 5k is ALOT of money. I could easily put that money into a new daily driver, or repairs/upgrades to my condo. I dont like any of my other options as far as the engine goes. I have looked into 350HO from GM Performance parts. After putting a fuel injection on it and getting a LT1 T56, it will cost about the same as the LS1.

If you can do it for 5k I say go for it. There are alot that have almost double that in the swap considering a low mile LS1/T56 will cost you about 5k.

I have almost 5k in my LT1/T56 swap (after the rebuild) but for the time I did get to drive the car, it was well worth it.

If you can do the swap for 5 grand, then you must be getting some good deals.

It all depends on what you want. I wanted a new style motor, with decent gas milage, and lots of high RPM power. So I went with a LS1.

However, I'm over the 10k mark since I did a head/cam swap, and got lots of Hawks swap parts, including the LT Headers.

Its alot of work.....and it won't be easy. But it can be done, and with the amount of people who have, and are doing the swap, there are plenty of people to help with the pesky problems that come up here and there.

So it really boils down to......do YOU want to do the swap?

Everyones telling me that 5K isnt enough for the LS1 swap.

-$4000 LS1-T56 Combo
-$400 T56 Crossmember w/ Torque Arm
-$600 Custom LS1 Harness
-$100 Engine Mounts
-$100 Fuel Pump
-$75 Fuel Pressure Regualator
-------
$5275 TOTAL

What am I missing?


Either way, I think the LS1 will be too much money than I can justify spending on my car. I will probably go with an LT1/T56 swap. I can do that for around $3000. That way I will have cash leftover for other things.

your forgetting Hawks headders or custom exhaust for at least 1
grand.

I was going to use the stock manifolds temporarily. I would have to get a y-pipe made up, but that wouldnt cost more than $200 (no cats.) Eventually I would put headers on it, but I could do that later to save cash now.