A lot of people ask so I thought this would be helpful. This is everything I have spent to date. This further illustrates my point that if you don't get the complete 4th gen you are spending THOUSANDS more then you otherwise would because you can't sell parts off it to make up some costs. $2500 -99SS ls1/t56 damaged car $475 -HP Tuners $165 -Racetronix 255 fuel pump $100 spohn ls1 motor mounts $850 hawks overpriced headers $30 throttle cable $15 synchro mesh $160 2-ton engine crane $210 skulte longtube crossmember $16 upper radiator hose total $4521 -$250 sold SS spoiler -$80 sold speakers -$375 sold wheels -$60 sold rear 'camaro' panel and SS mats -$440 sold leather seats -$400 sold complete rear axle -$80 sold exhaust -$40 sold sail panels -$15 sold blinker lenses -$75 sold lid/airbox/k&n -$75 sold tail lights -$90 sold dual fan -$140 center console and seat belt -$50 sold dash pad -$45 sold t-top headliner total $2215 Difference of $2306. I didn't really have to buy all the above, so if you wanted a bare bones swap there is another easy $1000 to be saved without getting hawks headers, or the fuel pump. $375-$75=$300 savings for a local guy to remove codes $160 if you have a hoist or resell it once you're done. So I can see $1000 being fesible for a bare bones swap. Then I still had the complete modded 406 and tranny I took out. I actually sold it for more then $2306 so in the end I actually did the swap and made money. Of course, results will vary if you still have a stock engine to resell Hope this helps someone asking about cost.

Great list, definitely less than what I spent. I didnt have the means to store a complete car, or the time. But it is definitely a great idea to buy a complete car vs. buying just a drivetrain. People treat LS1/LS2 pullouts like gold.

Yep - it's great if it's possible for ya, but that's certainly not the case for a lot of people..

five7 can we add this to the sticky under costs please?

how many miles were on the motor and trans when you bought it?

Done.

109K on the odometer but the guy I bought it from who I believe since he was off a local fbody board said the guy previous had to replaced the T56 so it was thought to have around 25K on it if that's true.
I don't know if there's anything put on them to tell that or not.
I know the T56 has a big blue metal tag on it, but I am sure they all do.
I don't know if the numbers on it can tell you it wasn't OEM to that year.

that's a great price you got for the donor car. Where'd you find out about it from?

You bought a whole donor SS for $2500? WAY beyond most peoples chances of scoring.

Guy on the local board wrecked it and insurance totalled it out.
At that point I offered him $2500 to buy it back.
He made cash on the deal since the buy back was less and the insurance company brought it 75 miles and a state away to my door.
The day before I bought this one I called another local one I saw on craigslist for $2800 but it was already sold, so the deals are there.

That is the one good thing about 4th gens....there are a lot of guys who think they are great drivers who wadd them up on trees, etc. So donor cars are out there......

Where does everyone think the motors come from? LOL...Someone(aka, salvage yard) buys the car for $1,500 to $2,500(At the most!) and parts it out for $6,000+!

The only realy concern is space and time for most....Salvage yards have both,

I am currently looking for a donor car myself, since the pullouts are getting retarded "$"... I have seen GTO pullouts going for the same as a brand new GM LSX crate motor, with wiring, acc., etc!




...Jim

i paid 6500 for my whole 84 trans am with a swapped in 02 ws6 ls1 w/6sp and 30k on motor and trans, also came with 02 gas tank, radiator/fans, wilwood 4 piston disc brakes, stut tower brace, hellwig sway bar, kyb shocks/struts, eibach springs, tubular lower cntrl arms, edlbrock torque arm and panhard bar, subframe connects, alpine deck, autometer gauges, hurst shifter, slp loudmouth exhaust, a set of ls6 heads, reduced crank pulley.
previous owner did every thing, i sold the ls6 heads for 700

shoot if i had the space and time i would buy a couple and my whole car plus would be paid for in no time flat

would a corvette donor car also be a good choice or is there a difference between the two

Neither the Corvette accessories (nor oil pan, I think) can be reused in a F-Body.

O ok..I wondered b/c I really want the C5 brake upgrade and thought that I could kill two birds with one stone and buy a wrecked vette...
what do you mean by accessories?

well I guess a better question would be..(and sorry if there is an obvious answer that I havent seen)...So a late model Camaro with an LS1/T56 would be better than to buy a vette?

Accessories...alternator, power steering pump, AC compressor...Now, some of the accessories themselves might be the same, the mounts certainly are certainly different.

A Camaro/Firebird would be a much better donor. Take the fuel tank too. You'd need to higher pressure fuel pump & they aren't simple drop ins....but the whole plastic 4th gen tank is.

Buy the whole wrecked car, get the parts you need & part out the rest. People have been known to get more $ in parts they sell, than they bought the whole car for.

Great man
I had my doubts about this swap and how much it was gonna cost and what car I needed to get so on and so on...Ive been searching and researching all about this swap but never really had that question answered before....all I have to do now is search for the lucky donor!...

thanks for the great list! this will help out a lot!

I've since parted out complete a 99Ws6
Numbers changed per piece but overall total was about the same once you account for the engine and tranny not being kept this time.


$2200-sold engine auto tranny and pcm
$600 -sold fenders, door, hood, bumper
$325 -sold bumper, hatch, spoiler, rear speakers and panels and middle speaker, gave away side GFX
$45 -sold tail lights
$175 -sold 3.23 posi disc axle
$100 -sold t-tops
$125 -sold gas tank and pump
$85 -sold t-tops
$65 -sold rear leather seats
$95 -sold driveshaft
$20 -sold exhaust
$35 -sold cooolant bottle
$20 -sold wiper bottle
$45 -sold t-top headliner
$195 -sold front power lumbar leather seats

total $4130

Are you sure about the accessorries? I am about to give it try and am wondering what information you have that identifies what the constraints are when using the Y body front end accessorries. It seems if anything they would even work better with the Spohn crossmember being the alt for the Y body is mounted high and not low.

Everything I've read, says they are mounted way to differently to fit our engine compartment & clear everything.

Stat with a Vette engine & put F-body accessories on it, is what I've always read, is the only way to put a Vette LS into a F-body.

I will have to see. I have my Vette and my Bird parked next to each other and can't see why the Vette stuff will not work. I found some LS1 AC Compressor relocation brackets on Ebay, but I think I am going to go with Superpower's bracket that retains the original AC unit. With the AC Pump up top and the Alt up high...there should be no reason to have to modify the stock K member or an aftermarket one such as the Spohn...with braces.

I now since bought a 2000z28 for $1500
and a 98 trans am for $1000.
That makes 4 complete ls1 cars. Everyone cheaper then the one prior.
Anyone who claimed luck, care to explain doing it four times?

I need to move to ST Louis apparently!

To quote a campaign slogan a few years back, "It's the economy, stupid."

I wish it was that bad down here I'd be doing an LS1 T56 swap instead of an LT1 4L60 E.

man you got a great price. i bought a 98 fourmla for 1900 with 58k on engine and tranny

i wish i could find a cheap 4th gen up here in mass; i can't find a 6cyl 4th gen for less than $2000, let alone a v8 model

if ive got the LS1 motor (minus accesorys)

what all do i need for a bare bones swap?

The ability to read the stickies above.

hahahahahhahahahaha -_-

i want a list...lol

Being you're in SoCal, I'd say you need a complete 4th gen f-body. A bare bones swap won't cut it.

whys that?
if its about smog, i dont need to worry about that...

If I were doing a bare bones build I would use the following:

LS1 and trans(you already have)
LS1 conversion motor mounts $85
LS1 transmission crossmember $105
Stand alone computer harness/or modified harness $300-$500
Throttle Cable Non-TCS $23, sdpc.com
4th gen tank w/stock fuel pump and fuel line lines(wont need Aeromotive Regulator and fuel lines can be used) ~$100
GTO K&N(LS1) intake can be found used for about $80-100


Optional:
Polyurethane motor mounts (best do them now that the motor is out.) $50
LS6 intake (nice bolt on worth 10-15) ~$250
Custome Dyno tune by tuner CMS(will remove vats, dial in, and give your rwhp.) ~$300ish
4th gen cluster(optional but practical VSS computer signal will give you RPM, Speed, Voltage, Fuel Level when fuel relay is connected to the ECM. Oil and temp are independent but can be hooked up as well.) ~$80

I don't see that he has an LS1 transmission yet. And you didn't list accessories. Or little things like MAF.

As I've already said (somewhere), piecing together an LS1 swap when all you have is a bare LS1 is an exercise in overspending.

Buy a whole car. Take what you need (engine/tranny/ECM/Harness/tank), sell what you don't need, use the $ you get from sold parts to mod the harness.....

In the end? You have a LS1 car & you MADE money. A local guy did that here, because he did all the physical work himself.

As someone whos pieced together a swap, I can say he is 100% correct. Buy the dropout/donor or skip it

"whys that?
if its about smog, i dont need to worry about that..."

If that is the case you are good to go from that angle. However I would not be posting that on the internet. You never know who is reading these threads. Like was said above, if all you have is the motor there are a lot of little things you will need. I saw where you want to use the 700R4 transmission. You will need to worry about the VSS signaling to the computer including your speedometer, how are you going to lock up the torque converter and maybe an adaptor for spacing. Lots of little things to think about and overcome. If I was you I would look for a known good used 4L60E transmission. I much prefer it to the 700R4 as you can easily control the shift points etc. Your 700R4 will want to shift around 5000rpm at best. That is to low for a LS1. Now we are talking about a shift kit and modifications to the governor. The list goes on and on but can be done.

so what all wood i need if i had a doner car and i was going to use the dash and all of that to..

Read the swap sticky at the top of the forum

so even if i was to use the dash and every thing off the doner car wood i stell need the HP Tuners done

You still need to disable vats and smog if your not running it. Hp tuner is for people who know how to tune efi engines. You will want a dyno tune to get the max power out of a stock ls1 with bolt ons.

How are people buying the wrecked cars? Through insurance auctions?