Seems to me like this would be a real nice replacement for the Lo3. My Lo3 is on its way out, I think I'll get through this fall, but next spring she may need a new plant. I don't need excessive power, just a nice solid driver. Here's my thoughts...

L05- ported and polished heads, LT1 cam, Edelbrock TBI intake, Holley TB setup, open 14x3.....

just as far as the engine goes, do you think this would be a solid daily driven setup? I'm also looking for ease of instalation, as this would be my first engine swap. Would this be straight forward? Besides the knock sensor and injectors, is there anything else I would need? I know I would need a custom chip to optimize everything, would all my stock L03 accesories bolt on? Wiring ok?

Anyone who knows anything about this stuff plsz help me out. I don't have a lot of money to put into it, but would like a reliable solid power plant for a daily driver. Thanks in advance.

 

I may be wrong, but I was under the impression that the LO5 had swirl port heads (350 versions of the LO3 heads), which will not respond to porting. You might want to consider getting a 350 short block and putting some real heads on it instead.

Otherwise, everything else you said should work.

 

You might want to find some cast iron L98 heads and use those instead. It's a pretty straightforward swap if you have TBI. Accessories and wiring will be fine.

 

Just don't forget that if you want a roller cam L05, you will need one out of a car such as a Caprice. Trucks didn't get roller cams till 96. I would suggest getting a 96-99 350 vortec motor or just buying a short block and finding some vortec heads. There's usually some really good deals on them on Ebay.

 

I was actually thinking about getting the L05 from scoggins-dickey for $1500. Do they have a short block version of this? I couldn't find it. Would L98 heads work well on the L05? I would assume so since it's a 350.

 

I've been looking at heads to plan out what I'm going to do with my engine later on, and the only ones I can find that meet my criteria are the cast iron L98 heads. I wanted heads that are emissions legal (without plumbing the EGR), '87-up intake bolt pattern, center bolt valve covers, 64cc combustion chambers (same size as the heads it came with), cast iron, and 190cc or under runners. World heads would be great if they made a 64cc version that had the '87-up intake bolt pattern. AFR's claim to be emissions legal but from the pictures I've seen I don't know how they could be. I figure you can just pick up some used cast iron L98 heads from somewhere cheap, clean them up, and port the crap out of them for not too much money, you'd end up better than you would with the TBI heads it came with.

I do not know of a shortblock version of this engine. I think the only things wrong with this engine are the heads, cam and valvetrain components, and you've already got the cam covered (and hopefully the valvetrain as well), so I don't think it would be necessary to get a whole different shortblock (new). Have you seen the paceparts.com catalog description of this engine?

 

I checked paceparts and can't get a description of the engine to come up. Do you have a link to the description? What is weak about the valvetrain on an L05?

 

paceparts catalog description

That is the same engine Scoggin-Dickey and everyone else has, paceparts just goes into more detail about it.

Nothing in particular is wrong with the valvetrain, but they didn't use quality pieces or anything. I'm not sure how much bigger the LT1 cam is, but the cam it comes with is about as big (or small) as the stock LG4 cam (and probably the L03). Ask someone else whether or not it's a good idea to keep the stock pieces, I wouldn't think they'd last that long, but I don't know for sure.

 

After looking at that, I don't think I believe that it would make over 300 hp, but what ever. Anyway, would it be reasonable to set that up with somehting other than an LT4 cam, I'm sure they could reccomend something, maybe a little less agressive, as well as a stock chip from a Caprice? Would it still be able to make around 250 hp with the stock L03 throttle body? Say the stock TB with "ultimate" mods, Edelbrock TBI manifold, cam and put it in. Heads could come down the road, for now the stock heads would have to do. Anyone forsee any problems with this set up?

 

Back to shortblocks, if you wanted new, you could go L31 http://www.sdpc2000.com/cart.asp?act...id=514&pid=621 about $1500 (4-bolt main, PM rod), or L98 http://www.sdpc2000.com/cart.asp?act...id=514&pid=620 about $1200 (2-bolt main, "regular" stuff inside).

I would think the LO5 would work as you described. The main thing from your original post that triggered an alarm in my head was the part about porting the heads. The LT1 lift is probably right at the borderline for the springs/valves in that engine.

 

After I looked at it I agree, that's why if I went with a solid Crane or Comp cam, with a little less lift, it should be easy on the heads, at least I would think. Again, this would be my first engine swap, so lots of modification and fabrication would be difficult, and the more parts I could re-use from the l03 while still making a power increase would be great.

 

You don't really mean solid, do you? That would play havoc with your knock sensor.

Perhaps you meant flat-tappet hydraulic. Then, I would agree. I would stay with hydraulic roller if I could. In fact, I'd think the LO5 would do 250 HP fine with the cam that's in it until you go with better heads.

I don't recall any discussion of exhaust. Headers, high-flow (3") y-pipe, cat, & cat-back should be considered must-do for the 250 number.

 

300 hp isn't too far fetched, have a look at this post, I totally forgot about it.

 

Yeah, sorry, actually I meant "solid" as in solid, like sound, or solid performer, not a solid lifter cam. I would stay hydraulic roller for sure. And of course, I would run a capable 3" exhaust. I already have the cat-back on my car now, plus a high flow cat in the garage, would need to but headers and y-pipe. Seems like the way I may go. At least with this setup, 3.8 Taurus's and 3.1 Grand Prix's won't put the tailights to me!!