Hey y’all

I got a 2.8 with auto trans on my 87 Camaro
I originally wanted to swap it for a 5.7 tpi with auto trans but the guy ran out of transmissions.

I found a 4.8 vortec engine off of an 03 Tahoe & a 2wd 4L60E off of a silverado 1500 for pretty good prices

I know the engine would need a lot of modifications to make it even fit (mounts, heads, oil pan) but I’m wondering what will it take to make the swap work? I just need a dependable daily driver that can make decent speed.

Do i have to change all the fuel lines?
what do I have to do to make the truck transmission work on the Camaro? I know installing a corvette servos is necessary but what else

Thank you in advance for your advice and help.

 

Yeah those 4.8s are usually pretty cheeeep.

The heads are fine. You'll need a F body oil pan and "swap" mounts. There's a handful of them on the market.

Not necessarily. Kinda depends on what you're willing to do to adapt everything. The 03 was returnless, therefore only 1 line from tank to intake; but that requires the use of the truck type fuel pump, with an electronic regulator built in. Or, swap it to the Corvette style system, and use the return line.

Swap crossmember. F body extension housing with the torque arm mount, or a crossmember with its own torque arm, replacing the stock one.

Not really, but highly desirable.

03 was drive by wire. You'll need to get the TAC module and gas pedal from the truck.

Truck accessories (alt, PS pump, AC, etc.) probably won't fit under your hood. Particularly not if you want AC.

You'll need a complete exhaust system. Not one piece of what you have is worth keeping, even the parts that can be cobbled into "working".

There are 2 stickies on this page that will tell you everything you can think of to ask, and probably abuncha stuff that hasn't occurred to you yet. 1 about 6-cyl to V8 swaps, and the other about LSx swaps (the LR4 is one of those so everything in there applies to it as well) READ READ READ READ READ before asking anything. Nobody is going to sit here and spoon-feed you every detail.

 

Thank you for the helpful advice!
I ended up deciding not to buy a 4.8 & instead bought a 5.3 L33 pulled off of an 06 Sierra with 120k miles

Now I’m starting to buy everything I’m gonna need to make this swap happen.

My next question is; can the accessory drive off of a 93-97 Camaro LT1 be used with my engine? There’s one for sale on hawks that I’m tempted to buy. The engine currently has all the truck accessories.

 

No. Won't work. Needs to be 98-up.