In you're guys professional opinion, how much do you think an LS1/T56 swap would cost going into a carb'd/automatic camaro with a mechanical fuel pump? And how quick could someone get the swap done if he (or she) had all the parts and tools necessary and nothing else to do? One scenario where I have a 4th gen donor car, and another where I have to buy everything seperate. Just some estimates would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

Personally, not including the rearend, i will give 2 ways but i am carbed:

Motor, trans and carb intake/MSD 6010 controller:

1) 3000$ with everything, give or take a few bucks

2) With the all un needed just to swap parts IE: Hawks headers, cam, pushrods, gaskets, valve job and milling, springs, dual exhaust ect for the performance factor....add another 2500-3000 depending on what parts.

Edit: With EFI, things are probably going to cost more depending on what you do, used harness, modding the engine and then tuning/dyno tune, better LS6 intake or bigger, al that comes into play with EFI, so i cannot comment for the EFI guys.

HTH

 

EFI swaps are on average cheaper than carb swaps because all the necessary parts are in place. Harness mods and a tune are all that are required

Having a donor car already really helps, some people even profit from the swap parting the donor out afterwards

A $5000 budget having absolutely nothing LSx to begin with should net you a complete swap. You cant however expect to mod it to the sky with that budget

 

Yeah with donor cars I bring the average down since I'm 3 for 3 on making money after the swap is over.
I also seem to bring the average time down too and I still spend 100+ hours on them.

I'm that kid in school that messed up the curve for the rest of the class.

 

My down time was 5 days

If you cover all your bases before beginning, it can be a fairly fast job. Look at that guy in california who allotted 1 month and had it done a week early

 

With a pieced together setup how much does it cost? For someone like me, 3000 is right about on the money with a carbed setup, that is a 700$ egnine, 1000$ 6 speed and the intake+controller 270+310$ and then there is the cost of a carb and fuel pump but i already had those but i still included that in the 3000$ price.

I know my buddy was out allot more with buying a new harness, ECU, intake ect, but i cannot remember what he spent.

 

Cost me $1600 to get the truck 5.3 ready to drop in minus the harness. Even with an overpriced painless or w/e its still under the $3000 all said and done

 

Intake and controller is higher now, 500 for the intake (GMPP), $309.95 for the good MSD controller or $649.95 for the Edelbrock kit which has the lower end MSD controller. Then the price of a good carb (Holley is the only way I would go)

You can have an LS1 intake for about 150 (some are giving them away) or an LS6 for about 300-400 the truck TB will fit on it, use the truck harness and truck PCM and just a little time to take out what wires you don't need and you're set with EFI (which in alot of people's opinions on here, is better for the LSx series than a carb)

 

I thought I went through this in another thread, but I couldn't find it.

2000 LS1/4L60E drop-out, including picking it up in AZ---$2400
Conversion engine & trans mounts-----------------------$200
AC relocation brackets & compressor--------------------$350
Air intake elbows, pipes, and filter-----------------------$100
Exhaust (shorty headers and custom y-pipe, estimated)--$800
PCM reprogram (delete unneeded stuff)------------------$100
Misc. (hoses, throttle cable, nuts/bolts/washers)---------$150
Total: $3900

This particular drop-out did not include exhaust manifolds, so I have to do something - might as well do some sort of headers.

Also doing some "extras" while I'm at it. I have a set of 317 heads from the LQ4 that will go into the '57 with L92 heads, so I had them shaved to LS1 size chambers and L92 springs installed (bartered a couple of engine blocks for the shop work). These things add to the total cost.

LS6 intake/TB/fuel rail/injectors from eBay---------------$438
3000 stall converter (also bought from AZ)---------------$395
L92 valve springs (eBay)---------------------------------$35
Head gaskets and bolts (may be more)-------------------$150
Shift kit-------------------------------------------------$95
3.42 gears, posi, & install-------------------------------$450
Extras total: $1563

That's under $5500, and doesn't include what I'll get selling off the 350/TH700 stuff currently installed in the car.

 

Is that including the transmission? Mine was including the T56 and i used the more expensive engine that makes more power, so i think our costs are not comparable. Carbed a 5.3 would have set me back about 1000$ ready to drop in but i also had my own carb ready, so add another 100$ for the used 650 and i am still way under 1600$.


Suckers use the GM intake, the edelbrock is 270$. The MSD 6010 has gone from 280$ when i wanted one to the 310$ it is not that i paid, LOL.

 

So far the information you guys have given me is looking pretty hopeful. Thing is I have just shy of 8000$ but am currently in Korea serving with the U.S. Army. I'm taking just over 2 weeks of leave for Christmas and am coming home and was hoping to do this swap then. Looks like I have more than enough money to do it, but a few things are worrying me. The master cylinder/pedal assembly for one, the wiring harness on the other hand. Everything else I have done before (engine/tranny swap, rear end (i'm putting eaton posi in it), I won't have an A/C on it, I'm using hawks headers and LSx swap k-member and having a shop do my exhaust.

A question about the fuel system, its currently mechanical, can I just get a inline fuel pump and regulator and bolt it to the current fuel line some how?

What all modifications are needed if I have a stock Ls1 harness?

Any help is appreciated, thanks guys.

P.S. five7kid, i think there was a thread already on this somewhere too, but I couldn't find it either, so I just created a new one. Thanks for the info.

 

Oh yea, your going to have enough to budget the driveline and mods if you wish.

 

It is a little time consuming. A 2-week project would probably be easier with auto trans, or T56 in a manual car.

Here's my thread on mounting the pedals and clutch MC. https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/ltx-...h-gen-t56.html

Just what it takes to graft it into your chassis harness.

No, you're cool. I was talking about a thread where I went through my own particular costs.