Here are my projected costs, I need input here.

$169 For 2003 4.8 Complete from intake to oil pan
$50 For Used LS1 Intake + Fuel Rail
$75 For 2002 Z28 Gas Tank/Sender/Pump
$100 For 2002 Z28 PCM & Harness
$70 Budgeted for braided stainless fuel line & adapters
$50 For used LT1 Radiator
$0 For Stock 02 Exhaust Manifolds
$0 For Motor Mount Adapters (1/4" plate steel and a drill press)

Clutch is the only area I need input on. Thicker flywheel to make up the short crank difference?

 

What tranny? Usually a crank spacer is used when using the original 700R4.

 

Sorry I forgot to mention, its the stock T5 transmission

 

World Class?

 

All T5's after 88 were WC right?

 

You'll need an f-body oil pan.

Don't use 1/4" plate, it's too thin. And 3/8" is too thick. 5/16" is what you should look for.

Who is going to reprogram the PCM?

 

I have a few 4.8 tunes, going to upload myself using HP Tuners.

Forgot about the pan...Thanks Mod!

 

that's a heck of a price for the lines and adapters - care to share the source? i cant seem to source the lines for that price, let alone all the adapters. maybe i'm not shopping ebay well enough.

i dont see fbody accessory setup on there either - the truck stuff wont work without a lot of custom fabbing.

 

Accessories are still unclear. I am considering the R4 Compressor adapter bracket so I dont have to butcher the K-member.

My 02's fuel line looks like it might work with some massaging, so I might yank one at the junkyard. Check with your local heavy equipment mechanics. They carry bulk AN fittings and line. Dorman makes a 3/8" quick disconnect to 3/8" NPT, then I'm going to AN-6 back to the tank. If the LS1 line wont work.

 

Good luck getting those prices. You;; be hard pressed to find a 99-02 Fbody PCM for $100

$75 may work for the dorman repair fittings assuming you had the compression tool but wont touch half of your fittings. Heck, my AN6 line cost more than that

 

All Auto Salvage (Titusville) has the 0411 PCM's for $60???
You are right on the cost of the line, so I am going to use the 99-02 Fuel line also.

 

poor T5...its end is coming

 

Actually my 99 camaro ECM from lkq was only 45$. IMO that budget is slightly too tight to get the swap done properly. What will you do for a fuel gauge with that tank?

 

I am going to replace the resistors in my fuel gauge to give it a linear reading .

 

Not necessarily. A 4.8 isn't exactly an LS3. My T5 is doing just fine behind my TPI 350, which is a high 13 second motor... probably more powerful (or at least no less powerful) than a stock 4.8. How you treat the transmission has a lot to do with how durable it'll be.

 

wouldnt u rather save up a lil more money and just get a 5.7 ls1 atleast? a 4.8 swap seams kinda weird to me.. yea i know that ull get better gas milage and a lil more power but i would rather save my money a lil longer and be able to step up to the plate and play with the big dogs.. i dont know the hp or trq ratings of a 4.8 either but thats just my 2 cents

 

LS1s cost too much. A 5.3 or 6.0 I could see saving for however.

But for what he's paying for the 4.8, why not use it while he saves for that 6.0?

 

i'm kinda doing this myself. i've got an LS1 that needs to be cleaned up and machined a bit, plus was missing all the sensors and covers, so i grabbed a 5.3L with everything else i needed for $300 complete. working out all the kinks on a the cheaper motor while i save up for the the work on the ls1 (or sell that like i've been planning and getting a 6.0L instead)

If you don't have the motor quite yet, try to hold out for a 5.3L; really not that much more usually (compared to the ls1 or 6.0's)

 

what do 5.3 come in and whats the power difference? compared to the ls1

 

I'll take a few harnesses for f-body for that price Let me know when to paypal the $55 out for a complete one

 

5.3's can be found in the half ton trucks from 99-on


another tip is you can throw a 5.3 crank in that 4.8 and have a higher compression 5.3. the budget seems awful tight like others have said but good luck to you

 

4.8/5.3/6.0s are truck engines seen by the iron blocks and tall intakes

5.3's with mods usually fall about 20hp less than LS1s mod for mod. A plus side is the 4.8/5.3 has so much cyl wall it can be bored out to 5.7 and run just as well as the LS1. Only down side is weight (cast iron vs alum). Turbo guys love them because they are really stout from the factory and take moderate boost very well. Several racers know the easy combo of stock 5.3 + 60-75mm turbo + turbo cam = easy 500rwhp

 

Thanks for all the input guys. This swap is to hold me over until I can do a decent 6.0. My 305 is on its last legs, and a rebuilt one goes for more than a 4.8 I am sure I am going to hit a few bumps, but the 4.8 with the stock 02 SS cam and the 3.08 rear should get nice MPG for a daily driver.

 

Hell, some of the guys on TTF are pushing WAY more than that too. 700 RWHP with stock long blocks on 16 pounds. Awesome.

 

i say go for it i am throwing a 4.8 in my 1980montecarlo and plan on turbo charging it

 

I can certainly see why going to a 4.8 would be tempting considering the cost he paid for it. The great thing about doing a swap to a 4.8 or a 5.3 is that you save yourself a lot of money,and you've just put into place all the things you need to have to swap in a 6.0 or LSX later. I've considered the same exact swap myself. The only thing that is keeping me from doing it is the fact that I have a free LT1 sitting in my garage, so the LSX swap will likely wait till I do the big motor.

 

remember this too - the 4.8 and the 5.3 share the same block. meaning if you get one cheap, you can still have either one bored out and done up into an iron LS1 (something I've been keeping in mind as well)

 

While that's certainly true, once you've got that kind of money invested, there were other options that could have been more cost effective. Unless you build that poked & stroked 4.8 which is now a 5.7 with all stock parts, you really wind up in a situation where your expenses could be more than what a 6.0 would have cost.

Not that I'm saying this is a bad idea... I'm just playing devil's advocate a little bit here. Thinking your way through your options will ALWAYS lead you to a better decision than just going with the first idea that pops into your head.

 

maybe jumped the gun on my comment - just didn't want to discount the little 4.8 motor as being useless or a bad choice; it does have worthwhile upgrades available to it later down the road (as compared to the value of swapping in a 305 instead of a 350 debate that's always going on).

The 4.8 & 5.3 in stock form are great inexpensive starting point for this type of swap and either one is definitely an improvement over any stock sbc these cars ever came equipped with.

 

All the salvage yards areound here cant give 4.8's away because others in our hobby wont take the time to convert to the LS series motors. And every publication and website out there pushes 6.0's and larger all day long.

As a side note, LKQ is the only yard dumb enough to accept a knocking 305 for a core on a low mileage 4.8

 

As also mentioned with a 4.8/5.3 block being opened to accept a LS1 rotating assembly, you could also just go 383+ cubes and just call it a 5.3.

I am seriously thinking of stroking a 6.0 to 427 cubes in the future and as the 6.0 is capable of so much abuse as is the smaller iron blocks.

 

the only reason i picked up a 5.3 is to get my car on the road running something ls based. Its much easier to swap from a ls based engine in a running car then to swap one into a non running gen 1 car imo. i will eventually swap my sleeved ls1 block into the car.

 

Ive got a 4.8 in my 07 GMC Sierra and its rated at 295 hp and about 300 Torque.I think these numbers are a little less in the older 4.8s,but still a definete increase over the stock powerplants in our third gens.the 5.3s are only about 15 horse more.

 

Something else to consider is that you can get an aluminum 5.3 out of the newer trucks for around a grand or a little more that comes with really beefy rods and good pistons as well as LS6 heads. These have made huge boosted numbers and currently is used in the fastest stock bottom end LS based car in the country (upper 8s) at around 700whp through an auto.

 

it would make better sense to just get a 4.8 they are stupid cheap i paid 350 for mines the only thing its missing is the transmission.keep the stock heads and send them to total engine airflow have them to perform a stage1.5 job it will cost 1000 dollars maybe 1100 this include the heads being rebuild ported and refitted with ls1 intake valve,600 pound valve springs 5 angle valve job and port and polish.those 4.8 heads would be the best heads that you could ever get for a 4.8 or 5.3 and also work wonders with the lq4-6.hands down to me the 4.8 is the strongest ls engine out of the entire serises of gen 3 4 engines,look at the big bang theory that hot rod magazine did 2years ago that little 4.8 made 1203 hp on a stock crank and block and whats even more crazy it was a junk yard motor with a rusted bore in the block.to me as cheap as the 4.8 are and the power protential that they can make on stock heads ported long tube header ,cam, arp bolts and boost it only make sense to go with the 4.8.by the time you put together a lq4,9 ls1,2,3,7 engine you could have build an insane 600 t0 800hp dd engine for cheap or if you want to get extreme you could build a 1200 hp boost motor for the same price. as a stout ls1,ls2,ls3,lq4,lq9 .

 

4.8 in my new swap car (1st gen), originally was going to drop an L92 in it, till i realized its alot more expensive to have 3 back up 6.2's ready to drop in in case i grenade one versus 4 or 5 4.8's

Besides.... when i get asked, i can just say... "its just got a dinky little 4.8"...



with a 76mm turbo lol

To the OP, do your 4.8 swap, then when you have driven it 6 months (while saving up about 2K), watch this video a few times and go buy your parts

 

its not there we are dumb enough to accept a knocking 305, its that we will rebuild that 305 and sell as an ATK reman w/warr and new parts. (Yes someone will buy it believe it or not)

 

Since he first posted over 2 years ago, and we haven't heard back in over 2 years...

 

lmao, didnt even notice a bumped 2 year old thread. Hopefully the kid has built and reswapped a 6.0 in by now haha

 

Just look at this as a reunion lol how much power is your 4.8 is putting out

 

Working in a carbed 4.8 swap, mild cam and ported ls1 heads, cannot wait to see how a sub 5.0 can run.