few questions about swapping a 305 Tough But Inadequate with a 5.3 Vortech



so... 91 camaro RS 305 tough but inadequate / turd body integration, whatever...


i have a REALLY cheap source for 5.3L motors..

1. does ANYONE make performance parts for them? i.e. cams, heads, lifters, and all the cool crap you can get for the more popular motors?
A. are they more EXPENSIVE because they are not for a 5.7 and not as popular?


2. aside from the cost of the motor and trans, (which i know) what APPROXIMATELY is the total cost in PARTS that i will need to make it work.

it's worth mentioning, the motors are 1000000% complete. they come with -everything- you need. by everything, i don't need to make a list... -everything-

obviously i need new motor mounts, but what else would i need???

I plan to upgrade from auto to a T56, or T5, whichever i can get.

3. will the late model 98-07 motors marry to a T56 seamlessly???? i.e. same bell housing and all that crap? no stupid adapters needed etc ???????

4. can someone please share the link again about doing the auto / manual upgrade? and.... how much $$$$$ does that usually run give or take?

5. wtf would i do about the gauges if i swap with a modern motor? my current tach is shot, it needs the resisters etc, and my speedo is 95% shot.. comes and goes but....... mostly goes... my cluster is pretty much worthless..

is it worth pulling the cluster out of the same vehicle as the motor and cutting the **** out of my dashboard to make it fit??????? orrrrrr are there aftermarket solutions for this issue??? surely there are! ? ?

that's good enough for now, i have a million more questions, but i have to go!!

thanks in advance..

 

They're just smaller bore LS family motors with iron blocks. You know how anything that fits a 350 will bolt onto a 305? Anything that bolts onto an LS1 will fit on a 5.3. There are those weird year to year differences in specific parts that Im completely unaware of, but in general it's a Gen III engine and Gen III parts will fit on it. LS T56 will fit it, LS swap headers will fit on it, LS intake will fit on it, LS oilpan will fit on it. Any performance camshaft for an LS family engine will fit in it, etc. So just treat it like a smaller bore LS1. They even have the same stroke if I recall.

Some people take the 5.3's and bore them out to fit stock size LS1 pistons. Not a bad route if you get it sonic tested first.

And research what you would need to do to do an LS1 swap, and then add an F-body oil pan and the truck intake is too tall to fit under the stock hoods, maybe even the cowl hoods. So it's a great cheap way to fit an LSx into your car, but you will have to invest in a new intake and oilpan, and neither are very cheap.

 

Thanks man, that answered most of my questions, i guess the main one being that they ARE LS series motors, which i wasn't sure of. that's a good start.

what about the gauges and all of that? are there links on here addressing those issues?

i know LSX swaps have been done like crazy, and it seems like it would be addressed on here somewhere.

 

scratch that last one.... i'll post in the lsx portion so i don't get yelled at by the mods

 

its straight swap, im doing it right now in my firebird

 

what do you mean straight swap?

 

you can use your sbc mountings, you only need just ls1 wiring harness and you can use your transmission on ls1

 

my transmission (4l60) is broken. it needs a total rebuild, which would cost as much as a used T56 probably.......

and i'm not putting an LS1 in it, they are out of my price range, i was talking about putting a Vortech 5.3L. which InfidelVortech said was basically like an ls1. in other words lsX... but not actually an "LSX" which is a different thing) but it's not an LS1, though yes you do need the wiring and all of that, but there are tons of things that are not seamless. I promise you. it's a little more involved than "plug and play". not IMPOSSIBLE, but definitely not as easy as doing a swap for the same motor. There are issues with making the gauges work and the drive shaft needs to be cut and transmission brackets don't line up, you need to swap the bell housings out, need to put pedals in and different brake booster and all sorts of things. from what i've noticed through research anyway.

I'm not saying you are wrong, but i am saying you're trying to lead me to believe it's a lot easier than it really is. hahaha.

you're giving me false hope!

 

5.3 is ls1 only 0.4liter smaller

 

GM 350 block:


GM LS anything (350 LS1, or 325 5.3L truck engine, etc):



COMPLETELY different family of engines than what came stock in these cars.

Although you will be able to reuse your driveshaft. Definitely not the transmission though.

 

Not exactly, you need adapter mounts for the LS1.

Yes you need an LS1 harness, but it needs to be extensively modified.

Yes, you *could* use a thirdgen V8 transmission technically, but its not a great idea.


A T5 isnt going to survive, if you are on a budget then if you can get the engine with an automatic, use that for the swap, then down the road swap to T56, expect that to run you $1000-3000+, depending on what exact transmission you get, what clutch, etc.

If you've got such a good source on used stuff it would be worth it to see about trying for an LQ9.

 

is lt1 wider than ls1?

 

LT1 is the same width as any normal Gen I smallblock.