What would be the best LS engine choice for a third gen???

 

Impossible to answer. How fast do you want to buy?

 

What are you goals for the car?

 

LS-9 Or a LSX-454...........If money is not a problem.

Mark.

 

If your talking about a basic swap it's hard to beat a LQ4. Theyre cheap and make good power. Of course if money is not a problem thats a little different...

 

I think any of them would be more enjoyable than stock but personally i would go with an ls7

 

Preferably one that is more powerful than the 350 you're pulling out.

 

The one with the twin turbos on it.

 

LS7

 

Better yet, just go Gen V LT1

 

The best one is going to be whatever you find thats as complete as possible for as cheap as possible without needing much invested to install.

Fastest swap ive seen done in a day was a carbed lq4 mated to the 700r4..and was done on cheap from just gettin deals for parts on forums before hand.

 

You cant go wrong... Personally... Im a fan of the alum block motors. It adds a decent amount to the price tag...but worth it in my opinoin.

If you like boost...4.8/5.3 with a decent turbo will give you driveability and ALL the power you can use on the street. Plus the motors are dirt cheap and take lots of boost reliably with few upgrades.

If you want an NA monster, stick with the bigger cube versions.

LQ4/9 are good mid ground choices because you can usually pick them up cheap, and they are pretty stout motors. Bolt them in pretty much as is, or with a cam and they'll treat you well vs. the old stuff. If you get restless, some heads, bigger cam, few go fast goodies and it will respond to whatever you want it to do.

Just cant go wrong...

J.

 

Any of them are better than the junk that they came with.

 

can an lq4/lq9 be turned into an ls engine? if so what is needed to do it?

 

most LQ4/Lq9 swaps loose the "vortec" intake in lew of an LS1 "type of intake and a LS camshaft, to make it real Knarllie.

 

You dont need to change truck manifolds out for ls stuff if you can fit it under hood. Truck manifolds flow pretty good and can support big power. My buddys el camino has been low 11's at 119 mph with cam only truck 6.0. Stock heads shortblock and stock intake manifold. It was impressive. Longer runners on truck manis help make some more torque too

They may not be as pretty as ls intakes but if you are doing a na combo on a budget and didnt want to spend 300 on a ls6 intake or 100 for ls1 stocker then use the truck one

4.8/5.3 i wouldnt bother with for na builds when 6.0's can be found for not much more. Granted a 5.3 can run hard. Buddys cam heads carb 5.3 is a mid 11 sec car but a 6.0 will make it more fun as the big cam low cube motors dont make much low end. 6.0 will make low end torque and more power overall. Plus 4 inch bore you can run ls3 heads for a real awesome street combo with a mild cam. Big power and torque package for cheap, very streetable.

4.8/5.3 are best for boosted builds

 

For all intents and purposes it already is... Its an "LS Based" motor. The block itself is almost identical except iron, and bigger bores. Then of course the stuff that bolts on is a little different. But you can get a 6.0 block and bolt every piece of an LS1 onto it. Pretty much everything is interchangable...as long as the parts combo works together.

Figure out your budget, and what you intend to do with the car (percentage of street/track/roadcorse driving), then go from there. You can narrow down your choices pretty good with budget and hp/performance/use goals.

J.