What I stumbled on while being lazy at work. I'm thinking.of calling the guy up and see how fishy this is, seeing that I live in pasadena.

http://houston.craigslist.org/pts/2788731483.html

 

I bet wiring and the little things are all hacked up and poorly done for that cheap price. I'd also bring my own motor/trans to him, I wouldn't risk the chance of him selling you a junk motor.

BUT - Not a bad deal if you can't do it all yourself, especially if you bring him your car and just have him do the motor/trans/mounts/engine wiring and you did the rest to make sure it's all correct

 

Sounds like l a fake. Seems like there would be too much work to be do e if the begins and trans was brought to him. Such as if someone uses a 5.3 that would need to alter the Lilly system, oil pan ect.
Buy hey. If its legit I wouldn't minded doing it. It's better that what I had planned. Renting a storage unit to store my car sand attempt a 5.3 swap. Seeing that I live in an apartment complex

 

ive heard of a few people doing these ls conversion on CL. most of the stories ive heard, they give you a junk motor and hack the crap out of everything.

 

Sense we're on this subject. Do the lsx heads have the same bolt pattern for for every intake; Or do they very like small block chevys?

 

i belive theyre interchangeable....but im by far no expert (or even fairly knowledgable) on the LS engines.

 

the intakes are not all interchangeable

 

ls1-5.3-4.8-6.0 and i believe the ls2 have the same intake bolt patterns. the ls3's and up have the same bolt patterns but the ports on the heads are different.

you can buy complete engines from a guy in dallas for low money. as for the wiring many people here in houston do them. they sell them for 350.

 

How does one "almost build custom stroker motors"?

Or do you just end up with an "almost built" motor when its all said and done?

 

I was wondering the same thing...

 

Alrighty then, just making sure because when income tax comes I'm gonna hit up Craigslist for an 5.3 and tranny. Piece this stuff together in a storage u.it till I get a shell

 

not to sound racist, but its just broken/incorrect english. chances are the guy doing it is an illegal and scoures junk yards for cheap ls motors to dump in unsuspecting peoples cars to make money. its a great way to make tax free money without actually having to have papers to be here.

or i could be completely wrong and it could just be a guy who doesnt proof read his posts.

either way i wouldnt trust anyone on CL to stuff a motor in anything i own.

 

lemme know when tax comes and i will see if i can get the info from the guy in dallas.


i should be able to get a 5.3 complete engine for 700 to 800. a harness for 400. rest is labor and a few lil things. it can be done for 3000 in a truck. but not a car.

 

is try and score an ls1 instead of the 5.3. itll be a lil more up front, but you wont have to spend the money on the things youd have to get from the ls1 anyway like the intake, pan, accessories and such.

 

I guess your bird got totaled out then? Bummer man, but it could always be worse I suppose

If your looking for someone to do the swap for ya on the cheap, PM zone89rs on here he has done a few 5.3 swaps into third gens and was offering something similar to the craigslist guys ad a while back - not sure if he can do it without switching to carb though

 

Buying the stuff I'm alright with but labor wise, I'm gonna do it myself along with j0hn_j0hn

 

No the bird isn't totaled. It just has rear quarter panel damage so I'm not Gooing to mess with it. I believe I'm taking j0hn_j0hn in my bird to you sail to drop off the parking lamps. It's just dinted up. Yeah iv seen his purple and black maro at one of the bear creek meet.

It's gonna be a kind in the *** learning cruve. I'm alright doing wiring because that what I plan to do for a living anyway. Just not cars, houses

 

alright well I'll see ya in the morning then! the swap wont be as bad as you think, and there are plenty of us local to help out if you need it

 

I agree, I wouldn't trust some one I didn't know to do this.

As for bringing him your own motor...who's to say that you would ever get it (or your car) back again?

It would be really easy to rent a storage place under an assumed name, run the add, get two or three cars and disappear.

 

wouldn't do it if i were you... i'd check into getting a decent camaro with no motor and start there... easier starting point... I would however repair what needs to be done to the firebird before i started another project.. one at a time bro...

 

if you need a lil help on the ls1 or 5.3 swap lemme know. i know a little about the 4th gen motors.

 

@Drew, iv given up on the bird. Ever sense my neighbor dented the quarter panel.
So its just gonna be my beater. I'm better.off getting another car.

@one92rs, ill let you know about it. It's not gonna be carbed tho. I don't want to be killing too many polar bears!

Iv been doing my homework with the lsx swaps. What iv.pieced together so that its roughly the same price having a sbc rebuilt and installed as.it is to get a low mileage 5.3 with an ls1 cam and intake.