I was wondering what was the fast stock Lo5 from any car or truck. I was thinking of doing the L05 swap and was wondering which car or truck I should get the engine from? Also truck L05 will fit the camaro? Like all the stock parts fits, just like the caprice Lo5 will just drop in and the oil pans fits too.

 

Drop right in... a few LO5's were made. Some with 195 all the way up to 215 HP.

If it were me, I'd look for a Full size truck engine (greater potential for the 205/215 horse lo5) with 2.73 gears (lower operating RPM throughout it's life).

I would AVOID the 9C1 cop car engines. Sure they have larger injectors, but they have always had harder lives.

 

I would opt for a caprice engine seeing how they were all roller motors. You can also nab a 350 caprice prom which will drop right into your ECM. Truck blocks had most of the provisions for roller cams but didn't employ a true roller set-up. Not a big deal but roller cammed motors are just better. Truck PROMs are not compatible with our ECM's so you would have to get the chip from another car or burn one yourself (recomended highly to do it yourself). I am pretty sure the trucks also had a lower CR and didn't have the 193 casting heads. The 193's can be ported to achieve similar flow numbers to untouched vortec castings. They aren't the nest heads in the world but they can suffice if your wallet is thin. Many trucks also lived a hard life as well. Fortuneately the TBI lineup of motors were pretty resiliant to abuse and have proven themselves to be long lasting motors.

You really can't go wrong with either motor seeing how each will require about the same amout of work. The LO5 from the carpice is a just a tad more plug and play.

 

Truck engines came with the 193 heads and either a flat or roller cam. The difference in compression came from the pistons. The truck uses a slight dish and the 9C1 and Vans use flattops (L98s).

I would look for a 350 out of a fullsize conversion van. Those are mostly vacation mobiles. People tend to drive them pretty easy, they have highway gears (2.73 or 3.08s), generally are used as secondary vehicles, most do not tow or haul anything (other than people), typically have more highway miles than city miles, and tend to make more power than a truck engine (specs are different).

 

3 people, 3 opinions.... Looks like we need a tie breaker

 

Didn't some truck LO5's come with the 664 heads?

 

trucks didn't get a roller cam

 

i have the 9C1 in mine... 193's and a roller cam... not a bad setup at all in my opinion... im changing out the heads for 083's and the cam for an LT1... so it wont really even be a 9C1 anymore... but i have beaten a few L98 powered cars with this motor and a 3.23 rear... so i give it some props...

 

My 88 C1500 has the 193's.

 

My 1992 G20 350 had 4 bolt mains, flattop pistons, a 305 spec roller camshaft(for torque), and 193 heads. It was born a van engine, stayed a van engine, etc. The numbers on the block matched the van. Roller camshaft in it the peanut 305 one but it was still a roller. I slid the LT1 cam right into place and put it in my 1983 G20.

 

So really the van lo5 is the best for hp and how it was used. Also it came a 4 bolt main. But will the Eeprom fit my car also esc module fit?

 

Umm, rumor is that the 92/93 9C1 LO5 may have come with the L98 cam, making it even more powerful than the van motor (that coming from impalassforums, and g body forums).......

However, I still say avoid these motors at all cost! I have a very good understanding of how the average cop'er drives these cars. YOU DO NOT WANT A MOTOR OUT OF ONE OF THEM! Let's say a cop is out on a gun call, or in a fight - *** forbid being in a shooting situation - what do you think they care about? The cop that they just spent the weekend out on the islands with fishing, or the rotating assembly in the engine?

But then again, I guess it's a law enfrocement perspective that the average joe doesn't realize may occur 2 or 3 times a shift on a weekend.... 3 shifts throughout the day... or roughly imagine kicking the $hit out of your motor 6-9 times a day, for 3 days straight, YEAR ROUND for 3 or 4 years! That's assuming that crime doesn't happen on week days ... and that no speed enforcement is ever done when you have to take a car from zero to 80-90 mph as fast as possible, 3-6 times and hour, maybe up to an 8 hour shift, on top of the weekend duty, and once again assuming the weekdays are quiet....

Ehh, screw it, get a 9C1 motor! Just consider it "Well used." Maybe you can find one at an auction where 3 out of 8 cars has a knocking/nonrunning engine.

As far as the Prom, just do your own tuning.. that's the only way to really get it right anyway.

 

I have a 2 bolt out of '90 and it was a flat tappet, but I'm almost 100% sure trucks never got them.

edit: I meant out of a 90 van

 

The tie-breaker already exists in many posts here on TGO. This question gets asked over and over..... it's probably time for a condensed sticky on engine types so this one doesn't have to be answered repeatedly.

Search for LO5 9C1

There were three different "types" of LO5 engine, and among the types there were at least 5 different horsepower ratings, ranging from 180 fwhp to 210 fwhp. The use of the L98 cam (with 773 part number suffix stamped into the nose of the cam) on the 9C1 (police) version of the LO5 is not a rumor.

As far as the police version of the LO5 is concerned, the engines don't necessarily get abused because they are sometimes better maintained than, say, a 3rdgen Fcar owner by high schooler.

Are they a good choice for an engine swap? Maybe, but it depends on what the owner will do with it. If it's a straight swap with no rebuild, then it might not work out because the engine could be tired.

In the case of a rebuild, it might be a great idea because the block will be thermally seasoned, because the car versions get roller cams (truck versions don't), because you can find them EVERYWHERE in the junk yard so they aren't expensive nor picked apart, and because they will perform as well as a similar rebuild on an iron L98 engine. The short block is the same, the 9C1 LO5 cam is the L98 cam, and there is no real difference in the measured stock unported head flow (as measured by TGOers, and as shown in other threads on TGO). The main difference between the engines is the exhaust and induction type between the two cars & uses. HTH.

 

That is, quite possibly, the funniest thing I will read today....

I'd love to know if you, or the author of the statement if not you, has ever tried to get a civil service vehicle repaired in a major service department?

The CPD has some cars without heat (we are talking 98 and newer here folks), windows that don't work, bad coil packs, rearends that knock, tranny's with only two gears - some without reverse, and engines that barely run in some cases for totally unknown and undiagnosed reasons, and best yet, some that don't run at all. Oil change? Oh, that's when you drain the fleet, and fill them all back up with the same oil so they are all "Full," and the one's at the end of the line that aren't - then we use new oil. Hey, but let's spend over $100,000 a year to wash the cars! Now that's just a major city...

Let's take a small, semi-well off suburb like North Olmsted. SEVERAL of the cars have an random miss, only get the oil changed when the valvetrain starts knocking, etc. etc. etc.

These are just two departments I know well, I fact is, whomever wrote that above statement *HAS NO CLUE HOW CITY SERVICE DEPARTMENT'S ARE FUNDED AND OPERATE* nor do they have a chance in hell of grasping the daily wear and tear put on patrol vehicles.

Sure, it came with a bigger cam, fantastic! Now let's talk about the walls that have been scored by rings running dry, or lifters that have run dry (but it's roller, right cry baby?), or the amount of carbon built up in an engine due to the 86/87 octane fuel many city's will use - in combination with ignition issue's or general running issue's ever being addressed. After all, why would you middle aged officer take the time to write a 6 page vehicle report about a car that's not even his! As for the ones that do still run well - look at my post above, 3 posts up, about how those are treated.

If you can get one from a rural department that's EXTREMELY well funded, great. But it's unlikely. .....

...All for a bigger cam that's not even that big....

Rant rant rant - sure, but at least I have some perspective on how these vehicles are "So well taken care of," instead of just assuming your tax dallors do that and being hands off about the specifics of where they actually go.

How many high schooler's will take the prom queen out in a car with a knocking valvetrain, or without heat in the winter? Unless it's in the inner city, not too many because she probably wouldn't even get in.

 

Relax goy. Man did he strike a nerve with you. I don't think he was claiming any superior knowledge of public service vehicle maintenance. Perhaps in his part of the world he knows something different. Even if he doesn’t I think he was merely suggesting an alternative thought process for choosing such an engine. When I worked for the county in Dayton Ohio my vehicle was better maintained than anything I owned myself. They would replace any part that may or may not have needed replaced.

 

i have i 9c1 350 and they are not beaten to death i did a compression test on mine and it came out perfect. anyway most departments rebuild their engines after 100000mi

 

Obviously I hit a nerve which spun the rant on a specific case of poor municipal maintenance. My own direct experience was with two LT1 9C1s, one that I worked on in a junkyard (car had an engine fire) and the other was my own car that I bought at 65k miles (previously privately owned from 54k to 65k, and prior to that in-service with Glendale WI police).

The engine fire car, with unknown mileage, still had the cylinder honing marks in the bores when it was pulled from the car & taken apart for an engine buildup. My car ran 15.0399 @ 91.99 mph at 552 ft AMSL in 80+ deg weather, using a K&N filter, at 122k miles.... so I presume the engine was in good shape based on the reasonable timeslip, because that's what they ran when new. The engine was still running well at 184k miles when the body started falling off into the driveway.

Friends and/or other New England neighbors that own, or owned, 9C1s either with LT1 or LO5, have had similar good luck with their cars. Most have made it into high-mileage (one over 200k miles, LO5). Sanow's various police car book(s), OTOH, also tell stories of good/bad luck --- so what you get really depends on how good, or bad, the municipality was with maintenance.... and how good/bad the new owner is afterwards. That comment also holds for any used car, not just a copcar.

GOY, there is obviously a problem with maintenance for the places you mentioned but it doesn't always mean that it is true elsewhere. Sorry my post made you laugh. Maybe you should suggest that the local high schoolers work for the CPD fixing cars instead of getting busted for juvie offenses. You'd have heat in the winter and the prom queens wouldn't have to visit their boyfriends in the county jail.

 

Ignorance kills me ... especially as it applies to law enforcement. I guess I jsut deal with it enough 45 hours a week to really stand seeing it at boards I come to during the time I'm not working. I wonder just how much first hand experience there is with this.... 99% of the people in the city I know best have no idea that the mayor and PD are at odd's, and hence forth he is always trimming the budget, which pretty much destroys money for things that are "Nice too have" such as regular oil changes, new lasers, X26 tazers to replace OC, etc. It just so happens that my personal experience with these conditions is 2 for 2, and I know of many more in the great Cleveland area. (Woodmere, CPD, NOPD, FPPD, OTPD, OFPD, Berea, Reminderville, GlenWillow off the top of my head ... all the same problem)

So if I know that 99% of the people in that relatively well education manicupality have no clue, I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to assume since not everyone on this board is a cop, that 99% of the readers don't *REALLY* know what goes on. But if you guys want to live in your happy happy little worlds, please do so. There are some cities that take care of their cars - and many more that don't in the nation's declining economic state.



All that risk for an L98 cam ... glad it's not my car. I'm outta this thread. I promise

 

I don't think anyone is trying to disagree with you here. If a cop car engine is the only roller 350 in the yard it may not be a bad choice to take a gamble on. That is the point people are trying to make. I am pretty sure all previous statements were not meant to be taken past any deeper meaning and cover budgets and politics. Anything you get from a junk yard is a gamble. The van/truck LO5 that you get could be just as neglected. We all know this. Why are we so upset over a non quantifiable factor?

 

so dont buy used!!!! SDPC2000.com sells the caprice/fleetwood LO5.... 1600 shipped when i bought it... brand new... 3 year warranty...

 

What kind of mileage does the L05 get?

Which version makes more power and torque and still get good mileage?

 

Gas mileage is mostly determined by how heavy the driver's foot is, and determined less by the engine (size, output).

The factory rated the peanut cammed LO5 (180 fwhp, as installed in 4000+ lb B/D platform cars) at approx 16 mpg city and 24 mpg highway. The same engine, if installed in an Fcar, should get 18+/26+ with no other changes. The police version of the LO5 engine (190 to 205 fwhp depending on the year) used the L98 cam, biggger injectors and a ECM tune to match the cam/injectors. That car was rated at 14/20 mpg when using a 3.42 rear end.

The fuel economy of any engine (LO5 or otherwise) can be improved over the factory (EPA actually) numbers if you improve the exhaust and intake breathing. This helps make the engine more powerful and it improves fuel economy --- provided you keep your foot out of it.

Do a search to see what kind of fuel economy people here have obtained before/after engine mods -- on any 305 or 350 engine -- not just on the LO5.

 

FYI on my experience with these "cop" engines here in Ga. It's been with several running but only one that I dissembled and it had almost zero cyl wall wear. You would need to freshen up any of these unless it was parked at an early age but as having a friend buy around a dozen of these from the state back in the mid 1990's he has seen anything possible swapped around to keep these cars running. So buy at your own risk. On a side note they came with oil coolers on all the ones I seen

Hope this helps