Thread: New Project

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One thing to remember about LS engines is that if you can use them more or less as they come from the donor, then you can get by reasonably cheap. However, if you have to start changing parts, especially buying aftermarket stuff, they get very expensive, very quick. You should have room in that engine bay for a truck engine which will be the cheapest by far. Car engines tend to come at a premium.

The 5.3 truck engines are common and reasonably priced. The larger 6.0 and 6.2 versions make a lot more low end torque, but a usually carry a much higher price.

you may run into some interference issues with the LS truck accessory setup. The alternator will probably work. The AC compressor is mounted very low on the passenger side. That might be an issue. The power steering pump is in about the same place as a SBC.

Truck oil pans are pretty deep and may be too low, but there are plenty of shallower options.

Be sure to get the engine/trans combo along with the ECU and harness for whatever it came out of.

I have no affiliation with this place, just found it very interesting when I found out about them.
Maybe not too far for you to make a road trip. Prices seem pretty decent.
https://okautopartsms.com/performanc...-transmission/

Wow, what a super straight, non rusted, or beat up cool coupe to start with! You could find an older LS Escalade to rob the engine and trans from. If you are on a budget, I'd try to stay pre 07 ish. You can find 6.0/4L80E combos for around $2k in my area. An LS swap can be done on the cheap but you have to be careful because it will get expensive in a hurry. There are low sump ching chong oil pans available now that are affordable. Like Mike said, accessory drive kits can get expensive in a hurry. The truck stuff should fit that car if you put the engine back near the fire wall. I'd at least try to make them work because getting parts later on will be easier IMO. Plenty of places offer modified or new conversion harnesses and there are a lot of places to get the ecm flashed and or tuned as well.

I’m just going to throw out a few “for what it’s worth” thoughts out here, probably stuff you’ve already thought about.

There are a bunch of drive trains out there that should easily fit under that hood.

While the 472/500 Cadillac’s would be super cool and keep the engine in the Cadillac family, they are a bit on the wide side which might be an issue and they are really expensive to rebuild.

The LS (or other newer type engine) is a good option and down the road parts and expertise to work on it will be around, where on the older stuff a lot of that is starting to fade.

I’m going to go out on a limb here and guess that the cheapest/easiest/and most reliable way to go at this point would still be the traditional small block Chevy. Built with a carburetor and HEI distributor no computer is required and parts should be available at any parts store. Aftermarket Fuel Injection is readily available if you choose to go that way.

I’m going to guess relatively speaking, the car is going to be heavy and torque is going to be your friend, which is where a 383 stroker built right will shine. That being said, I think there might be another option and I would start to look at the entire drive-train.

The first part of that would be the transmission. There are a bunch of overdrive transmissions available for the SB (both manual and automatic), several that are not reliant on a computer. I would probably go with a lock-up convertor just a little over stock stall.

Finally I would look rear gears in the 3.90-4.10 range. With the gears and OD (which usually have a low first gear) the car would seem like it has more engine in it than it really does. (Personal experience from running 4.56s with in my old Dodge with a 341 CI motor). I’m kind of thinking you might even be able to turn it into a fun ride with just a 350 instead of the extra cost of building a stroker.

As far as the SB engine itself, I would build it for torque with an RV cam and probably aluminum heads (in part because of the crap gas). To fancy it up there are so many different intakes out there from single 4 Barrels to Tri-Power or even the old 4 deuce set-ups if you want to go for a hot rod look.

Personally, I think I would be tempted to throw a single 4 BBL intake on it, top it with a reproduction vintage Cadillac air cleaner and no name valve covers and call it good. For exhaust I would probably use the reproduction 2 ½ outlet Corvette exhaust manifolds that Dorman makes to avoid the hassle of fighting headers.
Anyway just my 2 cents.



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I'm going to throw you a curve ball. How about the engine and trans from an 04 or so Dodge Dakota, the 4.7 in particular? The one in my 04 Dakota has been to Ohio and back 5 times, 1200+ miles round trip, Virginia and South Carolina once each, about 1600 for each trip. Never had a problem and it will get between 19 and 21 mpg depending on how heavy my foot is.

I got ripped off on a ebay impulse buy 5.3. It was full of water. Ended up doing a ring, bearings and gasket job on it. Ls engines are not anything like a small block to work on, you need specialty tools and procedures and parts are many times more expensive. I agree with the suggestion if you are using an LS, get one you can use as is, from a reputable place. I like a modern computer controlled FI engine but it is a lot more complicated to deal with, not for everyone. The old small block with a 700r4 sure is simple and cheap, the 700r's can be made to shift real nice too.

Thanks for the inputs guys !!! It sure is a big difference between the SBC and LS engines.

A few pic's as I tear down the car. Who ever installed this engine thought it was ok to mount it off center. It was too large to fit between the rails.

Found this Lub Tag today on the door post

Ready for new front suspension

Old Oldsmobile engine and trans, junk to me maybe a treasure to someone else.

I'm thinking it wasn't uncommon to mount the engine off center or canted back in the day, often to account for an offset in the differential that they had. If the pinion was off center there were choices about how things aligned.

Great to see you getting into the disassembly!

Yes, many times engines were set off to one side. Hemi Mopars were one I remember, they pushed the motor towards the passenger side, I believe it was said to clear the Master Cylinder and Booster.

I've done many engine swaps over the years and I've always struggled with wanting the engine centered in the engine bay. Unfortunately, the pinion location really dictates where the engine sets. Corvettes are exactly like Mike stated. Their engines are offset off to the passenger side roughly 2".

I'm always getting educated, thanks for the inputs.

".....Yes, many times engines were set off to one side......."

".....I've done many engine swaps over the years and I've always struggled with wanting the engine centered in the engine bay. Unfortunately, the pinion location really dictates where the engine sets......."



"........I'm thinking it wasn't uncommon to mount the engine off center or canted back in the day......"


Oh yeah. It was done more often than you think from the factory. I run into it a few times when building some of my projects. The 80s G bodies (like my 83 El Camino was offset to the passenger side).

The mid 60s Ford Full size cars had the engine canted down in the rear pretty severely. Their trick was to either mill the carburetor flange at an angle or use wedge spacer plate under the carb so the air cleaner was level and that a glance you didn't notice the angle of the valve covers.

The best one I ran into and didn't catch during the build was the Cobra II I put together. It was a factory V8 car and when I put it together I used factory mounts etc so the engine was where the factory put it. I never noticed it until I decided to cut the hood for a shaker style air cleaner. It's hard to tell in the picture but the Cobra II hood stripes have about a 1" strip of body color between the 2 white panels. That body color stripe goes exactly down the center of the hood. When you looked at the car from the front you could definitely tell the hole and air cleaner were offset about an inch.

When the wife claimed it for her daily driver, I replaced the the hood with a flat one and put a (centered) fiberglass hood scoop on.



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Navy, I noticed your Cadillac has the factory IFS as well like the 39 oldsmobiles we have. Have you given any thought to what you will do with the front suspension? I have been pondering which 39 Olds chassis to build for Colt's car. One of his frames has already had a GM stub grafted on and I think we'll use that chassis. I think a person would have to cut the frame and add straight rails to install a MII type cross member and make it look decent. I thought for a bit to keep the original front suspension but I wonder how much of the parts are actually available and will be in the future. Let alone disc brake upgrades etc.

If you do decide to clip the front with a later model front suspension, here is a piece of advice that I was given by some old timers that had clipped many cars.

Take something like 1" square tubing and build a triangulated jig that bolts to the firewall and duplicates all the radiator and front sheet metal mounting points. Do this before you cut the original frame. Then, after the clip is on, all you have to do is bolt the jig in place and build permanent mounting points for the front sheet metal. Makes the job 10X easier.