2003 S-10

[Basement Paul]

Haven't posted here in awhile. Today I went to Hutter Performance to see Trevor and Matt about some S-10 upgrades. We talked about potentially hopping up the V6 the way it is, or potentially doing an LS swap. Trevor is going to do some research and get back to me with some ideas and rough numbers on what it will take to get the project headed in one direction or another.

In the meantime, if someone should stumble on a good deal on a complete and running LS (preferably a 6.0 or 6.2), please let me know. I would like to hear it run if possible, and know the mileage. This might limit me to buying from a junkyard and paying a premium, but the piece of mind putting a used motor in without a rebuild will be worth the extra money.

I'm leaning toward those bigger displacement motors because then I won't have to worry about cam swaps or anything like that, the truck will be plenty fast with either motor without it. The 6.0 is 360HP in the trucks and the 6.2 is around 400hp. Add a tune and good exhaust and I'll be around 13flat, high 12's, and have diesel torque.

For now I need to detail the truck, get it through e-check before it gets cold out (long story) and start selling more crap on the internet...

More to come.

-BP

[wxo]

I found one for you: http://winstonsalem.craigslist.org/pts/5168115705.html

[Basement Paul]

"Idk nothing bout motor"... HAHA! That's a good one. At least he's honest!

-BP

[Basement Paul]

I'm thinking about calling this guy. Looks reasonable.

http://cleveland.craigslist.org/pts/5178244518.html

http://cleveland.craigslist.org/pts/5178245106.html

-BP

[Maverick]

Just curious -- do you have any problems with inspections with engine swaps in Ohio? NC eliminated emissions inspections on pre-OBD II (pre-1996) vehicles so I think you'd be OK here. About 1980, NY made me find a replacement shroud around the exhaust manifold that fed the heat tube for the auto choke on my '66 Mustang.

[Basement Paul]

Nothing that insane. They pretty much look for a catalytic converter of some sort, and it has to not have a check engine light on, and OBDII vehicles get plugged in to read the computer for codes. No codes + a converter = emissions pass. They don't really care what motor is in it or look for anything else, so I should be good. They test back 25 years, so I'm still going to have to deal with it for some time.

-BP

[GMJohnny]

BP....

If you are going to put in an LS motor from a Vette, go for a
newer one. My motor was 345 HP stock, but the newer ones (like from a 2003
maybe ) are more like 400 HP. The throttle body and intake are better. Some of
my "upgrades" were stock parts from newer motors. I'm not certain about the
bottom end stuff, cam shaft, etc., but it might save you some $ if you go newer.
Hutter's could tell you more, and the internet is full of stuff to tell you what is
better I'm sure.

Food for thought.

GM

[Basement Paul]

I agree with that, but then they cost more too, so it's a wash as far as I can tell. I'm mostly concerned with the mileage, and want a car motor to get the aluminum vs the iron that goes with the truck motors. I can do upgrades in a couple years, I'm just trying to get a decent low mileage motor in the truck for now. Plus, the Vettes already have better cams and compression than the truck motors, so it will pull harder in the higher RPMs right out of the box VS a truck motor.

Thanks for the ideas though. The more I can think about the better.

-BP

[Basement Paul]

So the motor in the ad listed above is sold... to me. I picked it up yesterday. I didn't hear it run, but everything about this guy seemed legit, so I bit the bullet and rolled the dice. I got the harness, the computer, the dual electric fan assembly, all the accessories, the drive by wire computer and gas pedal too. After further inspection, I am missing the starter and mass air flow sensor. I won't feel bad buying new ones of those though as I don't want to have to replace the starter after the install, and the mass air sensor will eventually get updated anyway, so now is a good time to do that.

It's still sitting in my truck from yesterday's haul home.

-BP

[Maverick]

Fill us in on the plans. Swap mounts? Trans? Gauges?, etc.

[Basement Paul]

There are kits that make this a reasonably easy swap (if there is such a thing). There are wiring harnesses available that should make it so all my factory gauges and controls operate correctly. There's a relocating bracket assy for the A/C compressor to move it above the frame on the passengers side. There's also a engine mounting kit that includes new mounts and headers. The engine should bolt up to the existing tranny and converter, but I may need a flex plate. It will need to be switched to electric fans also.

The engine, trans, and rearend should all stay the same for now. I'm not really even planning any motor upgrades yet. I just want to get it in the truck for now and worry about updating it after all the bugs are worked out and I've driven it awhile.

There will be fuel lines to hook up, exhaust attaching issues, and other issues will pop up too. It will also need a computer tune too. That's why I'm planning to have it done instead of trying to do it myself. If the cost is too much, I'll give it a whirl, but I'd rather not.
















-BP

[Basement Paul]

Got the S-10 through e-check today, so I'm good til October 2017. Hopefully it will be a lot different by then.

Tomorrow I'm going shopping for the swap. Trip to Mecca, and hopefully some Craigslist finds.

More to come.

-BP

[Basement Paul]

Yesterday at Summit I got my new GM Performance oil pan engine swap kit, and a new flexplate as the Corvette's versions of these parts won't work in my truck. The craigslist guy had an ad for headers and motor mounts, but they were already sold and he never took the ad down.

I'm going to probably work on getting those parts ordered in the next week or so, and maybe get the LS1 on the stand next weekend so I can do some work to it over the long weekend.

-BP

[Basement Paul]

Today I talked to Brandon at Current Performance out of Florida. They specialize in this sort of engine swap, especially into S-10's. They carry basically everything I need to make this swap pretty much plug and play. The list of stuff I'll most likely be ordering from him goes like this:

Ceramic coated 1 5/8" 3/4 length headers
Poly engine mounts
A/C relocation bracket and lines
New Radiator, with electric fans, and condenser
Stainless overflow bottle
Custom wiring harness to make all my factory parts inside the truck work like they were when new, including a hook up for the drive by wire gas pedal

All for the low-low price of about $3100. This would put the project costs up to around $5800 so far.

Keeping in mind, I should easily be able to get $2500 back for my existing motor, and I know that some of the parts off the Vette motor that I won't use, like the exhaust manifolds and wiring harness, will have internet value in the hundreds of dollars, which should help offset this cost. I was hoping to get it into the truck when it's all said and done for around $4k, but I'm thinking that might be a little low unless I do all the major work myself which it sounds like is what's going to happen.

-BP

[Maverick]

Great project -- I'll enjoy following it. Is the transmission going to need anything? Always thought my '85 S10 would have been fun with a V8.