98 4.3 to LS1

[Rzrs128]

Hi I'm new here I'm seriously interested in an LS1 swap. I love my truck but I was thinkin of sellin it for a ls1 f-body. Now that I found you guys I can have the best of both worlds. A little info on my truck. It's a 98 Fullsize truck with a 4.3L v-6 auto. It has some mods on it but we all know that that just isn't enough. so can somebody give me an idea of what this would take to do/ cost. Are there any modifications that need to be made or is it just like once I have everything just put it in?
Thanks guys

[Sleeper]

Originally posted by Rzrs128@May 29 2003, 01:20 PM
Hi I'm new here I'm seriously interested in an LS1 swap. I love my truck but I was thinkin of sellin it for a ls1 f-body. Now that I found you guys I can have the best of both worlds. A little info on my truck. It's a 98 Fullsize truck with a 4.3L v-6 auto. It has some mods on it but we all know that that just isn't enough. so can somebody give me an idea of what this would take to do/ cost. Are there any modifications that need to be made or is it just like once I have everything just put it in?
Thanks guys

Domeskilla ran off a good list of things you'll need to do to make the swap easy....

Wiring...splice or buy painless
Custom motor mounts
truck accessories if you want a/c (til allens done with a bracket)
no headers as of yet...so stock manifolds are you're only choice...unless you wanna be our gunnea(sp?) pig
and electric fans are needed.
if your radiator is anything like mine(4.3 has 1-core) and is about 3/4" thick....get a 2-core at least...im not takin any chances with cooling issues with that puny ass radiator.
and allen can confirm or dispute, but a better fuel pump(~60+psi) is needed. the veotecs normally come with a pump that supported the LT1 swaps into fullsizes but the LS1 just needs a few more psi

thats all i can think of for now...im sure allen and B will chime in with other things.

Im doing the 4.3/auto ----> LS1/T56 swap in a few weeks if all goes as planned(since when does that ever happen)

Brandon

[farmtruc]

You came to right spot my fellow LS1 Truck Memeber, hehe.

Pull that engine and swap you in a badass ls1, i'm an ls1 whore and proud of it, there is no comparison between the 4.3L and LS1, i know, i had one.

The swap isn't that bad, you'll need to be knowledgable about wiring, and have general mechanic skills.
I'm still working on the complete list ( i know , taking forever) but it will cover all the goodies, until then go buy your ls1,
A good plan is well worth it, make you a parts list of everything you need, and how much it will cost so that there are no surprises.

You'll need a better fuel pump, get an upgrade to the camaros and you'll be fine. i believe i have the 255g one.

1500 pretty much covered most of the common parts, i'm sure more will come up as others' post.

don't get off track on this project, it's the best upgrade you'll ever do to that truck, way more power and more mpg, what else can you ask for,


allen

[Domeskilla]

Its a 98 right?

You can't have a/c unless you cut the crossmember out for it b/c the compressor hangs to low. Allen is in the process of making one that mounts it back up high. So you have those two options.

Also, for a harness, you could try SpearTech also. Not sure of painlesses prices, but SpearTech is 500 i think.

Or get a 99 truck harness and do it yourself, there is a write up at 94 v6 to ls1 wiring write up.

[Rzrs128]

would it be possible to run the accessories off of a 6.0?
I'm thinkin from what I have read here that buying an ls1 long block and getting whatelse is needed from the 6.0 would be the best way to go. Correct me if I am wrong. Dunno what I'm gunna do wiring wise I think just for ease of instalation I might just throw out the bucks for a painless kit. But I'll just have to see how money goes.
but if needed I can go with out a/c for a while. I hardley ever use it anyways. I'm a Texas boy I'm used to the heat. I just use it to shut other people up from complaining.
thanks

[Domeskilla]

lol, you can use any of the truck accessories with any of the truck intake manifolds.. but with the ls1/6, you need the car accessories.

as for heads, its more of a preference, with the right parts, they can all flow pretty much the same.

What part of Texas are you in?

[Rzrs128]

I'm livin in Parker. It's pretty much Allen if the DFW metroplex.
how about you?
I'm gunna make the drive up to grand prarrie tomorrow to go check out some salvage yards. A friend of mine needs some parts for his camaro so I might just kill 2 birds with one stone and see what they are runnin these days. My Idea would be get a high millage one thats rebuildable and just go all out on it. Cause if I don't I'll just decided that I want more and end up swapin some heads/cam and other stuff we all know. That hp stuff is the most addicting substance I've run into. Just can't get enough

[Domeskilla]

yea, can never have enough power. I livein Oklahoma, about 3 hrs from mckinney.. i'm moving to Arlington in 5-6 weeks.

Getting a rebuildable one is a great idea, probably what i'll do or buy a bare ls6 block from smcperformance.com and start there.

[Rzrs128]

yeah I was kinda plannin on just rebuilding a vortec 350 to swap cause pretty much all the bolt on I have right now will work with it. But I was always interested in ls1's. As mentioned before I want an f-bdy but can't afford the insurance on one so I guess this is the next best thing. I was making the swap out to being a lot harder than it sounds. I was thinkin I could never do that. But then again me and my buddies swapped the engine out on a 300zx and those engines are crammed in there. So I'm kinda changin my mind