Thread: LS1 swap into 53 Chevy

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Got my 5.3 Monday and it looks kinda like I expected, dirty. I'll have to do some clean up on it first, but other than that I'm going to leave it alone.Not as cool old school as the 348, but I don't think I'll be stopping as much for gas, or screwing with stuff. I called Schwanke engines and they helped me out on what to do next, they have done 6 of these already just this year. I sent up my ECM to them today and they are going to take care of that for me and send me the right harness for it.They were asking me about what A/C I had in the cab, what radio, where the pedals are, just so they could tell me the best to put the computer. Pulled the 460le trans out of the parts Trailblaazer I bought for the parts car for my boys Trailblazer that needs a front end on it. I'm getting my $400 dollars out of that one pretty fast. That is going to my BIL's tranny shop to put the right tail shaft in and do a quick check over.

That's going to be a very nice ride.

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Subscribing to this one so I can follow along. I'm considering doing an LS swap in my 46 coupe sometime in the future (when the Healey is done). Your truck engine bay and my 46 should be similar in size. The idea of EFI/overdrive and no trouble with ethanol gas is appealing to me more and more.

BIL called and said he recommended a rebuild on the trans, there was a lot of moisture in it and some clutches got hot he said. I had my fingers crossed on the trans but reality says its a GM trans with 140k on it so it's not going to be long for the world. I'll keep track of cost of this swap for you all so someone here can buy my 348/trans with everything for the appropriate amount when done .

Originally Posted by Hotrod46

Subscribing to this one so I can follow along. I'm considering doing an LS swap in my 46 coupe sometime in the future (when the Healey is done). Your truck engine bay and my 46 should be similar in size. The idea of EFI/overdrive and no trouble with ethanol gas is appealing to me more and more.

Driving through the mountains and then valleys without screwing with the carb, Priceless

Nice Seth! I had some big plans to rip the cummins out of my Vette this winter and do a twin turbo 6.0 LS. Until I went to the power tour and realized they are everywhere. I mean under dang near every other hood it seemed. I'm going to leave the Vette alone and I'll LS something else. I'll enjoy watching your repower though. I helped a friend do a 5.3 twin turbo 4L80E in a 66 Nova last summer. I was envious how fast the car was for the amount of time and money in it. Totally bogus. Haha

Ya, I know what you mean, they are everywhere, that's why I went with the 348. I remember the days when every body had the 350/350 combo,and then some crazy guy would have a 327/350 combo. Like that was any different . The problem is if I leave it the way it is, I'll be telling the people at the car show about the 53 with a 348 I have at home because I can't afford to drive it That's not really the entire reason, I kept thinking about our road trip coming up, going to Washington state and down Highway 101 and back east through the south.Driving through Death Valley with a 60 yr old 348 that no body carries parts for. I'm not as daring as used to be when I started this build.

Got the trans out and the motor ready to pull. I don't dare lift this heavy turd out with my cherry picker cause it has to go so dumb high up in the air. My neighbor is coming over tomorrow with his little pay loader and we're going to hook the chain hoist up to the boom on that. Thanks to some amazing engineering on my part, it's pretty easy to pull the trans and motor on this thing I am showing these pics to any newbies that may be looking at this. Make sure your dumb sure you don't want to listen to any body's advice before you make decisions on a build. Trying to buck the system has cost me thousands of dollars and I have no idea how to add up all the wasted time. If it's car show only,or weekend warrior,that's different,lots of fun stuff to do and try. However if your going to drive the wheels off it, do something that is proven to work. That could just be me though.

So carry a few parts with?

I used to carry a fuel pump and ignition module as spare parts. On long trips I'd up the ante: throw an alternator and starter in the trunk. Didn't seem to take much room, cheaper than a AAA policy; gave me confidence.

With the advent of the internet I can't imagine being stranded longer than a day for any part.

Anyway, that was a young man's perspective. I'm older and more paranoid now. Nowadays, I don't like to drive farther than I can afford the tow ticket.

My luck is what ever usually breaks, the parts store doesn't have any way. I try to use common on the shelf when I do conversions for that reason you said. Try to use common stuff so you can keep rolling. It sounds like you need a bigger engine hoist. Mine would pop that thing out and yawn doing it.

Originally Posted by 40FordDeluxe

My luck is what ever usually breaks, the parts store doesn't have any way. I try to use common on the shelf when I do conversions for that reason you said. Try to use common stuff so you can keep rolling.

This is why I won't use the new high tech batteries that are on the market now. They may be tiny and can be mounted anywhere, but I've had batteries fail with no warning. The last was a yellow top Optima that failed in my T-bucket while at a gas stop on the way to a show. 40 minutes later after a bummed ride to a NAPA and I was on my way again. This was on a Friday afternoon. Sure I could have overnighted a new battery from Summit, but it would have been Monday before it was delivered. The car show would have been over and I would have missed a day at work. Now if I was building a track car, that would be a different story.

Well Seth, you certainly know how to place the worry into ones head. Here I am with grand plans of flying into America, purchase an old hot rod, which for me is carburettored with several of them as that is what a pre '49 hot rod should have and drive it up and down and across zig zagging all over your great country and now I'm thinking I may have to purchase a boring newish fuel injected belly button. I will have to ask though, how did all those people migrate across American before fuel injection was invented and freeways etc.. Yeah, the 348 is an older engine but didn't you have her over hauled and yeah, it uses petrol a bit quicker than a small block but that is hot rodding and isn't it all about restoring and using old super cool engines in our early rides ? Just my thoughts really.

Originally Posted by 53 Chevy5

Driving through the mountains and then valleys without screwing with the carb, Priceless

HMmmm.. remember way back, when we just couldn't wait to "tinker" with the carb and "make it better"?

Originally Posted by Whiplash23T

Well Seth, you certainly know how to place the worry into ones head. Here I am with grand plans of flying into America, purchase an old hot rod, which for me is carburettored with several of them as that is what a pre '49 hot rod should have and drive it up and down and across zig zagging all over your great country and now I'm thinking I may have to purchase a boring newish fuel injected belly button. I will have to ask though, how did all those people migrate across American before fuel injection was invented and freeways etc.. Yeah, the 348 is an older engine but didn't you have her over hauled and yeah, it uses petrol a bit quicker than a small block but that is hot rodding and isn't it all about restoring and using old super cool engines in our early rides ? Just my thoughts really.

Sorry, I re read my post and I didn't mean it the way it comes across, which it does come across bad. I was more talking about myself and use things you know that work. I was pulling the motor out thinking about all my neat idea's and I still think they're neat, but didn't work. The first mistake I made was trying to wedge that 348 in the 53. I don't know how much time and money I spent trying to get the steering shafts around that fat girl. The second mistake I made was thinking it had to have a serpentine belt setup to be cool, that took tons of time. The third mistake was thinking the 348 had to be fuel injected and so I spent a fair amount of money and tons and tons of time trying to get the thing to run good when it was warmed up. Never did get it figured out, except for now I think it just wanted more fuel. Now with the running warm thing going on where I need to buy a 400 dollar pump or find a V belt setup for it just to figure out if it was the lack of radiator or not ( which I can't fit anything bigger in ) I decided to cut the cord and start over. If I had to start over with carburated 350 , I would drive that to Alaska and back and not think twice about it. But given the choice where I am now, I went with a 5.3, not because it's the better choice than anything else out there, it just what me and the Mrs want. My BIL with the trans shop has an old 20 something Dodge Bros rad rod that has a carb 350 and he drives that car to California and back once a year visiting relatives, and your right, 25,000 miles on it so far and no problems. I hope this clears it up.

Originally Posted by firebird77clone

So carry a few parts with?

Kinda like my two coil packs in the glove compartment when we took my 97 F 150 to Arizona to get my Camaro, just the way it is