LS Swap questions

[kbaszak]

Lm4 is aluminum block and they're really easy to come by. There's 6 within 10 miles of my house for under $600. 5 out of the 6 have less than 120k on them.

Add in intake/tb/inj/rail, cam, heads from an ls2 or 799 heads from a truck which are the same just minus sodium valves, accessory drive, and starter and it's only around $1k

[CLM21]

Isnt the lm4 exclusively aluminum block? Sounds like he thinks he can get his hands on one easily?

LS4 would be cool. Im pretty sure theyre shorter than other LS blocks because they were intended for fwd cars. No idea on the prices of them though.

[The Dark Side of Will]

My dad's installing a 5.3 into his Datsun.
While there are aluminum 5.3's out there, most are iron block and about 80 lbs heavier than the aluminum block engines.
350 HP is as close as a cam, pushrods and valvesprings.

The truck intake manifolds are inches taller than the car manifolds, the truck exhaust manifolds are bulkier and has already been noted, the truck accessory drive protrudes further forward.

If you're inclined to fabrication, start with an LS4... it's aluminum and has a smaller bellhousing pattern than the longitudinal engines. However, it requires use of a bellhousing mounted starter.

[CLM21]

In all seriousness though, I think it would be a good idea. Not sure about the LM4, but other LS engines like the LS2 (which have truck applications) have conversions for car intake manifolds and car accessory drives, which would free up a lot of space for you. I bet you could make those work for an LM4.

[kbaszak]

I understand that there would be more work involved but I feel like the cost savings would be well worth the work

[CLM21]

Because then you cant say you have an LS1 corvette engine in your car. duh.

[shiboujin]

I think lots of people use truck motors and other stuff. The LS1s generally come with T56s attached to them and a good compact belt/intake system. That way, you need less for the swap. Any truck motor will have a bigger intake manifold that generally won't fit and a big ass water pump that will poke your rad.

But honestly, if it works for you, go for it. you can always swap it out later.

[kbaszak]

I'm debating on either doing an LS swap or turbo'ing my e30 sometime next year and had a question. How come is doesn't seem like people are using the lm4 for any swaps? Especially budget ones. You can pick them up for 500 bucks all day and then even if you get some machine work done, add heads and intake, get the different accessories, you're still cheaper than buying an ls1.

Is there any reason people don't use them as much as an ls1?