Hey everyone, my name's Ian.
I picked up my car back in July for $500. It needed a fuel pump/battery and I was able to start it up without any trouble.
Odometer says 172k or so, but it's frozen at that point and the motor was swapped out to different M42 that's currently in there.
Just some rotted vacuum lines and squealing belts, otherwise it runs like a champ.
Back in October, I picked up a 3rd gen 5.3 vortec in incredible shape, unknown mileage, for $400 from a mechanic shop that was downsizing to a smaller building and had to clear stock.
I currently have the heads off for light cleaning, head gasket upgrade(ls9) , lifter replacement, spring upgrade, and cam upgrade.
Went with PAC 1218 springs and a Sloppy Stage 2 Cam, will be running a Holley Terminator X for ECU and a ZF for transmission. Going to turbo charge for 500-600hp, but haven't completely spec'd out that portion of the build yet.
Pulled the hood, front bumper, and exhaust the other day in preparation for ripping out the m42/trans.
I'm going to build my own mounts (Garret's) and avoid buying from the swap kit sites as much as possible. I'll splurge when I feel it's necessary, but I'm trying to cut costs where it's reasonable to do so.
I plan on documenting the build here, on my blog, and on youtube. I feel like documentation for this swap is a little fragmented, and there's a decent range of options I've come across so I'm going to build a section of my blog as an information repository with links to suppliers, build threads, vlogs, etc.
I already have a few videos up if you're interested in checking out my build so far.
Blog - http://www.dividedbeing.com
Youtube Channel - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9H...x0BtgPoicyQzSg
I'm pretty hyped to be able to drive this thing