What's new
CK5
Register an account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members.

Preferred LS Drivetrain Swap? Year, size, Trans etc.

HP2BSQ

HP2BSQ

Registered Member
Joined
Jul 24, 2017
Posts
13
Reaction score
7
Location
Texas
Looking to do a LS swap in my 84 K5. I will be checking out auctions for a donor vehicle, I just gonna buy the vehicle, take what I need and part out the rest.
What is the best year, bang for buck when it comes to LS swaps.?
I am trying to narrow down my search, make, models, 5.3, 5.7, 6.0
Are there ones to stay away from due to fitting, or performance issues? weaker trans etc.

Any help is appreciated.
 
They're all pretty good, same with the trans, all pretty good. I'd aim for low mile, well maintained as the priority, and the actual size and stuff secondary. That being said, if you have a choice, find a wrecked Escalade with the 6.0 LQ9 and 4L65e.

I have an '06 5.3 LM7 in my 90 Blazer. Low mile, drive by wire, 4L60e. I can't wait to drive it.
 
Depends a lot on what your budget is and what you plan on doing with your rig. A 5.3/4L60 will be on the cheaper end and be great in a daily driver type truck. If you plan on running a big lift and big tires you might want to look for a 6.0/4L80 for the extra grunt and beefier trans. If you have the budget grab a 6.2 or any lower mileage smaller engine and throw a cam and custom tune at it for some extra fun. :burnout:
 
Thanks, Guess I should have stated more info in my post. I am looking to make my K5 a Daily Driver. I am leaving it in it's original configuration, stance and looks but with some modern upgrades for performance, reliability and comfort.
 
I do, and that's what I was told. Gonna buy a donor vehicle and go that route to save some $.
 
Running a 5.3/700r4 combo. Love it. Even with 35's. Gearing helps as I'm running 4.10's. Better than TBI fuel economy for sure. Way better than a carbed 350 or 305.

Getting an entire donor vehicle is smart. You will have all you need there.

Totally worth it. Driveability is unmatched to old tech.
 
I second the salvage vehicle idea.. mines going to be setup as yours for a daily. I opted for the gen IV mainly because of the VVT and the higher output 5.3 which theoretically should be more torquey down low vs a normal non VvT 5.3. Plus the gen IV motors got the 799 heads and trailblazer ss intake which is a sweet combo. Basically a cam away from 360hp.
I've got the nv4500 but if I had to do this again I would look for a 5.3/6l80e which was standard after 2010 I belive. The tcm is seperate from the ecu which makes the wiring easier than a gen 3 unless you got them together and the somewhat spotty record of the 4l60e would sway me from that. I also noticed the 6.0 or 6.2 were double the cost of the 5.3. If you kept the swap damn near stock using the airbox and rest of the parts from the donor aside what didn't fit (exhaust manifolds) I think you would be pretty happy with it..
 
The 4L60 is quicker off the line and gets more MPG. Closer ratios in the '80 are more for towing or heavier rigs. They usually come with higher stall converters. With strength comes more drag.

4L60E 3.06 1.62 1.00 0.70
4L80E 2.48 1.48 1.00 0.75
 
Blue85 said:
The 4L60 is quicker off the line and gets more MPG. Closer ratios in the '80 are more for towing or heavier rigs. They usually come with higher stall converters. With strength comes more drag racing.

4L60E 3.06 1.62 1.00 0.70
4L80E 2.48 1.48 1.00 0.75
Click to expand...
Lol, had to fix that, sorry
 
Blue85 said:
The 4L60 is quicker off the line and gets more MPG. Closer ratios in the '80 are more for towing or heavier rigs. They usually come with higher stall converters. With strength comes more drag racing.

4L60E 3.06 1.62 1.00 0.70
4L80E 2.48 1.48 1.00 0.75
Click to expand...
Lol, had to fix that, sorry
 
I'm opposite some of the people here, I would go simple and avoid VVT and drive by wire and look for a drive-by-cable 2000-2002 5.3 / 5.7 LS1. I know a number of people that have had problems with VVT and id only consider drive by wire if its something considerably newer / more powerful than the latter. Anything DBW I'd personally factor in the cost of a custom tune because I can't stand throttle lag.
 
I’ll counterpoint here.
But What lag? If this isn’t in the vehicle it came with there is too much missing from the swap to keep the original tune.
Once you disable torque management which you would have to do anyway if swapping.. a custom tune should be on the list regardless, I don’t see how you could run without it.
Not saying I am right but I know of guys who have dbw setups and they’re laggier than my swap, I haven’t touched the ETC tables on mine..

Here’s why I think that is, when you have DBW the ecm is predicting what you are doing it knows how much to add or subtract because it’s controlling the throttle, with the DBC it does not so it has to wait to see then respond, the gen 3 does not have as much of the prediction built in as the gen iv does. That’s what makes the big difference.
Problems with the vvt and dbw I would argue are mostly because the tuner or user does not fully get how it supposed to work together, also reliability will be higher with the ETC vs the cable, you can fully submerge the pedal, and there is nothing on the outside of the throttle body to get stuck or caught by a rock. Failures on those are minimal. Bd turnkey has some videos of this.. plus the millions of vehicles on the road with ETC..
 
Alright well In my defense I've never done one of these swaps before so I'm not sure what would be "removed" from the vehicle that would force you to retune the PCM to make it work. My experience includes retrofitting an LS1 24x PCM onto a gen 2 LT1 v8 (originally 4x) and in that case everything seemed to translate over just fine. To your point, I've driven tuned DBW vehicles and the lag can be essentially non-existent in those. If youre factoring in the price of a tune already, i see no issue with DBW. My point was I believe you could skip the cost tune on a DBC engine because (as I understand it) you can use the entire engine/harness/pcm as plug and play.

In regards to reactive/vs predictive I don't think that matters for anything but emissions quality. With a cable throttle, you have absolute control over the manifold vacuum... yes the PCM has to reactively adjust fueling and timing. However both systems still have a TPS to derive data. In DBW its just going to wait to open the throttle until it makes those same adjustments such that mixtures and timing are optimal. In either case, there's a fraction of a second before you get the desired result, assuming the factory tune isn't adding additional engineered lag. If a DBW system is able to optimize those conditions faster, I would attribute that to a newer higher resolution crank sensor rather than the throttle body or reactive/predictive design. I have a mildly hopped up gen 2 LT1 with an ancient 4x resolution EFI and the throttle response is brutal. Anything faster than what that old system is capable of doing isn't going to be noticeable to the average person, but the technology has progressed anyway due to the old reactive systems spitting emissions in the split second moments that timing/fuel doesn't match throttle. A custom tune on either engine should perform the same. Again im arguing from the standpoint of swap simplicity, not that DBW is a bad technology.

The problems with VVT i cited happened on unmodified factory trucks. I have no direct experience with it, but I know one person directly who had to replace an engine prematurely in a 09(?) silverado because of the VVT, and another friend who spent time and money to eliminate the system before it could fail.
 
Last edited:
JoeliusZ28 said:
Alright well In my defense I've never done one of these swaps before so I'm not sure what would be "removed" from the vehicle that would force you to retune the PCM to make it work. My experience includes retrofitting an LS1 24x PCM onto a gen 2 LT1 v8 (originally 4x) and in that case everything seemed to translate over just fine. To your point, I've driven tuned DBW vehicles and the lag can be essentially non-existent in those. If youre factoring in the price of a tune already, i see no issue with DBW. My point was I believe you could skip the cost tune on a DBC engine because (as I understand it) you can use the entire engine/harness/pcm as plug and play.

In regards to reactive/vs predictive I don't think that matters for anything but emissions quality. With a cable throttle, you have absolute control over the manifold vacuum... yes the PCM has to reactively adjust fueling and timing. However both systems still have a TPS to derive data. In DBW its just going to wait to open the throttle until it makes those same adjustments such that mixtures and timing are optimal. In either case, there's a fraction of a second before you get the desired result, assuming the factory tune isn't adding additional engineered lag. If a DBW system is able to optimize those conditions faster, I would attribute that to a newer higher resolution crank sensor rather than the throttle body or reactive/predictive design. I have a mildly hopped up gen 2 LT1 with an ancient 4x resolution EFI and the throttle response is brutal. Anything faster than what that old system is capable of doing isn't going to be noticeable to the average person, but the technology has progressed anyway due to the old reactive systems spitting emissions in the split second moments that timing/fuel doesn't match throttle. A custom tune on either engine should perform the same. Again im arguing from the standpoint of swap simplicity, not that DBW is a bad technology.

The problems with VVT i cited happened on unmodified factory trucks. I have no direct experience with it, but I know one person directly who had to replace an engine prematurely in a 09(?) silverado because of the VVT, and another friend who spent time and money to eliminate the system before it could fail.
Click to expand...
All great points and very valid. Swaps as they go I would say it would be hard to choose, this is the great thing, there is tons of options..
 
I really couldn't care whether my blazer gets a 5.3 or 6.0. I have an '05 5.3/60 in my C10 and it hauls ass.

My concern is with the trans. Knowing how much taller the 1st gear is on the 4L80 is a concern of mine. I look at the 4L80 because I want something stronger than my 700r4. Do I sacrifice strength in favor of a lower 1st (which gets used all the time crawling). Only reason I don't tow more with my blazer is fear of blowing my transmission, same for driving it like a hotrod. I baby it unless I'm in 1st gear 4L :D

Or 6L80 and pay out the ass for that setup (plus donor truck)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest Posts

Top Bottom