[OJmobileII]

i voted for an informative v8 Faq, not advertising for a company. i followed the developement of hinson's kit for an s14 on two other forums and have been anxiously awaiting info on their s13 project. they do quality work, but this is a v8 Faq. look at our other faqs... those r informative, people have put out different approaches. both wut has worked and wut hasnt. as well as, maybe wut might work.

Luke started the thread off with facts and figures regarding the performance of various chevy small blocks. i think we should follow this lead and discuss different options for the install. people can have shops combine the back of the KA driveshaft w/ the front of the LS and then balance it. maybe someone can use block huggers and weld an LS exhaust flange??? also wut parts do u need for the swap, such as ecu and harness.

we need to discuss different rear ends, cams, etc in this fact. we need to find out wut works best for every persons goal. wut to do if ur building a street car, drag car, daily driver, etc.

10k for a complete turn key diy project? i have been researching a small block 240 swap and there r many different routes besides buying an all in one kit. there is even a kid who had a budget of $4000, bought an fc shell and swapped in an lt1+t56 without running out of money (i know, i know that swap is more documented and parts r cheaper and it might be a little bit easier, but i'm jus saying). alot of parts can be easily fabricated, while others ur better off buying. i can point people in the direction of better info regarding a diy swap, but i'm not sure of the policy here on posting links to other forums and such.

i wanted to post information regarding different chevy gen iii motors such as the LS truck motors(5.3l alum, 5.3l cast, and 6.0l cast), but i was afraid of giving false information people should avoid jus posting for the sake of posting and give correct information. people posting to up their count makes searches more difficult and thats y people repost, cus after an hour or so of looking through crap they decide to ask. and then all the big shots yell out search n00b.

heres some info i've pieced together regarding chevy small block v8s:

ls1/ls2/ls6 jus the motor weigh approximately 100lbs lighter than the ka (for all u ka-t people remember that turbo, i/c, etc add alot of weight).

aluminum 5.3 truck motor weighs about the same as the above, but ive recently seen the prices of this motor go up to the point where it is almost better to buy an ls1 (since u will want to change out the cam and doing so u will need to buy the cam, of course, and ls6 valvesprings). only advantage here is perhaps lower miles than a typical ls1.

lt1/lt4 weigh about the same as the ka and deliver almost as much performance (as u can see from luke's info on the first page). these would be the most bang for the buck. but many r high mileage and beat to hell.

cast 5.3/6.0 weigh about the same as the above lt series. u can find this in local boneyards and usually have less miles than any of the LS/LT motors

as far as transmissions go. if u have an ls motor u want a 6speed u have to get the t56 out of an ls series car. if have an lt motor u can use the t56 out of an lt series car. remember the t56 is really heavy so when u look at different weights of ka + trans vs chevy + trans.... remember that alot of that weight is in the transmission which will be low and in the center of the car.

for those genuinely interested in this swap please try researching the v8 rx7s. people have been doing this swap for a little bit longer and u can find alot of information (just weed out all the rotary vs piston arguing). like i said before i can point people in the right direction w/ links, but i dont know how the mods feel about that.

just like anyother used engine (sr20, ka24, rb, ca, etc) remember u r getting a used part and u have to be ready for any problems that might come with that.

this ended up being much longer than i had anticipated, sorry.