mikedrom
Rising Sun Member
- Joined
- Jun 7, 2023
- Messages
- 96
I will be starting my LS swap on my ‘96 LX in about a week. Motor and trans will be available really soon and I’d like to have someone lined up to pick them up soon after I pull them since I don’t have a lot of room in my garage.
The bad:
1. The motor is tired. Yeah, you could just throw it in a rig and it’d probably last another 50k miles, but I’d rebuild it if I were swapping it. It burns oil and has a stinky exhaust. I’m putting one quart every 500-700 miles. You’ll see puffs of smoke on cold starts, or after letting it idle for 5-10 mins and then taking off again. My guess is that if you pull it apart to do valve seals it’ll turn into a big game of “while I’m in there” since the motor has significant mileage. I haven’t tried to pass Denver emissions, but it’s highly unlikely to pass.
2. Unknown history. I have put the last 40k miles on the motor and it’s never missed a beat, but it does have an LKQ sticker on the block so it may have been replaced… who knows.
3. Medium-pitch noise from oil pump area. Best way I can describe it is that it sounds like alternator whine over the radio, but a bit lower-pitched. It’s always been there since buying the truck in 2018 and I’ve never paid attention to it. It’s NOT the power steering pump. Oil pressure has always shown to be decent on the dash. Noise hasn’t worsened or changed at all over 40k miles.
4. I will be keeping a few wires from the harness for my application. That’s still TBD.
The good:
1. Transmission is solid for its age. It doesn’t slam hard into 2nd or anything.
2. I’ve been keeping up on basic maintenance. Plugs, wires, cap, rotor, starter, oil changes, blue fan clutch, thermostat, coolant changes, power steering pump, etc.
3. No misfires, no rough running, and no MIL/CEL.
4. Exhaust has cats still, and its not totally rusted.
5. Ac currently blows cold in the truck.
Price for motor, trans, exhaust, harness, ecu: $1.3k.
RS members can make reasonable offers. I’d like to sell it all as one piece but could be talked into separating stuff if nobody picks it all up after some time.
Location: Denver
The bad:
1. The motor is tired. Yeah, you could just throw it in a rig and it’d probably last another 50k miles, but I’d rebuild it if I were swapping it. It burns oil and has a stinky exhaust. I’m putting one quart every 500-700 miles. You’ll see puffs of smoke on cold starts, or after letting it idle for 5-10 mins and then taking off again. My guess is that if you pull it apart to do valve seals it’ll turn into a big game of “while I’m in there” since the motor has significant mileage. I haven’t tried to pass Denver emissions, but it’s highly unlikely to pass.
2. Unknown history. I have put the last 40k miles on the motor and it’s never missed a beat, but it does have an LKQ sticker on the block so it may have been replaced… who knows.
3. Medium-pitch noise from oil pump area. Best way I can describe it is that it sounds like alternator whine over the radio, but a bit lower-pitched. It’s always been there since buying the truck in 2018 and I’ve never paid attention to it. It’s NOT the power steering pump. Oil pressure has always shown to be decent on the dash. Noise hasn’t worsened or changed at all over 40k miles.
4. I will be keeping a few wires from the harness for my application. That’s still TBD.
The good:
1. Transmission is solid for its age. It doesn’t slam hard into 2nd or anything.
2. I’ve been keeping up on basic maintenance. Plugs, wires, cap, rotor, starter, oil changes, blue fan clutch, thermostat, coolant changes, power steering pump, etc.
3. No misfires, no rough running, and no MIL/CEL.
4. Exhaust has cats still, and its not totally rusted.
5. Ac currently blows cold in the truck.
Price for motor, trans, exhaust, harness, ecu: $1.3k.
RS members can make reasonable offers. I’d like to sell it all as one piece but could be talked into separating stuff if nobody picks it all up after some time.
Location: Denver
