chevy l.s. engine swap vs good old ford power

[Smart Alex]

Cause turbos are so much more efficient and cooler than superchargers. And you are still stuck with e40d, and factory electronics which IMO sub par to the chevy stuff with all the options you have for tuning f.I.

[philofab]

My issue with the 351W is how much all the parts cost me for it. The AFR185 heads cost me as much as a low mile 6.0 LS motor. The second issue is a good transmission. E4OD is great but expensive and too long. C6 has no overdrive. Manual is great other than my 200hp already destroys the drivetrain. 4L80s are super cheap built, have overdrive and TCC lockup, and smaller than a E4OD.

Any 205 will live just fine in out rigs... Atlas if I want to spend the 2K. I can do the swap with my own labor for everything for under 5K. May not work for others that don't have my skill and tools but for me it makes sense over a 5K Windsor build.

Coyote motor is great other than parts are $$$ and it's a packaging nightmare.

[Dust]

I personally don't get the "hermaphrodite" type thinking. For me it's the best part for the job at the best price - no matter who made it.

I see guys get their panties all in a twist over a Ford in a Chevy, or more commonly vice versa. To me - who the fook cares. If it has more HP and gets better MPG while doing it AND costs less. Why the hell wouldn't you????

And then it goes into the "everyone does it - so it's not cool any more" BS that I've heard some spew out. Had this conversation on another forum a week or 2 ago so forgive me if I get a little annoyed with the same old rebuttals.

My response to the "boring" thought is: I wouldn't be doing this to be "cool" and "different". Hell, one could go put a flathead or better yet an aluminum block alfa romeo motor in the thing just to be different. What would be the point in that though????? More money spent most likely for less return or perfoarmance. Sure it's "different", but who gives a damn!

There is a reason people are throwing LS stuff in everything... They are easy to find, cheap and put out good HP at a decent MPG. If you want to be different you go and put that Yugo motor in. I'm ok with being a "follower"

Expected nothing less from you my friend
The fact remains, recently I've been looking at trucks and the 77 Bronco that was all Ford sold for $10,000.00 more then the one that was LS powered they could have been clones otherwise; and it is always that way. The only way to be different when it comes to the LS is to swap it out for a Mopar! < Now that would be cool!
I tried to be clear that I am speaking "For Me"...
As for what you or anyone else chooses to do: Frankly Scarlet I don't give a duck!
Do what you want to do, hell you are swapping a Deadcell engine in your crew, another something I would not bother to do... but it's all cool here

[Smart Alex]

Nice philo,

To me the ford stuff is just really inefficient. What I mean by that is how much the truck feels like it has to work that e40D thru the gears.

I drive a chevy regular cab with the 4.8 liter L's and it just slips and slides thru the gears no problem. Love that truck. I have also driven a chevy "long travel" with 37" tires and 4:88 gears and the 5.3 liter and the truck rips for a stock drive train. Does not drive much differently than my stock regular cab.

What I would like to hear is from someone who has a built sbf ,what they did, how much it cost, how much power, how the truck drives, and would they do it all over again.

Thanks for the input regarding this matter. I've been going crazy.

[ChaseTruck754]

That "deadcell" ups the value of the crew though... The LS may not do the same for a 78+ bronco, or even a 70's F series, but neither have the collector value the early broncos have so that $10k difference you mention is not a normal case by any means.
Plus I don't build my stuff to sell it, so that's never my thought. I'm all about bang for the buck, and like philo I can do my own work & therefore build something for cheaper than most. Sure that's not everybody's case & if you are paying someone to do the work the LS swap may will pencil out differently.

And I got that you were speaking "for you", I was just noting that ME, being a bang for the buck type guy can never seem to wrap my noodle around the blind, brand loyalty I often see on FTE & similar.

[Dust]

the blind, brand loyalty I often see on FTE & similar.

I get that and I have flat out made more money building GM engines over the past nearly 35 years then Ford, but I only own Fords and it has been that way for decades.
The single most common flaw people make with this discussion is not comparing apples to apples. A 'rebuilt LS' is going to cost more then a U-pull-it LS; and you can't easily go pull a 2 year-old low mileage 5.8L so there is no comparison available between the 5.8 and the LS unless both are built to the same basic specifications.
Other then that it is a Ford vs Chevy vs et-al game and there are no winners and some who will get bunched and others laughing...

[Smart Alex]

Facts, Bullet points,
Someone please tell me how bad ass their sbf is. And that everything is worth it and why.
All I'm seeing right now is a pissing contest.

Example, this is why my personal truck works good and needs more h.p. less talk and more burning tires and fuel.

[hobbyturnedobsession]

Look at Seattle fsb's 408 stroker. That motor is a work of art. He has a lot of money in the motor and trans but its smog legal. Iirc it was making some nice looking numbers as well.

[Silverslk]

Maybe Steve can post some of the LS swap links I sent him a year or two ago.... LS in a thunderbird.... Stuff like that shows it's not that hard. That's similar era ford electronics just no 4wd

[robertcrav]

Found this LS into T-Bird Swap http://ls1tech.com/forums/conversions-h ... -swap.html

'94 Mustang 5.3 swap http://ls1tech.com/forums/conversions-h ... -swap.html

[ChaseTruck754]

I was stopped & waiting for people to speak up on the cost & performance of the 5.8L like Mike asked.

Personally the cost was a factor that drove me away. I have LOTS of cool parts for the 5.8L I may use someday, but even with that starting point the LS seemed to be a better bang for the buck.

And while Seattle's motor is impressive, it alone is probably above what my budget for the next project would be.

[Clean Racing INC.]

Maybe Steve can post some of the LS swap links I sent him a year or two ago.... LS in a thunderbird.... Stuff like that shows it's not that hard. That's similar era ford electronics just no 4wd

Didn't you do the swap in the T-bird?? Or maybe it was another Andy..

I agree with a lot of you guys it sacrilege to put a chevy in a ford, but didn't the early hot rodders put dodge hemi's in Fords.. If the cost to build a reliable and powerful ford was not so expensive these swaps would not be even spoken of. Dollar for Dollar the ls swap makes sense if you do the labor yourself. I had the same dilema with my Jeep truck, spend 15K to build a bulletproof AMC 401 with injection or 6K for the complete LS swap. Ive swaped a 6.2 LS2 with 6L90E trans, and built Np241 in with Griffith radiator, all 3" stainless exhaust, Vintage air/Heat combo, and custom engine harness, with the vette tune in the E38 with 450 HP, and 416 LBFT tourque. And its drive by wire with cruise control. Its really a no brainer.

[philofab]

I hope you guys realize that Ford or Chevy would have no problem buying an import engine and installing from the factory. The engine doesn't know what brand it is.

[Rmc]

I hope you guys realize that Ford or Chevy would have no problem buying an import engine and installing from the factory. The engine doesn't know what brand it is.

Wasn't the Taurus sho a Mitsubishi in the 98ish range? Case and point I think.

[Dust]

I hope you guys realize that Ford or Chevy would have no problem buying an import engine and installing from the factory. The engine doesn't know what brand it is.

...heck GM bought Ford transmissions there for a while back in the day and wasn't it Yamaha that built that 4 valve something or other or was it Mercury Marine that did it...

[philofab]

Yamaha engine in the SHO. Mitsubishi transmission in the Ford Ranger. Nissan engine in one of the minivans. Duramax is an Isuzu engine. Suzukis and Isuzus remarked Chevy. GM engines in Jeeps, GM transmissions on AMC engines, Cummins in Nissan trucks. Oh wait, you haven't seen that yet.

[Rmc]

Ya that's right yamaha. I heard it was decent.

[hobbyturnedobsession]

Doesn't ford have ties to Cummins?

[damon1272]

SHO was a Yamaha design Mercury Marine built motor. Love that motor. Factory 7800 red line but that was due to the accessories not being able to hold on. Would turn 10k.

[damon1272]

Ford owns a large part of cummins.