Whats your impression of a 5.3L LS motor in these trucks?

[Cole Trickle]

Originally Posted by CC69Rat

Just some numbers to consider:

Daily Driver (using my own)
@ 450miles per week 15mpg I burn 30 gallons. At $5 gl = $150 per week
Same numbers - 25mpg I burn 18 Gallons = $90 week.

I don't drive my trucks every day. Most of us don't if I had to guess.

$240 mo - it would take me about two years to offset the cost of gas @$5000 for my LS swap (done how I would do it). That's a daily driver. No way I drive either one of my trucks 450 miles a week. .. so the time for ROI would be at least 4 years.

$240/mo would pay a monthly payment on a Hyundai, and I get 30+ mpg.

I personally (no disrespect) think the LS swaps are just a craze. The coolness factor, and all the cool kids are doing it. If the 'old school' stuff was going away it would have already gone. Just my opinion. Watch Pass time? How many LS motors do you see. How many big blocks? You want Raw power? How many Top Fuel LS motors have you seen? The Big Blocks still have everything they always had IMO. I'm not about to crush my Big Block just so I can have a 5.3L in my truck. .. just sayin. And it looks like Ole Greenie is still pretty proud of his LS6 @$7500. I would be too.

There's still something to be said about a cleanly detailed carbed motor. I like the LS stuff too, but I just can't justify the cost of the swap or putting an engine in my truck that I haven't gone through myself. I just know more about the old stuff. .. cause I'm old I guess. I have a wife, a mortgage, and a 50hr week job.. My old 350 3OTT will do for now. I can't return $5,000 in the value added to the truck.

If it were a daily I might feel differently but I may put 100 miles a week on my GMC. the rest of the time I ride with my wife, to / from work .. in our Honda CRV.

I'm good with mine as they are for now. $10 a gallon, .. what can we do about it? Crush all the old stuff and sell it for scrap? Why not just buy a new Silverado? Where will they be 43yrs from now? Just my take on it.

I wouldn't say there a craze.....

There the evolution of the SBC. If you think part for part a standard off the shelf sbc will compete with a newer improved more efficent lsx your kidding your self. There are plenty of 5.3 and 6.0 motors out there on the cheap so that what will find its way into our engine bays.

I love the simplicity of my carbed sbc in amy old pick up truck. On the flip side I wouldn't want one in a pro touring big dollar build. I would do a blown ls2/3 or perhaps a LS9 if the budget allowed it in a heart beat.

If your not daily driving it (my sbc with the 4 speed and 3:08 gears actually pulls good mpg) and you have a good running sbc why spend 3-5K for a swap when you can easily get 300 to the wheels with heads and cam for less than $2000.

When the world comes to an end I don't want electronics on my machines...lol