Diesel engine swap

[hatzie]

Originally Posted by DieselSJ

DynamicEFI make the stock ECU laptop tunable with WB O2 support. A set of stock L29 heads, 214 degree cam, intake and my torque is over 500, and I'm over 450 as low as 2000rpm. 6.0 can't touch that for towing. I have way less into this combination than a LS swap.

Donor vehicle cost differs depending on the area of the country. You're generalizing vehicle conditions in your area to the entire country the same way you desert folks assume that water is surely a scarce commodity everywhere. Not all of us live in the desert. I can dig a twenty five foot deep hole in the meadow behind my house and I'll have a well with drinking water that doesn't run dry.

A twenty year old GMT800 truck is plenty serviceable in the rust and salt free Southwest so they are in daily service and command a price based on the fact that they are a serviceable vehicle for daily use.
However... here in the salt belt they're rusting out and entering the salvage market in increasing numbers. They are great cheap LS engine donors.

The CK, RV, & GMT400 trucks with 454 engines in the salt belt rusted out and were removed from daily use long enough ago that the remaining available rigs and parts now demand a premium price in comparison to the newer GMT800 and even GMT900 rust buckets that are being retired.