AD/TF truck engine choice

[8man]

I tried the search engine on this topic and found "internet overload". Lots of information, but hard to sort it down for my simple mind to grasp. So this is where I am.

I have a 54 with a S10 frame. Starting the cab work soon, but have been thinking about choices of motors, because I know as soon as I have the cab repairs ready I need to place everything on the frame for placement of the cab/bed/drivetrain. There are some great write ups on that, thank you all.

I just put an '05 5.3 with a 4L60E out of an Avalanche in a '79 Jeep Cherokee Chief. It was easy enough with a reprogrammed ECM and the correct harness. It is drive by wire (easy to make cruise work) and has good power for the Jeep. It also gave me plenty of room for the electric fan in this application. I can even change the belt with the radiator and fan installed.

So I'm looking at the 4.3, 5.3, 5.7, carb, ECM, etc. I guess all options.

I'm building a driver, not a race truck. It won't be driven every day, but will be driven. Probably on a few highway trips of a few hours each way. I want it to have good acceleration for the Interstate driving it will undoubtedly do, and be reliable.

Also a consideration is which one fits on the S10 chassis and under the 54 skin the best/easiest? I'm guessing the 4.3, but again, I'm not sure it meets the other criterion for the truck. If it is a matter of placing the body/bed up or down a little more depending on which one I go with, that seems easy enough and that alone would not make a decision.

For the Cherokee I chose a truck engine (weight of the Chief is about that of the Avalanche). The 54 won't be as heavy, but I want similar driving capabilities.

Any thoughts on how you decided your choice or how you would decide which power train to go with?

[Dan in Pasadena]

Originally Posted by 8man

...Any thoughts on how you decided your choice or how you would decide which power train to go with?

Any of those engines will give you plenty of power though obviously the 4.3 V6 will have a lot less than a new LS engine. You need to decide what you wnt short term and what may change about use of the truck longer term.

My '55.2 had a 283 w/fuelie heads - "camel hump" heads, headers & an Edelbrock dual plane intake w/Holley carb. BUT it had one very weak cylinder and a full rebuild done properly is more expensive than buying a crate 350.

When I went to have my IFS, "Mike" asked about my engine and he said if I were going to buy a factory crate engine I could go with an LS since (in his experience) they make a ton of power, are very economical AND he'd not seen one worn out - and he's opened them up with up to 180,000 miles on them.

I was deciding between a 4.8 & 5.3. He said I'd be very satisfied BUT that they wouldn't have "follow-on" power. Of course I asked, "What's follow-on power?" He said in a year or two I'd be back saying it would be perfect if it just had a little more power! He's had a dozen customers come back with the same comment and that making additional power on a 4.8 or 5.3 would be quite a bit more expensive than if I just went with a 6.0 truck motor to begin with. I chose the LQ4 with a 4l85e out of an Isuzu N series truck that was totaled @ 81,000 miles. My truck is not complete yet and I ended up w/a little more aggressive cam so it will probably have waay more power than I ever intended.

[mr48chev]

Dan hit on something I never gave much thought to but I have actually been there. My 250 was great when I put it in and we went all over the place with it to a lot of events. It got 20 mpg and ran right down the highway until you came to long grades going over the pass and ended up racing micro buses full of strange characters as most everything else was passing you. There are times that more power is just nice to have and those newer LS engines pull better mileage than my six did.

[mongocanfly]

only one choice for me....LS.....

[dsraven]

I am ls as well. except my frame swap is an inline 6....fuel injected....easy starting.....etc

[8man]

Thank you all.

I will look for the 6.0. I was thinking the 5.3 again, but the "add on" horsepower if we want it later makes sense.

[dsraven]

if you want add on later then 6.0. it will be harder on gas for sure if you plan on a daily driver. a 5.3 may be less money to buy and easier to find. they also put out some nice hp with a turbo kit later.......if you wanna.
or buy the cheap 5.3 and run it till you want more power, then sell it as a complete unit and grab a 6.0 at that time. the mounts, exhasust etc will be the same because they are both LS engines.
or just buy the 6.0 and be done

[Dan in Pasadena]

The guy who put in my 6.0 only uses the truck engines - which are cast iron blocs as they are dramatically cheaper and provide the same power as the aluminum block with only a relatively asoll amount of additional weight.

On his Corvette with 6.0 he has driven to Speedweek in Utah from SoCal and gotten 23-25mpg - and he keep his foot in it pretty good. I can only hope I get over 20mpg when mine's up and running.