Plus engine, plus transmission, plus clutch, plus engine management/dyno tune, plus all the little bits here and there (radiator, hoses, belts, fluids, etc.) that add up but nobody thinks about at first (hell I know I didn't).

Not to mention any supporting mods. Hell, the engine's out of the car, might as well slap on a few things while it's super easy. Cam, maybe heads, maybe underdrive pulleys, etc....

Oh and at least a custom mid-pipe, possibly full exhaust, since the headers definitely won't mate up directly (nor should they). High-flow cats are a good 500-600 bucks or so for quality pieces.

It all adds up.

 

With the vortech you're still lowering your reliability of your motor. Granted there have been stock block vortech builds that lasted a long time, but are you willing to take that chance?? Or would you rather have the N/A reliability of a V8 motor that you can beat the pi$$ out of and not worry about anything??

 

Bingo! The initial hard goods are only about 75-80% the overall cost.

 

of course i want the V8 however MONEY wise not the best investment. used vortech plus install and safe tune would b around idk 5-6k.

 

Thanks for dumbing it down for the slow ones.

 

Agree 100% - (We all know which route I took)

 

also because the swap is so new, were going to be seeing alot more realistic budget builds like the 240sx guys are doing. this along with some creative ingenuity that ive seen from the swap crowds should yield some pretty impressive results, and i believe can realistically be right around 9-10k turnkey by the average diy'er. the reason why so many of our swaps cost alot is because were goin big or goin home. quamen developed his own kit, top notch and costly to say the least. his work is flawless!! (leg humping you ryan lol) and has been a great help along the way. but also guys like snyper who diy'd his entire setup (very impressed to say the least), and yourself (havok) have all taken quite a plunge in the aftermarket parts department. but were also not the kind of guys to leave anything stock. sooner or later were gonna find guys that want a easy swap, reliable 350-400+rwhp and limiting themselves to xxx amount.

 

Sorry misunderstood his statement. I thought he was just talking about the swap kit and headers..

I know what is involved in the swap...... trust me

 

After losing my 5th fully built VQ I'm on this bandwagon. Waiting on an email back from Sikky on the required hardware. Wondering if someone has a solid list of all the ancillary parts that are needed to make this work.

Fuel system - check
Stand Alone ECU - check
Radiator - ???

I may be one of those funding a swap with sold off F/I components.

 

^^ GL.

 

cass, what standalone are you running? the gm ecu can handle a ton of power, and even compensates for boost. so it might be worth your while to sell it and run the oem ls ecu (the true t56 ls1 ecu has a blue port and a red port-should be on the actual ecu). also, if your doing a built setup i can help you out. im running a 00 ws6 ecu and a 2001 ws6 harness. 98 ls1 harness and ecu is the only harness/ecu combo that is different from the rest so stay away from those is my recommendation. also if you go ls2, the e40 ecu from the gto only reads max 60lb injectors, in which case youd have to change values in other maps to run a higher injector (snyper had done this with his setup-hes also running hp tuners as i am).

if your doing a new built block, and need to break it in, i have a set of stock injectors, and maf that i can give ya for no charge after im done breaking in my motor and go speed density. also, if you plan on going f/i run a 2-3 bar map sensor, i hear the cobal ss is a direct plug n play.

the sikky swap is complete, the only other sikky accessories youd need is there power steering line kit, and clutch slave kit, and fab your own intake/exhaust after the headers. there wiring solution combines your oem nissan engine harness, the ls engine harness, and your oem nissan accessory harness (the one on the passenger side. the only thing they do not have a solution to is the tach, but speedhut makes a setup that quamen, and snyper have fit in there oem cluster. it sits over the factory tach, so theres no cutting of that, it just requires trimming of the plastics on the inside.

any other questions feel free to ask!! btw cass where you located? also in regards to your radiator question, im running a koyo rad with the flexible mishimoto universal hoses and stock fans.

 

I'm sorry that you lost your fully built VQ. It was all of your troubles that caused me not to do a built TT setup. I hope that you can get a bada$$ LS2 setup going and enjoying your car to the fullest!! I know you do things big and I think your LS swap will be a pretty bada$$ one!! Can't wait to see what you do!!

 

bbs - most of your first paragraph went over my head... I need to familiarize with the terminology of the components.

I may start by just doing a swap to get it up and running and can always pull it out in the winter to add/change components like heads or cam. The wallet is a bit thin after motor number 5 and everything that goes into getting a new setup sorted out. Until the car runs for a year straight it gets no love.

I have a ViPEC EMS full stand alone. My tuner says it will run any LS no issues. Where did you guys go to source your new engines? I am located in southern PA, probably 45-60 minutes from SIKKY.

I have a Mishimoto radiator with factory fans. I was hoping to get setup for somewhere around ~480-500whp or something that roughly feels like 12lbs of boost. I'm going to have a ton of questions and expect to do most of the work myself, certainly pulling the VQ and installing the LS looks simple enough.

 

Bbs- did you splice together the ls1 and z harness?
Is the 98 harness more difficult to splice together? I'm actually using the 98harness/ecu on my swap.

 

yea the install is extremely simple, same as a vq, except that the driver side header has to go on after the motor is in. and youd be surprised how cheap and plentiful the ls stuff is!

should you do a built shortblock, i can toss you all of the stock stuff ill no longer need, at least to just get it running like stock to ensure theres no wiring problems, etc. also, i got my built motor on ls1tech.com from a guy who had it built at GCRE (my friend knows the owner of gcre so i took his word on there awesome work). to show you how much cheaper parts are, i picked up the motor for $3500 shipped complete with 0 miles, built head, and a custom grind cam. had arp everything, and some pretty reputable ls parts (comp cams, etc), which is cheaper than youd find any vq built to the same extent. the knowledge and possibilities of the ls series is awesome.

im sending mine to sikky because i hate wiring and ran out of patience with this car, and for $550 its an appetizing price. as far as the 98 setup, i just read that its harder to tune/setup, and that the groundpoints are different, and 98 everything has to stay 98, no interchanging with 99+harness or ecu. but i think because you have a complete 98 setup (harness/ecu) you should be fine. i think its just that the guys that have problems are trying to put 98 harness w/ a 99 ecu and vice versa, and the different ground points get annoying.

 

As a guy said previously about getting a vortec. I was going to go that route but if sell your stock vq motor and trans thats brings the cost down on your part. If you have alot of vq bolt ons like i do you can get the mount kit or close to that amount. My plan is drive my vq till after i purchase everything but mount kit then sell all VQ parts& get mount kit so your cars not down for an extended pd of time. A vortec in my op will never be as fun as the v8 (torque= fun)

V8 will be worth the wait

 

Lets talk transmissions for a second. What are the guys that are already building using? All the codes are like learning a foreign language. I've been lurking on the LS forum, but complete motors are hard to come by and finding a built package seems even harder as I have no knowledge of what components I am looking for

Also, if I want to keep a manual trans, do I keep my pedal assembly and just change clutch lines?

 

Cass guys that want to keep a manual just buy an LS1 or 2/T56 combo. Most people try to get the full pedal assembly to keep the drive by wire throttle body on the LS2. You could also convert your LS2 to drive by cable as well. For some LS1's they were cable driven which requires a modification of either your pedal assembly or use a GM pedal and cable assembly. For ease of installation if I were you I would just buy a GTO LS2 drop out complete with pedal assembly, accessories, and computer, and harness. You can't go wrong from there.

 

Just send a text to my tuner to see if the ViPEC can control the drive by wire function on the LS, it does it on my VQ (only vipec and motec will do this). Also asked him if this would allow the use of my stock tach as well.

Thanks for the advice on the motor and trans... that is what I need... spoon feed me like a noob

Wow... he got back to me while I was typing this. The Vipec will control the drive by wire on the LS. The tach signal not yet, getting clarification if it is in the works and checking on the pedal assembly swap too.

 

I can keep the 350 pedal and clutch assembly, ViPEC just made canbus available for the 350, but it doesn't have the math formulas added yet so that it interputs the engine signal and moves the tach the correct amount. Updates are frequent, so this may be available in the near future.

I was suprised to find out that I could still use many of the features it provides like launch control and flat shift as well as having two or three different maps, one for pump, 100 oct and c16.... very interesting.