So how hard is it to do an LS1 swap
 

Like the title says, realistically how much harder is it/more expensive is it going to be to go that way over a turbo with an engine costing around 3-3500. What other modifications will I need to do (ex. rear diff) Just curious...

Welcome to the forum!

I suggest doing a search to gather more information. This has been discussed a few times on the forum

It's definitely going to be more expensive then a turbo upgrade

Nick C.

Are you an automotive technician? Do you have a shop? How are you with fabricating? Wiring?

To my knowledge there aren't any LS swap kits yet. (dont quote me on that) This means you would be responsible for creating everything. I'm currently working on an S-chassis LS swap and there are drop-in kits/s-chassis to chevy wiring everywhere. Its going to cost me around $3000 for a "junkyard build". With out any wiring/mounts/custom oil pans/drive shafts on the market yet. You are looking at a lot more than that plus custom fab. Get a hold of one of the Techs at a formula drift competition and ask them. They are FULL of knowledge and love talking cars.

If you must have more power just supercharge the FA20. 240 HP with an innovate supercharger for less than $3000 and close to ZERO custom fabrication sounds great to me.

Weapons grade made a swap kit. I think it was runing around 15k$ (don't quote me) just for the kit. No cutting/welding, labor, engine, or trans. I'm not sure about the standalone either.

But a stock LS motor will be both fast and reliable vs blowing up the FA20 with forced induction.

OP Also and I have no idea how easy or hard to swap but you can get a really low miles Coyote (2011+ mustang) engine for under 3 grand if you get it out of a F-150, the only thing to change it back to the mustang motor is the intake cams. There's a slight compression difference but not enough to warranty the price difference.
source: friend is in the middle of trading out his fully built and kenne belle 4.6L for a 5.0 motor in his track car.

With a nice bolt on kit with all the needed accessories (cooling, ac/heater, fuel, wiring/electrical, headers, exh, driveshaft, making steering linkage and abs compatible if needed, ecu, etc) needed ($8k), LS3 crate engine ($6k), brand new tranny that fits perfectly (Magnum XL) with clutch and flywheel ($4k)....$18k for a brand new engine/tranny setup..give or take a few thousand for anything missing or the unexpected that may come up..so round up maybe an extra $2k..giving you $20k for all parts. Labor, do it yourself (which should be pretty easy since it's bolt-on and no welding/fabbing or engine block/tranny rebuilding experience needed)..or have a shop do it for $5k.

So for a proper, super nice and clean, brand new swap...$20k DiY ...or $25k if a shop does it.


Imo, and for the budget conscious, it is def not worth it to do it to a relatively new FRS/BRZ (it would be $28k for the car and $25k for the swap...bringing you to the same cost as a brand new corvette at $53k and other great cars in that range...not to mention, those cars will be made for the LS(or whatever else engine it came with) in terms of stronger chassis, bigger wheels/tires with suspension specifically made for that chassis and powerful engine) ....but totally worth it down the road instead of buying a new car. Maybe do it 5-15 years down the road, when the FA engine gets old, past 100k miles and/or blows up.


.

I'm pretty sure its a direct fit

All you need is a parking spot, a hammer and about 30 minutes...

:bonk:

Base kit $3750, complete kit $8000...add engine and trans. From their website:

Trade it in for a Camaro SS.

http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=10401
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=61862
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=117
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=53534
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=45827

OMG, the OP said LS1, and then you post up 2 threads about LS2...


Now there's gonna be a "How hard is it to do an LS2 Swap" thread

I read on jalopnek that the LQ9 and LS7 are much easier conversion.


Also, on pinterest it says you can use factory ECU

Yeah,I noticed that when scanning the posts but I thought I would throw those in because LS2 > LS1.
LS2/LS>LS1/LS
1x2>1x1
2>1
qed

Finally, someone with some sense.....all that money you can get a way better car with a warranty. You'll be driving it and enjoying it instead of sweating over every weird little noise you hear.

Everyone forgot the part where they sell theyre old motor for 4-5k....im not sure the actual price for a used fa just through those numbers out there.

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Vorshlag is working on a LSx swap kit as well.

More like 400-500. No one in the right mind would buy it for 4-5k lol. You can get a brand new LS3 for a grand more, or you can get some other stronger import engine for a fraction of that.

just going off ebay here, 26k miles and no tranny for 3400

http://m.ebay.com/itm/331237413584?nav=SEARCH

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No reason NOT to buy an aluminum LS3. If you can't afford an LS3...you probably shouldn't be doing a V8 swap.

from someone who spent the last 6 months helping someone do an ls2/t56 swap in an frs, i bought a built fa20 short block and a bigger turbo setup to replace my current setup. there are still issues to be sorted out with the swap. it has not been very fun. even with a stock ls2 i am still way below the cost of the swap

Ah, I see..I stand corrected then. But, I still think it'll be hard and a long time to sell it, as they aren't exactly hot sellers.

Sorry, misunderstood your wording/post..What are you trying to say? ...so you're saying the FA Turbo swap was the one that was more of a headache and not very fun, correct?

sorry. no, the ls2 swap has been a never ending headache trying to get everything to work properly. i originally thought about a swap but i really dont want to deal with the time/money/headache that he has went through for my own car. a bare bones swap, sure, not terrible. still a lot of issues with fitment, cooling, wiring, etc. but doing a swap that still keeps ac, both ecu's, power steering, stock cluster, etc. ill pass

the built fa20 plus turbo kit is less than a two day install plus tuning and its good to go.

So what turbo kit are you using now?

Ahh..I see. That does sound like a pain (especially when not many have done it yet).

What were the problems mostly? Electrical, ecu, chassis wiring, brakes/abs, steering electronics, clutch, gas pedal/throttle position, etc? ..or prolly just a little bit of everything? lol

there are things "in the works". a motor is being built at full blown, and the kit is going to be ordered before the weekend its looking like. i dont trust the stock wrist pin setup. it seems to be a timebomb in my opinion. i dont want to risk loosing a $3k core charge motor because i pushed my luck too long.

going to be a 10:1 build block. full blown kit with a 5858 more than likely. i have went through days of considering upgrading the avo 18g to a 20g, 60-1 wheel, even a gtx2867r if i could make it fit. for the pricing im getting its worth it to just swap and sell my setup at this point. i made 400whp on it, its well maxed out and has done its original job. the car is fast, way fast. but there is always more and with this block id like to be around 475whp on e85. the added lag should help me hook up better. its a struggle now with boost at 3k rpm's. even on hot, 20psi 255 nt05's

I researched this swap extensively and found that the hardest part is telling your parents you're gay. I don't think I could pull that off, so I gave up on the idea.

You are from Pontiac, if you don't have kids by 14... they know you are gay.

A proper ls2 swap done right was quoted at 25k total from Pure Automotive Performance. To me if you want to be different and have that money go for it, otherwise I would just go turbo fa20. It comes down to what you want. I have a built 2jz here at my house I would love to swap but it is going to cost a fortune to do it right and not only that will add 200lbs to the cars weight. Pay to play.

yeah ok...
 

Just add on 1300 lbs...lol...

Do you have any idea how big a difference the same hp in a car 1300 lbs lighter makes???(caveat: if you can put it to the ground)

stock camaro ss 400-420 hp, equivalent to frs with 300 hp.

frs with 400-420 hp, equivalent to camaro ss with 600 hp...

frs with 600 hp, equivalent to camaro ss with 1000+hp.

Jaden

btw... after an ls swap, you can make an frs with 600hp that is carb legal...

yeah...
 

you just keep driving slowly pinche...I mean pche....

Jaden

don't forget also...
 

That you can get a previously stolen and stripped frs for ~5-6000...

That brings total cost to about the same as a new FRS...

Jaden

Link?

keep checking sites like copart.com
 

I did a quick search to try and find the one that I had previously been looking at but didn't, if you search on sites like copart.com, you'll find some.

I'm thinking of getting one and then a wrecked 2014 camaro ss and doing a full drive train swap. I may even cut into the frame and weld in the front clip of the camaro and give it a slightly longer wheel base, like 107". Then build a custom front bumper cover and fenders etc.. build a wide body for it.

This'll be a few years down the road, but like my papaw always said, measure twice, cut once, so I will do as much planning measuring etc in advance.

The mounting points for the rear end on the camaro and frs don't seem to be very far off of each other, fabbing up some bolt on adapter plates shouldn't be too difficult. (I'm talking about the ENTIRE rear end, not just the differential).

add on an e-force and you've got 600 carb legal hp and over 500 torque that the car can actually handle...also, by swapping out the front clip and the full rear end, you've got the camaro's big brakes too...Hell you could even order the carbon ceramics from the z/28 if you REALLY get a wild hair up your ass.

wrecked camaro ss' are going for about 8-9000

Jaden

The stripped cars go for less, but are less common than wrecked cars. and the donor car only needs to have an intact drivetrain, it doesn't need to be salvageable at all...

It would probably be more cost effective to trade the 86 for a Mustang GT then add a Roush, Steeda, Cortex, or Hotchkiss suspension kit to that.

I don't understand why you guys don't seem to understand...
 

Even IF it would be cheaper, it sure as shit WOULDN'T be cheaper to try and shave 1000lbs off a mustang or camaro...

Jaden

Generally, when someone ask a simple question about doing an engine swap, it falls under the heading of "If you got to ask, you probably should not go there".

Engine swaps are hard to do. Much harder to do properly. And the real kicker is that right about the point where you and your wallet want to quit, the real heartbreak starts:sorting the running car is always frustrating.

A safe dollar value for a drivetrain swap that you do the labor on should fall around $15,000. I know, it's shocking when you can probably do a spreadsheet that shows you can do it for $5000. Trust me, been there and learned the hard way on both my projects and other peoples projects.

My hope is that the FRS follows in the footsteps of the Miata when it comes to a good LSx swap kit. They have several to choose from and a strong well-informed community to enable such swaps.

While in a different chassis altogether my rx7 swap cost a lot, but the end result is awesome.

I just kept nickel and diming myself to death.

"I could buy a stock LS6 intake for 450, but a FAST 102 costs 800 and flows better..."
"I could buy a stock ECU and screw with the wiring or I can get a standalone for 1500 more..."

etc etc etc and then the total passes 25k

its not hard at all

1. take car to dealer
2. trade in for vette

there swapped