LUVTruck.com

how much have everyone spent for there v8 swaps? like the engine tranny driveshaft and rear end, and mounts. im wanting to keep my rear end and driveshaft cause im just wanting to go with a mild to stock 350. so im just looking at about how much money im going to need to do all of this.
thanks
billy

Well it depends on how much of stuff you can fab yourself, like motor mounts and trani mount. Stuff like that is kinda spendy if you buy it premade trough summitt or somewhere like that. Besides the motor, and trani, and I built my own motor mounts, I guess, well crap, now I don't have a clue ummmmm, crap dude, I guess it just depends on what I have already said, cuz I don't think it will be much if you have the ability to make your own stuff. All I can say is I am under probably $3500 with my truck, and I did alot of my purchasing on ebay, and swappin parts with friends and what not. God luck!!!!!

so if i have about $1200 and i can get someone to fab my mounts is it feaseable? i can probably get an engine and tranny pretty cheap but i think all my acc. are going to run me a sh!t load like rad. all new exhaust getting fuel to it and so on. anybody else have a ball park?

You can get going for a fairly reasonable amount if you want to do the work yourself. Like you said, you can come across an older 350/th350 setup. or a305/700r4 works well too. The 350/350 setup is more common because of parts availability. Speed shops have a generic front mount you can use that is much cheaper than Hooker's. It's made out of round stock, and you trim to fit. You can run stock manifolds instead of headers. I can't remember which engine and year, but the info is easy to find, and they can be had cheaply at a salvage yard. Some guys have started out with a stock radiator. You have to have a stock mild engine, you can't sit in traffic, and you can't run it real hard, but you can go back and forth to work or school, or just cruisin around. If you have not read it, read the engine swap page on this site. There is a lot of excellent info, and you can ask questions about it. You will love it.

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I want to be different like everybody else.

I spent roughly 2000 dollars from the start. I had an advantage though. I was upgrading from a Buick V-6/TH-350 to a Chevy V-8/TH-350. Wrecking yard motor and a rebuilt trans were the first parts. Motor build, motor mounts, headers, water pump, pulleys, intake, carb, accessory brackets, engine covers remote oil filter setup and the like. I already had a driveshaft and shifter, radiator, alternator and the truck needed some mods to fit a bigger motor. Engine hoist rental because i didn't know anyone that i could borrow one from. I sold the Buick setup and recouped 500 dollars.

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Previous setup: 4.1 Buick V-6/TH 350
Current setup: 400 Small Block Chevy V-8/TH 350
9" ford rear end/short bed/blue
What do Water, Electricity and Humans have in common... They all travel the path of least resistance.

yeah im looking about in the same means as blue. junkyard motor or one of my friends and i can find a tranny pretty cheap. ive read bits and pieces of the motor swap article, thing is i want to keep my existing rear end and drive shaft if i can and just do a mild motor so im thinking it could probably be done but i need to gather all my info. can the whole swap be done in 9 days? cause if it cant its out of the question for a while. thats all the vacation i have for a while. thanks for all the info and if anybody else has their 2 cents let me know.

It can be done in 9 days but you'll have to have a good game plan. The big things are welding, driveshaft and dual exhausts. If you need to get a welder, that's time on hold waiting. The driveshaft needs to be made custom to fit. The stock shaft is a smaller diameter than a GM unit and most driveline shops wont work with modifying a stock one. You'll need to have the motor/trans in place to measure the length. It might take days before you get one. A new exhaust system from the headers back might eat up alot of time if you have to schedule an appointment to get it done.

Basicly, these items will be the responsibility of other people. If they drag their feet or they dont do something right, it's time that you can afford to lose. The rest of the conversion is up to you. How fast and how well you plan and build will determine if you can do it in time.

This would make a good "Build or Bust" episode. You got 9 days to do a V-8 conversion and do a burnt out. If you succeed, the truck is yours.

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Previous setup: 4.1 Buick V-6/TH 350
Current setup: 400 Small Block Chevy V-8/TH 350
9" ford rear end/short bed/blue
What do Water, Electricity and Humans have in common... They all travel the path of least resistance.

lol no shit. i would have someone make me a drive shaft (my neighbor) and i would get a buddy of mine to do the exhaust, so im thinking it would take a day for just those 2 alone. as far as the other stuff, making sure the motor and tanny fit properly and such is the thing im really worried about.

I would say go back to the article again. It tells you that a stock six cylinder Camaro driveshaft will fit. $35.00 at a salvage yard if memory serves. Another thing is when you start cutting down a driveshaft, you will need to have it rebalanced. Those little square pieces of metal keep it balanced. If your neighbor is not an expert. I would consider the Camaro option. Plus you get ujoints and everything just slips in. I am still talking budget, and you can replace the ujoints later if necessary. The rear Camaro mount should bolt up, and in essence tells you where to put your front mounts. The article also tells you about water pumps, pulleys, alt ect. Take your time and prepare properly, and get the right parts together first. If you don't have a welder, you can drill and install bolts to welded later, clamps, blocks and whatever it takes to hold it in place. Muffler shops weld exhausts, and maybe you can find a shop that will crank it up a little and weld your mounts too. I don't want to belabor the point of the article that Ben and Derek put together, but it is written in text form and contains a wealth of information.

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I want to be different like everybody else.

Yes, a Camaro driveshaft will work "if" you decide to swap the rear end for one from an S-10. The stock LUV driveline has a 4 bolt flange at the u-joint. So you need the stock flange and u-joint mounted to the new driveshaft to run the stock axle.

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Previous setup: 4.1 Buick V-6/TH 350
Current setup: 400 Small Block Chevy V-8/TH 350
9" ford rear end/short bed/blue
What do Water, Electricity and Humans have in common... They all travel the path of least resistance.

i hear that the automatic luv driveshaft has a yoke that will fit the th350 tranny and is the right length

The only prob. with using the stock driveline, to the stock rear is " you have to have the short shaft trani, or it wont work"! Dennis and I just went through this with his luv.

That is some great information. Don't know how hard it is to find a short shaft. Anybody know if it's possible to replace a long shaft with a short without going in to the tranny? Also is the automatic and standard shift Luv driveshaft the same length?

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I want to be different like everybody else.

hey luvinit what did yall end up doin did you keep the stock drive shaft and tranny or did you go another route?

Dennis was not wanting to use his ford 9in. on this particular v8 luv, but since we came into the trouble of the drive shaft, he's gonna go ahead and use the 9in. rear and driveline he had from his other v8 luv.

I have a drive shaft for the v8 swap with the stock rearend and a long tail 350 trans if anybody is interested

No the stock, man. is not the same as the auto trans driveline. the driveshaft from the auto will work with a short tailshaft th350 (depending on where you mount the motor).

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Resident lurker