LS motors - Where to buy??
 

So I know that we had a vendor on here that used to sell used package deals LS motors (I won't mention the name), and I guess they don't want to be a sponsor anymore, so no more ads here.

My question is, does anyone know who has similar deals? I would rather support a vendor who participates in one of our car forums. Lat-g would be great, but I would be open to those advertising on other forums.

For those following my build, I'm not going to the darkside :lol: I'm staying with Poncho power on mine. I'm looking for my little brother, he's about to pick up a Nova and wants to go with LS power and a 6-speed swap.

Thanks

The guy with garage full of LS motors? Make sure it comes with papers:peepwall:

:G-Dub: :G-Dub:

I've had very good luck with Cleveland pick-a-part.They also came with copy of the title and vin# of the vehicle from where they were pulled.And 24 month warr.Hendrick Chevy in KC also has very good pricing on new crate engine's.Rodger from Ironworks has a dealer in LV,Nv. who has good deals.

I checked out Cleveland Pick-a Part's website and that thing is just a mess. I know they used to advertise here and had some decent deals, now it all seems to be e-bay. Guess I'll just keep an eye out for what pops up. There's no rush on this one, just trying to find the best all in one solution.

You can try you local junk yard. Just pick up the phone directory and make the call. Not everything is listed online. Here is the listing of the Junk Yard/Savage yards in Reno NV.

http://www.yellowpages.com/reno-nv/auto-salvage-yards

Jeff

Call/PM Travis Daytonayellaz

sure wish he was a sponsor here so we could promote him more.

Go to Ebaymotors and check LKQ large recycle company.deal with on a daily basis.They always have good deals. I just p/u a 5.3 w/4L60E,complete w/62K miles for $1600.00 delivered.

I've dealt with most of the local junkyards here and they are extremely overpriced on anything I ever need. It's not so much the motor, it's all the attachments (wiring, computer, accessories, etc...) that they get you on.

Thanks for all the suggestions so far, I will check them out and see what's available.

Not sure if you have any interest in buying a full and complete running car and parting it out. I have a 1999 Firebird Trans Am with a mild LS1 and t56, smogs excellent, currently registered etc. I bought the car withe the intentions of swapping everything into my 67 Bird, but as I am already building a 68 vert for my wife witha LS swap and M6 I am holding off.

Car runs excellent and is registered. Per the previous owner heads were rebuilt previously and lightly ported (I have not checked). The car runs flawlessly, shifts perfect, and just smogged.

I am looking for $6400 for the car. Even if you are not interested in my car, I recommend trying to find a complete running car so you can test drive the engine and powertrain unless you are getting something with a great warranty from a shop.

On my wife's vert I bought a complete camaro and parted out the car; parting the car out you will make back between $3-4K without much effort, and recoup the investment. Your brother will be able to use several parts as I did i.e front and rear 13" brakes, harness, radiator, leather seats, etc for his Nova also saving more on that front.

If interested, let me know, my car is in the East Bay area.

Gui

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...ps8f90db96.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...ps95861b3a.jpg

Thanks, I actually suggested the same thing. It's probably a little too soon though and farther than I want to go to pick something up, but thanks.

No problem, and that would be my suggestion, get a running car and part the rest out. On my vert bird I was able to net a free engine and tranny, disc brakes etc in the end after parting the car out. I am seeing complete LS1 cars in the $3-4K range (some may need paint or body parts etc), but who cares, you will part out anyway :)

Good luck and cool bird!!

Gui

Give us a call I have a really good guy that I get engines from and have used them in all kinds of cars with no issues. just depends on what you are looking for at the time and what he has.

Appreciate that, Thanks!

So you pay full price in a local junkyard? They expect you to barter with them. Have you priced the shipping costs for an engine lately? An engine weighs 500lbs, and Cleveland Pick a part is in Ohio. 2200 miles away. So, even if they had an engine, you will be sticker shocked at the shipping costs. I recently sold a subframe that had to be delivered to the buyer, because most refused to pay shipping costs. The Rotisserie (Weight was 460lbs) that I sold was picked up by the buyer, but people were shocked at the costs for me to ship these items.

As for the wiring and accessories, then I would suggest getting a harness from Speartech or Ironworks. Ironworks is nice because of the canon plugs. Every engine that I replaced, I tend to buy new accessories.

Jeff

Thanks, I'll probably give them a call at some point. I understand about the shipping, but I've ordered and shipped other heavy/large items (including a motor) and it's still been a better deal. Some of these places think they're selling gold plated parts. The last time I checked for a used T-56 it was in the $2000 range for a 98-2000 F-body unit.

Ahh, but you're not taking into consideration the discounts companies get when they do large volumes with shippers. I can ship a 500lb pallet across country for less than $200. Now whether the company chooses to pass those savings along on to you is another matter...

Do you want me to quote you the price that DSE charged for a subframe that weighed around 375lbs in 2007, that was when diesel was cheaper. Distance was less 435 miles. The price was higher because the skid size, but not based on the weight. I was ready to pick it up, but it wouldn't fit in the back of pickup truck. DSE shipped via Conway, and there was no broken skids like the other vendors that I bought things in the past. You can ship things cheaper, but your customer will pay the price on the other end. Typically, when I sell something then I don't want any complaints on damaged parts.

But we're talking about an engine and tranmission; which when seperated can be stacked on top of each other and the footprint will be smaller than a standard sized pallet.

You are right about shipping something as sizeable as a subframe though. When you get higher in the rate classes, the charges go up exponentially.

I had an engine shipped in 1996 from a company that was about 420 miles away from me. The engine was just installed on skid, but not crated. He used shrink wrap around the engine. The company is still in business now, but charges a fee for crate and handling. I paid $300 for shipping then, and diesel was only $1.18 a gallon. http://www.cga.ct.gov/2006/rpt/2006-r-0556.htm. Just hard to believe that you had a pallet shipped for $200 cross country at today's diesel prices?

I also have a Bowler 4L80-E transmission, which was shipped to me. I have to look up the cost for shipping, but the transmission was on a pallet. Bowler puts a box around the pallet, so you can't stack another transmission on top.

Jeff

I have shipped a load of items via forwardair go to forwardair.com really hard to beat. You cna also check with uship.com and let shippers\carriers vid for you. You can strap an engine and paletize and should not be too much.

Ok, so it's really $220; thats a 500lb pallet from CA to SC.

As to the OP, I second the suggestions of checking out www.car-parts.com and LKQ Recycler.

Thanks again for all the advice. We picked up a donor car for the stuff. It really seemed like the best way to get everything he needs for the swap. It's a 98 Z28 in perfect working order with a little over 115,000 on the clock.

Very cool! Parts the car up, and depending how much you picked it up for you may have a free powertrain. Keep in mind the 97 (on vettes) and 98 is an interesting year, so harness and comps are very different from the other years.

How much did you guys pick her up for?

Gave the guy 6 for it. I was planning on keeping the computer and harness as intact as possible and bringing it all into the Nova. What makes it different? Anything I need to worry about for the swap?

Pretty good deal. I would check on it for more details, but I know the 98 uses a 1 year only harness and comp, so as long as you will modify or the person modifying is doing it correctly shoudl be a non issue.

Option 2, my buddy Mac did a full on swap of the harness and comp as is on his Bird, all sensors etc active, including ABS (his future project), VATS, car alarm and door opener, etc. $4-500 savings vs modifying your comp\harness ;)

have fun with the part out and let the madness begin :)

I was thinking about going the option 2 route. The VATS is the simpler kind, I can bypass that pretty easily. I'm going to have my brother carefully remove everything, label, and take plenty of pictures. The more he can re-use, the better off I think he'll be. We'll see when it gets time to do it.

sounds good, you can probably utilize other items too, big brakes, booster\etc, radiator and fans, on and on. I wish I had kept the steering ram :)

I think he's going to keep the rear brakes and go with C5 up front (he wants the slightly larger rotor). Radiator and fans are also going to be transferred over. What do you mean by steering ram? Rack and pinion setup?

yep rack and steering components. I believe someone here setup a 4th gen on his 68 Camaro I will try finding that write-up but very cleanly done and opens up a lot more options as far as exhaust and headers (no ps box on the frame on the way)

I would love to see how they did that, please forward me the link if you find it.
Thanks!