[BigRed76]

Originally Posted by lowrollin70gmc

We're not trying to scare him, heck I want there to be more old trucks with oil shakers under the hood. But it is a large undertaking financially and time wise. If I added up my costs for just my engine and transmission you're looking at $4000

$2000 donor truck
$800 clutch
$200 hydro clutch stuff
$200 intercooler
$300 radiator
$100 steel tube and plate
$200 misc gaskets and fasteners
$150 drive shaft
$50 misc welding supplies, necessary tools
___________
$4000

And a month of leave doing the majority of the swap with a few weeks of odds and ends thereafter.


That's with a super cheap donor truck that I drove for a year and actually pulled my burb from SoCal to SoDak before I yanked the 6BTA out of it.

It also didn't include transmission options, I went with a 6 speed, but keeping the 5 speed would have cost some coin as well.

$2000 NV5600 or $1000 to rebuild Getrag 360 5 spd
$200 NP205 rebuild

And I haven't mentioned the coin spent on axles or improvements to the engine.

Now for comparison to drop a small block in.

$500 used engine
$500 used transmission
$100 bolts, gaskets, misc
________
$1100 and most of it recoverable if you pull it out later to toss in a diesel.

A decent weekend or two.

Go for it, but have a plan and parts on hand before starting; there are a lot of trucks that get torn apart to never be finished due to poor planning and short funds.

Never been a big fan of diesels, although I've been learning and working on them a lot more lately; but from the rough estimate you came up with doesn't seem too bad compared to most LSx swaps I've seen. I've been working on a 5.3/4L60E swap for my '71 c10 and my total will be near 6K when it's finished, and that's with a stock engine.