What late model car would be the best option for an engine swap into a 79 corvette?


car
Justin asked:


I own a 79 corvette and a year ago the engine blew on me. I have moved around so we never had time to work on it but now we are settled here in arizona. Me and my dad are going to place a new engine in it but we thought of going to a U-Pull It service and take an engine from a late model car. We were just wondering of any recommendations for the best engine to use and from what car to get it from?

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This entry was posted on Sunday, June 28th, 2009 at 6:23 pm and is filed under Chevrolet. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

4 Responses to “What late model car would be the best option for an engine swap into a 79 corvette?”

  1. gta_tony Says:
    June 29th, 2009 at 4:29 am

    Any LSx motor..basically a LS1, LS2, LS3 or LS6 from a 98-02 Camaro/Trans am or any ‘vette from 98-present.

    A 6.0L from a GM truck would work too as it’s based off of the LSx motors.

  2. Kris Says:
    July 1st, 2009 at 6:58 pm

    With a 79 I wouldn’t do an LSX motor unless you have a lot of time and money on your hands. An LSX has fuel injection, computers, a vastly complicated wiring harness, engine mounts, and a totally different transmission, driveshaft, the list goes on and on.
    This will be pretty much the same for any late model engine you pull.

    If you have the money for such an ambitious swap go for it, however I would recomend working with a Chevy 350. Bore it out to a 355 and strocker out to a 396. Build up a solid bottom end, camshaft, forged/steel roller rockers/lifters. You now have an engine you can supercharge, or turbo, or both. And it will drop right into the engine mounts the car currently has.

  3. apoorapothecary Says:
    July 1st, 2009 at 8:53 pm

    Well, we’re missing a big bit of information - how much money do you want to spend, and how deep you want to go into a swap.

    A LS series motor would be great - if you have a good chunk of money. At this point, they do have LS - swap kits together that enable the switch-over to be relatively painless, but it still costs a good chunk of money to switch over. The tolerances between the engine/trans are different, the oil pans are different, and there’s a lot of issues with clearances that you have to deal with to best achieve this swap.

    You are likely best set up to do a LT or earlier engine swap onto your ‘vette, since that eliminates most of the trouble and cost. However, my money is on you getting a good 383 setup into your ‘vette. The price is competitive with late model swaps, and you can dress it up in carbureted glory and get horsepower to suit. Look at the aftermarket 383’s - then make your decision on whether you’re still looking to upgrade to late-model tech.

  4. ruben Says:
    July 3rd, 2009 at 12:40 pm

    do a LT1 or an LS1 swap . LS will cost more but in the end it will be worth it.

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