Will a Vortec Fit with stock intake?

[AU Doc]

I'm sure this has been covered hundreds of times, but I couldn't find the answer after searching. Will the Vortec series engines fit in a 1969 camaro (with cowl hood) without swapping the intake?

Edit - I should probably clarify what I'm asking. Will the factory intake clear the hood, or is it too high?

[rickpaw]

I saw a swap where the stock truck intake clears the stock hood in a 1st gen F-body (forgot what year), but the oil pan ended up several inches below the cross member. Way too low in my opinion. Most F-body swap I've seen/read change out the truck intake to a car intake.

[AU Doc]

I'm considering a turnkey engine that's already had the ECM flashed. I assume swapping the intake would require another flash, correct? On a Gen IV engine, is an intake swap as simple as that? Does it require changing the accessory drives?

[ClosNova805]

If you are talking about a truck engine you will need idler relocation bracket fbody water pump and spacers trim some of the alternator bracket and it will work exactly how I did mine and kept the truck accessories Ls1/Ls6 intake will work and if you haven't had your harness reworked make sure to tell them its for a ls1 intake injectors plugs are different I used dirty dingo relocation kit and the ecm probably only has a start up tune so am sure you will need to get it tuned again once when you actually get it going for your specific needs.

[AU Doc]

So the LS1 intake would be required? I'm trying to get the engine in the car as cheaply as possible, and then do the upgrades as I go. In particular, if I go with a Gen IV engine, there's going to be a pretty big upgrade down the road to replace the DOD lifters, cam swap, etc. BDTurnkey sells engines that are already tuned, so I'm hoping to be able to drop that in and go while I'm sorting out the rest of the car. Then when I get the upgrade bug I can do cam, lifters, intake, and maybe a power adder.

[rickpaw]

One thing to add is how high the intake sit depends on the type of mounts you use. I'm using DSE mounts and the truck intake/alternator mounts stick up past the fenders.

[AU Doc]

I may have to reconsider my approach. There's not much point in spending more for a turnkey engine that's already been tuned if I just have to swap the intake and have it tuned again.

[rickpaw]

Depending on your budget, you can get a crate LS3 and be done with it. Or search junk yard/craigslist for used Gen 3 long blocks to get you going; then upgrade from there.

[AU Doc]

I think I'm suffering from analysis paralysis. I liked the idea of a low mileage Gen IV engine with the DOD bypassed in the ECU. A 40k mile engine makes me feel a lot better than a 140k mile engine. But I can't justify the extra cost if I'm going to have to immediately swap the intake, injectors, etc. and have to flash it again. At that point I'm up to the cost of a new LS3 crate engine.

Decisions, decisions. I may be back to looking for low miles Gen 3 engines.

[rickpaw]

Remember the gen 3 engines had been out for awhile, and last one came out in 05-06 (I think), so finding a low miles one (under 100k miles) maybe tough. It's comes down to your budget. I bought my 5.3 engine/trans combo with harness from a junk yard for $900, sold the harness on ebay to recoup some of the money. Had it running in my Firebird since 2013. Now I'm planning to do cam/head upgrades later this year.

[AU Doc]

I've been looking for something with less than 130k-140k. The Gen 3 engines (pre-DOD) seemed to be pretty reliable. It looks like they can still be had for $1,500 or so. Even a 6.0l if you're patient. Though patience is not necessary my strong suit :)

[67rally]

If you're willing to do a little work, a number of people have shaved down the vortec intake to make it look half decent, and it should perform as good or better than an ls1 or ls6 intake.

[Build-It-Break-It]

I installed my 5.3 truck motor with the stock" tall" intake and cowl hood.. I used stock subframe at first and it fit no problem with stock accessories minus the ac compressor. I only had to clearance a small section in the hood about the size of a quarter.

I've now switched to a different subframe and it still fits just fine.