LS3 Swap / Upgrade

[RobertCarrington]

Hey guys,



I have decided to do a pretty large upgrade to my 1972 Pontiac LeMans (Yes, I know not a high value car. It has a lot of sentimental value.) I want to turn it into a daily driver (20+miles/day) and an occasional trip of 50+ miles and mountain getaways. I want to put an ls3 in. Is it easier to just buy a complete ls3 from a company such as TSP or should i look elsewhere? I don't have a lot of time to mess around with piecing or rebuilding. Just looking for a mild engine maybe around 480+ HP, but when a tuner pulls up next to me and starts revving his lawnmower, I want to be able to turn the hazards on down the road.

Because I want to do the swap, I want to upgrade to disc brakes and upgrade the suspension. What do you guys recommend for this? Anything else I should upgrade? Not going to be track car or racer.

Any tips or advice is much appreciated! Thanks!

[Nicks67GTO]

Find a good deal on the GMPP LS3 480hp deal and buy it. Its probably the best LS deal on the planet. I saw Schwartz Performance advertising they will beat internet prices on some of this stuff so call them and talk. The chassis is your decision and I think you'll be happy with just about anything anyone vendor this board offers. There's no shortage of options for chassis or brakes for second gen A body cars.

You could also take a quick look around the forum and check the different sections or use the search function. There is a lot of info about this stuff on here. There's a disc brake section, suspension section etc. This place is great for handling and braking stuff. For the most advice on LS swaps I would probably head over to LS1tech.com. That seems to be the motherload for LS swap info.

[srh3trinity]

I have pieced and rebuilt my ls3 stroker and I will likely save 1k-1500 in the end but I invested a lot of time chasing around this and that. Granted, I will have a stroker, but those gmpp ls3's are hard to beat.

[Schwartz Performance]

Welcome Robert,

We can provide pretty much everything you're looking for. Your wheel size and budget will determine the brake system to go with. A basic Wilwood kit is around $700+ or you can do a swap to convert to C5/6 brakes.
For suspension, again depends on your budget & what you want out of the car. If you happen to come up to a curve, do you want the ricer to catch up to you and just pull on him in the straightaways? Or do you want to out-handle it?
I usually recommend ridetech suspension & coilovers, they have some great bolt-on solutions. Or if the budget allows, our complete chassis systems.
There are also other minor upgrades you can do to help the suspension out.

Familiarize yourself with the forums and look through all the thread categories. There have likely been many of your questions answered, and there's a lot to learn.

Feel free to PM me for a parts quote, or email [email protected]


-Dale

[RobertCarrington]

Thanks for your input guys. I will do some more research including giving Schwartz a call.

Thanks again!