plus the cost of a 2 inch lift -- if you haven't already done one?

 

Yes. The lift is very highly recommended. After 100,000 miles, most trucks are already due for a suspension upgrade. The LS will physically fit without the lift, but it's tight, especially if you are doing any type of off-roading.

 

Cost of my 2" Terrafirma lift. Bought all parts from Amazon since I get 5% off when using my Amazon credit card. Just made sure that the part numbers matched the ones on British Atlantic's site.

• Springs
  Springs
  - $254.10
• Shocks
  Shocks
  - $223
• Front shock towers
  Front shock towers
  (not necessary) - $189.09
• Front spring isolators
  Front spring isolators
  (not necessary) - $40
• M8 x 1.25mm nuts
  M8 x 1.25mm nuts
  for isolators (not necessary) - $6.11
• Terrafirma steering damper
  Terrafirma steering damper
  (not necessary) - $62
• Strut spring compressors
  Strut spring compressors
  (not necessary) - $27.49

Total - $801.79 (does not include the 5% off with the credit card I used)
If I only bought the essentials - $477.10 (does not include the 5% discount)

 

It sounds like some of you are very unfamiliar with the LSx platform and engine swaps in general. The Conversions and Hybrids subforum on LS1Tech is the best place to get educated.

There's lots of information there along with plenty of build threads and knowledgeable members.

 

So I know I ventured into the D2 section, but other than the different torque converter size and t-case, would there be a possibility of this working on an 00" P38?

 

You may run into a few issues here and there but I would bet it would be manageable.

 

For the Bosch P38, the conversion should be fairly similar. The transmission adapters will work. I would also think the accessory drive would probably work as long as everything fit. The motor mounts would probably need to be altered. The electrical should work the same as the D2 on the Bosch setup. On a GEMS P38, the electrical would need to be different. I imagine that it would be fairly similar still though (more simple I would assume).

After we get the D2 kits going well, we will take another look at the P38, and then the D1 and RRC. Main issue is that around here it seems like all the P38s are so far gone that few would be worth doing this conversion on.

 

Some you guys looking to do the swap might get lucky like me and get a lm7 engine, harness, ecu, accessory drive and all the sensors from a running truck for $900. Then you can either rewire the harness yourself like i did or send it out to get re wired to save some money. You can also send the ecu to get flashed. I flashed the ecu myself.

 

For those of you interested in doing a cam swap into your 5.3L... here is a great article that compares the stock LM7 cam against all other stock cams from other versions of the LS engine. From what I understood a cam swap will only help improve HP and torque gains in the higher RPMs. They also test some aftermarket cams from Crane Cam.

https://www.hotrod.com/articles/ls-cam-test-comparison/

 

Just a note: for this application, you really want the gains to be down low, where it is usable, which is why a truck cam would be better (particularly like a truck cam from CamMotion, or the like). With this setup, the transmission will still shift around 5,000 to 5,500 at full throttle, so getting more HP and torque at high RPM is not going to be particularly helpful.