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I used the LOJ swap kit. I had to fab the heater hoses, radiator, hoses, and mount, oil lines, filter relocation kit, etc. But that was the easy part.
I lucked out on the motor. I was looking around and found this listing on Craigslist for A 5.7 aluminum block motor out of a 2000 Trans AM in Asheville. He said he had taken it on trade towards a motor he built for the guy, and it had been setting in his shop for several years. He was originally going to build it and sell it, but he decided to just sell it as it was, and that it seemed to be running good when it came in his shop. So we agree on a price, and I arrange to go pick it up. He gives me the address, I punch it into the GPS, and off I go. When I get there, there is a metal building with a drive on both sides, doesn't look like much. I pull in the drive, and this building goes on forever! Huge place. I look in the first door of about 6 down the side of this place, and there is 4 rows of 6 CNC machines humming away. Hmmmm. That's interesting. So I look up and see the guy, clear at the back of the building waving at me, so I drive back, back my truck up to the door, and walk in. Immediate wood. There are engines sitting everywhere. Engines on stands. Engines on pallets ready to ship. Amazing place, and it gets better. I ask him: "What the hell is this place?" He goes on to tell me that they are a fabricator/supplier for several big name NASCAR teams. The build heads, pistons, valves, valve guides, and all kinds of other shit out of these exotic metals. They also supply for Wiseco, JE, Carrillo, and a few other big name engine parts manufacturers. He walks me all over the shop, shows me the CNC machines carving all kinds of stuff including NASCAR heads from a blank billet, how they measure for tolerances on the stuff they build (all by hand) and the steps to get metal to come out as quality parts. Then he takes me to his domain, the engine shop. There are boxes and boxes of used pistons, cams, forged rods, ARP hardware, fuel rails, valves, you name it, he's got tons of it. He builds engines for several SCCA race teams, and when they rebuild these engines, the teams just leave the old stuff behind, trash it. So after I wipe the drool from my beard I ask him if we can take a look at the motor. So we go over to the corner of the shop to take a look. It looks ok, needs a good cleaning, and looks like the oil pan is leaking. I told him to grab a plug socket so we can pull the plugs and turn the motor over. So we do, and he puts a breaker bar on it, and it won't turn. I grab my flashlight and look in the cylinders, and number 1 and number 5 are full of water. The guy was flabbergasted. He didn't know what to say. He starts apologizing all over himself, and trying to figure out how this happened, cause the motor was running when it came in the shop. I personally think one of their employees probably swapped their blown motor for the one he thought he had, but I digress. So finally he says to me that he is going to rebuild it, and sell it to me for the same price. I asked him what it would cost to go ahead and throw some upgraded parts and hardware in it, and we settled on 4k. He had to bore it .020 over, and the pistons are Mahle forged with GRAFAL coating. They rods are crower forged, all ARP hardware. He mildly ported the heads, added 600 lift beehive springs, hardened push rods, and a 578/574 intake and exhaust valve lift 228° intake and 224° exhaust duration (@ .050 inches) camshaft. Since I first put it in, I have upgraded to 42 lb injectors, and added an LS6 intake. I have not had it on a dyno yet, but I can tune it from my laptop. I would guess it is putting down somewhere in the neighborhood of 430 or so. With a good tune, the guy who built it said it should be good for 450 at the wheels.
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21:14:00 10/30/15
