My buddy's junkyard LS swap changed how I think about 'proper' builds

I was over at Mike's garage last weekend, and he's dropping a 5.3L LS from a 2003 Silverado into his old S10. He spent like $450 total for the engine and a junkyard harness. Everyone online says you gotta use a standalone ECU or it'll run like crap, but he's just running it on the stock computer with a $20 pinout diagram from a forum. I always thought I needed to spend big on engine management, but watching his fire up after two afternoons of work... maybe the forums are overthinking this.

2 comments

2 Comments

davidh889d ago

Man, that "forums are overthinking this" hit home. I did a junkyard 4.8 into a old Chevy van a few years back, same deal. I spent maybe $500 total including a $40 fuse box from a crashed Tahoe. Everyone told me I needed a $700 Holley system or it'd never idle right. Total BS. I used the stock ECU, pinned it out with a diagram I printed at work, and it fired up first try. I even kept the AC compressor from the donor truck and it blows ice cold. These swaps are way simpler than people make them out to be.

diana_moore759d ago

Totally agree man. I did the same thing with a junkyard 5.3 in my garage, used the factory harness and a $20 OBD2 scanner to clear codes. Everyone was telling me to buy a Terminator kit. Wasted maybe a whole afternoon just matching wire colors. Fired right up and been running strong for two years now. The AC thing is huge too, I kept the stock compressor and it freezes me out. People just love to complicate shit for no reason.