A very good friend of mine is offering me a new (less than 20 miles) LS7 engine. It's the engine that comes with the new 2007 Z06 vette. I think it's rated at 500 HP. Everything is included....just pop the old one out an drop in the new one with all the lines/hoses/cables/wires included. He'll even transfer my performance chip over to the new engine. The asking price is $14,000...he'll have one of his guys install it for me at a significantly reduced price. I wonder if I should go for it....what do you guys say?

 

If you have 14k to spend... why the hell not?

 

Believe me if I had the cash I would have already done it. If you have the extra funds available to do it I definitely say go for it. Not only is it one hell of an engine, but how many C5's can say they have a LS7 in them. Talk about a conversation piece.

 

But what about the price guys? Does it sound like a good deal? Is it a good idea to change engines like that? Besides, I just spent some serious $$ on a new paint job......I don't know guys........

 

$14,000, heck is that all.
go for it.
Of course on the other hand, why not just invest in 1 bad *** supercharger for yours.

 

Well I just did a little research for ya and you can buy that engine brand new from GM Parts Direct for $12,494.99 which includes the following items:

intake manifold with injectors
fuel rails
throttle body
dry sump oil pan
exhaust manifolds
flywheel & clutch
harmonic dampener
water pump and pulley
coil packs
spark plugs and wires
engine sensors

LS7 crate engine does not include:

injector wiring harness
dry sump oil lines
dry sump tank
engine beauty cover
engine processor
air filter/air box
accessories or accessory drive

So if the one your buddy has includes everything then it sounds like a good deal, because I think it might cost you a little more that $1500 to buy the rest of the things needed when buying the engine new.

 

What about your clutch, presure plate, transmisson, and rear end. Isn't the Z06 (C5 and C6) beefed up in those areas?

 

Yeah I didn't even think about that, I sure you would have to upgrade that transmission. I'm starting to think you might be better off just using that $14K to mod you existing LS1 or replace it with a 402 stroker and a supercharger or turbocharger. You gotta realize $14K spent the right way can have you producing more power that a stock C6 Z06.

 

Ooooh, Pece,
After reading the last few posts by Pay2Play, it sounds like there are a whole lot of things that could go wrong.
Besides, $14K is a bunch of money and I think buying the "bad-a$$ supercharger" as someone suggested makes more sense. Just IMO

Take care, stay safe.
Rita

 

If the price includes labor and some sort of warranty that the work is done right (and the engine has a warranty, even if only 90 days) it sounds like a good deal for the engine ( but for you? -- see below: but be prepared to spend more and I would only do it if you view this engine as a starting point to go up over 550 RWHP.

First, make certain the shop doing the work knows what it is doing: I would only do this if you can talk to two or three satsified owners that have had this same conversion done. The C6 engines (LS2 and LS7), use a different engine computer with a higher clock speed than the C5, etc., and it is not just a "drop it in and we simply reprogram the ECM" job: it's a "drop it in and make lots of mods and do a lot of re-programming" job.

I would also investigate several problems, all solveable with money (more to the point, your money):

1) will there will be an exhaust manifold fitting problem? The LS7 has different heads than any other vette engine and I do not know if the stock exhaust manifolds from it will fit to a C5 exhaust (stock or aftermarket) without lots of modification (which could be expensive, frustrating, or both), or better, if headers meant for a C5 will fit the LS7. I doubt headers made for the LS7 in a C6 will fit well in a C5, period (you can always hope).

You will need to switch out to a big cat back to realize the engine's potential. That's another grand there.

The LS7 has a dry sump. You will have to modify the C5 underhood to fit the tank and pipes and extra oil pump (it has two, the normal one and another). From having looked at converting mine to a dry sump, it looks like the best bet here is to move the battery to the trunk to gain underhood room and then put the tank, etc., there, but it will be a tight fit and cost some money.

Against all this, you have to consider what you will have at the end, 450 RWHP. With that same $14,000 you could easily buy more RWHP (I'd guess to nearly 550-575 RWHP if spent well) through any of several routes. The only reall advantage the LS7 would have is: a) if, like me, you just have to have a full 7 liters (427 cubes), or if, after you got all this done, you plan to spend another $15,000, so you can have around 600+ RWHP, without the cubes and the LS7 heads its starts getting difficult (i.e., really expensive) to get more than that out of anything but a 427 cubic inch C5R or LS7 engine: that is why Lingenfelter and MTI and Mallet never go over about 550 RWHP without going to one of those two big displacement engines.