Has any one ever heard of a crank breaking? Thinking of doing a 6.0 swap!

[stokes_osu]

Jn

[Ascinder]

I'm doing one now, it isn't easy.

[Triathlete]

Has any one ever heard of a crank breaking?

Sounds VERY painful!

Since Ascinder is the only one in the process of being the 1st he can tell you what he has gone through.

[RamAirZ]

I've done it in other vehicles but never a VX. If you don't have the mechanical aptitude to do it yourself or have the money to pay someone to do it, I would just find another 3.5 because it will get expensive. You would want to change out the transmission/transfercase (the 4L30E won't work OR standup behind a 6.0), you'll need to weld in engine mounts, modify or make a transmission crossmember, new driveshafts, not sure if the radiator can stay in the stock spot or needs to be moved forward (have you gotten to this point yet Ascinder?), you'd need electric fans for sure (good ones!), then all the wiring, exhaust work, running new AC and power steering lines, and the list goes on. It's pretty intensive when you do it in something that never had that style or similar engine in it. Was your engine making any noise prior to this? It'd be weird if it just all of a sudden blew up without warning.

[Ascinder]

The 6.0 will fit, but you will likely need to convert it over to the corvette accessory drives since this nets a couple critical inches in the fore/aft dimension. The accessory drive swap is not cheap to do, although it is bolt on. You will likely need to cut out a lot of brackets and such as well for fitment. I also ran the corvette batwing oilpan so the engine is able to sit lower in the bay if necessary. My current concern with my swap is if the shorty headers I have will clear the framerails. If they don't then you'd be advised to go with some power robbing block huggers. You will also likely have to contact your local DMV and see what they say about engine swaps. Some people have issues there. You can also change the intake manifold over to the car style which gives a couple more inches vertical. In my opinion, the 5.7 LS1 or LS6 would be better initial choices since just about everything about them is the same as the 6.0 except they're aluminum and a little more compact and easy to package. They are however more expensive. You can pick up 5.3's all day long practically for free though, so don't rule them out either. With the money you save on the engine, you can more than compensate with power add ons. Everything pretty much bolts up to everything else on this family of engines.

[RamAirZ]

The 6.0 will fit, but you will likely need to convert it over to the corvette accessory drives since this nets a couple critical inches in the fore/aft dimension. The accessory drive swap is not cheap to do, although it is bolt on. You will likely need to cut out a lot of brackets and such as well for fitment. I also ran the corvette batwing oilpan so the engine is able to sit lower in the bay if necessary. My current concern with my swap is if the shorty headers I have will clear the framerails. If they don't then you'd be advised to go with some power robbing block huggers. You will also likely have to contact your local DMV and see what they say about engine swaps. Some people have issues there. You can also change the intake manifold over to the car style which gives a couple more inches vertical. In my opinion, the 5.7 LS1 or LS6 would be better initial choices since just about everything about them is the same as the 6.0 except they're aluminum and a little more compact and easy to package. They are however more expensive. You can pick up 5.3's all day long practically for free though, so don't rule them out either. With the money you save on the engine, you can more than compensate with power add ons. Everything pretty much bolts up to everything else on this family of engines.

Or if you want aluminum AND cheap, the LM4 5.3 is all aluminum and can be had fairly cheap (under $1000 complete, still alot cheaper than LS1/6 or LS2's). Check out LS1tech.com or performancetrucks.net, the classifieds section over there is nice and can save some dough on different parts. Dimensionally the long blocks are all the same and the LSx series of engines are awesome and a breeze to work on.

[nfpgasmask]

Whadda'ya think happened? Ran her dry of oil? Just curious.

Bart

[RamAirZ]

I'm guessing it was a rod hanging out of the oil pan and not the crank, it'd take ALOT of force to punch the crank out of the main caps and clean through an oil pan unless the caps weren't on very tight, but there would be ALOT of noise before it happened. The only time I've seen a crankshaft actually break was in a 1st gen Camaro running a WHOLE lot of nitrous and a few pro stock cars. The Camaro had one hell of a pre-ignition explosion and shattered the crankshaft at about 7K rpm

[Ascinder]

Originally Posted by Ascinder
The 6.0 will fit, but you will likely need to convert it over to the corvette accessory drives since this nets a couple critical inches in the fore/aft dimension. The accessory drive swap is not cheap to do, although it is bolt on. You will likely need to cut out a lot of brackets and such as well for fitment. I also ran the corvette batwing oilpan so the engine is able to sit lower in the bay if necessary. My current concern with my swap is if the shorty headers I have will clear the framerails. If they don't then you'd be advised to go with some power robbing block huggers. You will also likely have to contact your local DMV and see what they say about engine swaps. Some people have issues there. You can also change the intake manifold over to the car style which gives a couple more inches vertical. In my opinion, the 5.7 LS1 or LS6 would be better initial choices since just about everything about them is the same as the 6.0 except they're aluminum and a little more compact and easy to package. They are however more expensive. You can pick up 5.3's all day long practically for free though, so don't rule them out either. With the money you save on the engine, you can more than compensate with power add ons. Everything pretty much bolts up to everything else on this family of engines.

Or if you want aluminum AND cheap, the LM4 5.3 is all aluminum and can be had fairly cheap (under $1000 complete, still alot cheaper than LS1/6 or LS2's). Check out LS1tech.com or performancetrucks.net, the classifieds section over there is nice and can save some dough on different parts. Dimensionally the long blocks are all the same and the LSx series of engines are awesome and a breeze to work on.

. You can pick up 5.3's all day long practically for free though, so don't rule them out either. With the money you save on the engine, you can more than compensate with power add ons. Everything pretty much bolts up to everything else on this family of engines.

FWIW that's the 5.3 I was referring to, and from what I understand, $1000 for one is outrageously expensive. My 2004 6.0 shipped to me in 2009 was $1200 complete, so the far more common 5.3 should be $800 tops for a good condition engine, and even that's high. Check craigslist. 5.3's are a dime a dozen, but they are good engines.

[stokes_osu]

FWIW that's the 5.3 I was referring to, and from what I understand, $1000 for one is outrageously expensive. My 2004 6.0 shipped to me in 2009 was $1200 complete, so the far more common 5.3 should be $800 tops for a good condition engine, and even that's high. Check craigslist. 5.3's are a dime a dozen, but they are good engines.

So, my body is off and the engine is out, are you telling me that a regular 5.3 should fit and bolt right up? I don’t want to go and buy one if it will not fit.

[stokes_osu]

I I have been toying with the idea of buying another VX maybe one that has been wrecked and getting the engine out of it… Dose any one knows where one may be laying around…. I would like to find something close to Oklahoma….

[VX KAT]

Not sure what ever happened to this one, he was asking $1000 for the entire truck....
Even if someone bought it, they may still sell you the engine....try to find out who bought it, contact them maybe...
Good luck, hope it works out.
http://www.vehicross.info/forums/sho...hlight=%241000

[Triathlete]

So, my body is off and the engine is out, are you telling me that a regular 5.3 should fit and bolt right up? I don’t want to go and buy one if it will not fit.

Bolt right up? Not without some modifications. You would have to fab up new motor/tranny mounts, move some stuff under the hood, etc. With the extra ponnies of the bigger engine you would probably want to consider beefing up the rest of the drive train as well. If you take a peak at Ascinders build thread that will give you an idea of what is involved...keeping in mind that Ascinder is taking it to the extreme.

[Ascinder]

I posted in your other thread, but to my knowledge a 5.3 is not a direct bolt up engine for us. Something to consider is that our transmission is a 4L30E and is part of a series of transmission including the 4L60 and 4L80 both of which are beefier automatics. Ours is unique in the fact that we have the TOD transfer case mated directly to the transmission housing though. So what I'm getting at is you'll need a new transmission and transfer case. Length is also an issue as the 4l60 and 80 are both a lot longer. That's why many people usethe TH350 and TH400 as they are more suited to short wheelbase rigs. I know advance adapters makes kits for bolting up almost anything mainstream to anything else. Good luck, but in my opinion, you are fighting a lost cause if you are trying to accomplish this quickly with the amount of research and information you've got. FWIW pirate4x4.com has a lot of buildups and they match up all kinds of crazy combos so you can see what aroma together and what it's going into size wise. Be warned, they are not generally even close to as friendly and willing to help as this forum. They have the info, but they're a bit snobby and condescending about sharing it at times.

[RamAirZ]

The aluminum 5.3's aren't as common as the iron versions (they came in SSR's, some Envoy/Trailblazers/Rainiers/even Isuzu Ascender lol, a different version but still aluminum came in some 4x4 Silverados from 05-07, known as the L33 or 5.3HO instead of the LM4, it made 310hp instead of 295) but I was talking $1000 for an engine with almost no miles, I see them going for 5-600 all day long complete with accessories, wiring, computer etc. The newer 5.3's (all 07' later and even some 05' and up versions) are a different animal, same basic design but the computer systems are different as they use the active fuel management and the lifter assemblies and what not are different. The iron ones I see for $200 around here with 80K miles lol, there is one in Alabama right now I've been eyeing.