Thinking L67 swap on our dying GXP.

[00Beast]

Thoughts? Andrew said I'd be best getting a donor and getting everything from that. Who's game for an engine swap meet? Talk me into/out of this people! I figure if I can get this all done for similar to the $3250 that the dealer wanted for the HG's, I'd be ahead, even if it wasn't perfect. Be a great way to keep the G8 off the streets this winter...

[94SilverSSEi]

I'm sure you should be able to find a good donor for much less than $3,250. Be awesome to find one smashed in the rear with low miles.

That Northstar should still be worth a good bit, in aluminum scrap

[repinS]

Stud the Northstar?

You have a lift!

[crash93ssei]

Stud the Northstar?

You have a lift!

This. Stud it and never worry again and keep the V8 rumble!

[00Beast]

That thought has occurred too. I'm exploring options. I just like the idea of building the "ultimate GXP" OEM style versus haro's which is modded to hell. The next thing would be to stop me from modding it...

[crash93ssei]

Stock for stock the N* just wins hands down for me. Sure the L67 can be modded for more power and has more down low, but the N* is the track star and let's face it... sounds like sex while the L67 sounds like a giraffe puking. The wiring seemed simple enough from what I remember, but he also had to change out all of the fuel lines which I think would be a major pain.

Studding the N* would cost less then 1/3 of the cost the dealership wants and also likely cheaper then a complete parts car, you would have a hard time finding one before Andrew got it anyway

[nos4blood70]

Stud the northstar. Then you can't mod it, and it'll be forced to stay on DD status.

[macksdaddy77]

buy a donor swap the l67 and u could possibly put the northstar in the ssei lol? weird thought but u could have the northstar completely redone and then play with the internals. if im not mistaken u can still port and polish and put a cam in correct? u could maybe make u r own intake. and there is a tune now so i mean it could be intresting

[nos4blood70]

The intake and porting and polishing would likely do next to nothing for the N*. And cams would have to be custom...

[macksdaddy77]

dang.. lol

[RJolly87]

How many miles on the GXP anyway? It looks like a coin toss here, especially since you have a lift.

[repinS]

Stud the northstar. Then you can't mod it, and it'll be forced to stay on DD status.

This worked very well for me. The G8 is causing me to hemorrhage money.

[94SilverSSEi]

Stud the northstar. Then you can't mod it, and it'll be forced to stay on DD status.

This worked very well for me. The G8 is causing me to hemorrhage money.

Is that a bad thing, Jerry? More Racecar?

[nos4blood70]

Stud the northstar. Then you can't mod it, and it'll be forced to stay on DD status.

This worked very well for me. The G8 is causing me to hemorrhage money.

My point exactly, Ed. You already have the G8 to mod. How has RWD V8 not cured you of the FWD V6 insanity?! XP

[00Beast]

Insanity is insanity. Ask Will.

Idk what to do. All I know is that I don't have any time to do any of it.

126k on the car...

[macksdaddy77]

would u build up the l67 a bit or just a straight swap?

[SSEiMan01]

Same way I am Carl. I know all too well.

[Evilcowboy420]

This is my opinion and I know I am new but I figured I would throw my opinion in if you don't mind

scrap the northstar I seem to have bad luck with them. I am sure there are the exceptions out there but unless your talking about it being a LC3 Northstar I wouldn't keep it. The early 4.6 were a little crappier in my opinion than the others. Technologically speaking the engine was dying in comparison to other V8's. But as is such GM still using an outdated engine.

Now studding is the cheapest option hands down and can be done with relative ease from what I have seen. But to me I personally feel there is something wrong when a person has to do such an intense mod in the 100 to 140K mark of the engines life. To me that should be uncommon.

As for trading the L67 in there. It is going to be a lot of work and very expensive to be happy with it since your use to the sound and feel of the V8. But it is a good sounding engine when modded right. There is a fella on youtube I watched do and in depth series of modding one and he did a very nice job. But you can tell it was a costly job. the idle was real nasty on the car and was extremely quick.

I personally am partial to the 3800 even thought it could still stand to shed a few pounds and this might account for my hatred of the northstar but head gaskets don't fail as often on the 3800 as they do on a northstar and if the engine was ever overheated in it's life it runs a big risk of warping not only the heads but the block as well being aluminum and all.

But all that said if it were me and I was looking for more power and a better engine I would combine the best of both worlds and try to source the LC3 and stud it. A supercharged V8 is always good. Too bad GM didn't use em more than 3 years.

anyway I hope that helps somewhat good luck on the swap.

[Ghosthawk]

I've done tons of number crunching on engine swaps and all of mine just involves parts and no labor. To me, the overwhelming factor is always how much has to be changed in order to make an idea work. Brainstorming is always a very cool thing and we consider it to be possible usually because we've seen the results of another persons work, which is all good, but when the work becomes your own the monumental size of the task starts to look like Mt Everest.
Anytime you can mod/improve/repair, and most importantly to be made reliable (the essential element for a DD) then sticking with whatever existing base you have usually comes out best. I love the rumble of a V8 as much as any gearhead on the planet, but any option I've looked at to swap my L36 for a V8 turns into the cost of another used car. In the end, I will most likely stick with my L36 and maybe add a SSM90 blower kit or possibly a turbo, but neither of those will cost a kings ransom to pull off.

To sum up, I agree with many previous posters. Stud the Northstar because that has been proven to make the engine reliable. You will remove the bite of the mod bug (at least from the Bonneville) and leave that for your other animal. The Bonne will be the better winter ride due to its FWD, and the repair will take far less time that an extensive engine swap.

[techweenie]

I've read rumors that porting the heads on a northstar can yield as much as 50hp. If you're gonna take them off, at least take a crack at it. It certainly won't reduce any power. Since this is such as high revving engine, it makes sense in my head that even the slightest improvement to air flow could have a large impact. That is all theory I will be starting to put to the test later this year.