A Heart Transplant for Warrior—my ‘95 K2500

[PeacemakerJack 10,738]

As I have already eluded to elsewhere on the forum, I am planning to do an engine swap on my “Old” truck.  I purchased this vehicle back in 2016 for a measly $2300.  It was/is a rough vehicle typical of a northern Salt Belt driven truck.  It has been worked really hard many a day and I feel up until my ownership—not taken care of all that well. I sold a Cub Cadet that I made a good profit on and had enough money to but this worker.

 “Why buy an old beater like this?”

Residential construction is hard on trucks and I was tired of getting dings and scratches in my nice vehicles.  Secondly, my Excursion has been laid up for a couple of months with a tranny problem and I liked the idea of having a backup vehicle.  

 

I went on a very particular search, almost like I was trying to buy a truck new at the dealership but I only wanted to spend $2500!  Here was my check list:

 

—1995-99 K2500

—HD manual tranny

—Highway Road geared rear end

—extended cab long box

—bench seat (to haul the whole family if needed)

—5.7 motor

—-blue paint

 

Not specific—I know😂

This ad showed up on CL about a month later.

It had 179,000 miles.

Was optioned almost exactly to the above list except for the bench seat.

looked solid in the pics

And it was even blue.  Albeit someone’s garage painted specimen, the original body color was silver.  Turns out it had a lot of body rot under the shoddy replacement skins...more about that later.

We struck a deal for $2300 and I had my specialty optioned truck.  My plan was to use it a couple of years and then get rid of it and buy a newer beater.  

 

BUT WAIT! There was a problem!  I got to liking old Warrior too much.  

Here he is one of the first days out on the job site of a new house I was framing.

A little later when the house was framed and roofed. 

tires were shot and I found these Weld Evo 8’s.  I ended up scoring them for $180 and a set of Blizzak Load E’s for an additional $500.  

Funny how wheels can so drastically change a vehicle!  The gas tank was rotten and the fuel system nasty. I changed to a 34 gallon polymer with new stainless straps, new 1996 and later fuel pump, all new lines, filter and filler neck.  

I worked it hard over the next several years but took care of the mechanicals as I always do with any of my machines. 

Found a rustfree tail gate and finally ended up painting that to match the body.

Here we are at a garage addition a few years ago.  

Anyway, it was time to think about an engine replacement as the old 5.7 was approaching 220K and seemed like it couldn’t get out of the way of its own shadow.  I was planning to find a low mile 5.7 TBI and build it up to about 300hp when several of my buddies, not the least of which was @pullstart said, “why don’t you do an LS swap?”

 

Good point.  Bulletproof engine.  Better fuel economy, double the power.  Problem?  The price.  It is easy to end up paying $1000 or more for just an engine.  Once again...I was specific.  I wanted an LQ4 6.0 out of a truck. Under 200K that was in a vehicle so I could hear it run....

 

Enter exhibit A:

a 2004 Express 2500 with 167,000 miles. Fully functional except no reverse.

picked it up for less than a grand!  Now the work begins.

 

please tag anyone you think from the forum who has a background or interest in this type of swap.

 

@ZXT @Achto @wheelhorseman @19richie66 @ebinmaine

[WHX?? 48,788]

[squonk 41,037]

9 minutes ago, PeacemakerJack said:

As I have already eluded to elsewhere on the forum, I am planning to do an engine swap on my “Old” truck.  I purchased this vehicle back in 2016 for a measly $2300.  It was/is a rough vehicle typical of a northern Salt Belt driven truck.  It has been worked really hard many a day and I feel up until my ownership—not taken care of all that well. I sold a Cub Cadet that I made a good profit on and had enough money to but this worker.

 “Why buy an old beater like this?”

Residential construction is hard on trucks and I was tired of getting dings and scratches in my nice vehicles.  Secondly, my Excursion has been laid up for a couple of months with a tranny problem and I liked the idea of having a backup vehicle.  

 

I went on a very particular search, almost like I was trying to buy a truck new at the dealership but I only wanted to spend $2500!  Here was my check list:

 

—1995-99 K2500

—HD manual tranny

—Highway Road geared rear end

—extended cab long box

—bench seat (to haul the whole family if needed)

—5.7 motor

—-blue paint

 

Not specific—I know😂

This ad showed up on CL about a month later.

It had 179,000 miles.

Was optioned almost exactly to the above list except for the bench seat.

looked solid in the pics

And it was even blue.  Albeit someone’s garage painted specimen, the original body color was silver.  Turns out it had a lot of body rot under the shoddy replacement skins...more about that later.

We struck a deal for $2300 and I had my specialty optioned truck.  My plan was to use it a couple of years and then get rid of it and buy a newer beater.  

 

BUT WAIT! There was a problem!  I got to liking old Warrior too much.  

Here he is one of the first days out on the job site of a new house I was framing.

A little later when the house was framed and roofed. 

tires were shot and I found these Weld Evo 8’s.  I ended up scoring them for $180 and a set of Blizzak Load E’s for an additional $500.  

Funny how wheels can so drastically change a vehicle!  The gas tank was rotten and the fuel system nasty. I changed to a 34 gallon polymer with new stainless straps, new 1996 and later fuel pump, all new lines, filter and filler neck.  

I worked it hard over the next several years but took care of the mechanicals as I always do with any of my machines. 

Found a rustfree tail gate and finally ended up painting that to match the body.

Here we are at a garage addition a few years ago.  

Anyway, it was time to think about an engine replacement as the old 5.7 was approaching 220K and seemed like it couldn’t get out of the way of its own shadow.  I was planning to find a low mile 5.7 TBI and build it up to about 300hp when several of my buddies, not the least of which was @pullstart said, “why don’t you do an LS swap?”

 

Good point.  Bulletproof engine.  Better fuel economy, double the power.  Problem?  The price.  It is easy to end up paying $1000 or more for just an engine.  Once again...I was specific.  I wanted an LQ4 6.0 out of a truck. Under 200K that was in a vehicle so I could hear it run....

 

Enter exhibit A:

a 2004 Express 2500 with 167,000 miles. Fully functional except no reverse.

picked it up for less than a grand!  Now the work begins.

 

please tag anyone you think from the forum who has a background or interest in this type of swap.

 

@ZXT @Achto @wheelhorseman @19richie66 @ebinmaine

Added bonus!! After the engine is out of the van you have an enclosed 4 wheel trailer or a portable dog house or storage shed! 

[Achto 27,507]

[wheelhorseman 3,211]

Travis and I have did a few here is my 1989 suburban with a 2002 6.0 Lq9 iron block and it’s getting a 4l80e transmission shortly and my old truck a 1986 k20 that is now my sons that he did a lot of work to that we put A 2001 5.3 engine into.

[peter lena 8,583]

PEACEMAKER JACK,  yes those LS SWAPS ARE SO WORTH IT, the fact that you can program check out function and repair in addition to much better mpg , with a plug in . living in a rust belt area myself , many years ago is started to regularly use lubriplate chain and cable aerosol spray , in every confined area of my cars , in addition to  totally doing the underside and touch up as needed at oil change time. 14 years on my car now , not a speck of rust , i also water spray down the under side as often as needed. get in side those confined areas , in wheel wells and inside body seams, with a lighter oil to creep into seams , then after few days , over spray the same areas with a heavier oil , to draw it in , good luck pete

[johnnymag3 2,515]

I do the same with my plow truck Pete, something that has to be done if you don't want to go spend 60,000 dollars on a new truck !!!!

[ebinmaine 67,285]

Thanks for calling me in Josh!!

 

Looking forward to this one.  

 

[ebinmaine 67,285]

11 hours ago, squonk said:

or a port-a- potty....

 

[squonk 41,037]

20 minutes ago, ebinmaine said:

 

If you do that you have to poke a hole (or holes) in the floor and park it in someone else's driveway!

[ZXT 2,401]

I apparently glossed over you telling me in the other thread that you were starting this thread! Glad you tagged me.

 

Something else in addition to what I posted in the other thread. When I was searching around the other day looking to see if I could find a belt part # for a 5.3 without power steering, I came across a thread where someone had taken the factory AC bracket off of a TBI 350 and mounted it to the LS without much work. Since no LS came with an R4, that would probably be a good way for you to retain AC without having to have custom lines made to run the LS compressor, assuming you need it up there!