Cousin Eddie learns to embrace the LS engine (a maintenance and ownership thread)

I was bored with my Tacoma daily driver. It was newish and nice and not something I wanted to mess with mechanically. I need to mess with my cars to keep my mind humming. So, I sold the Tacoma for right at stupid money and went looking for something to daily drive and work on. My job schedule just changed after 18 years so I now work 48 on/96 off which means my entire commute is roughly 400 miles per month. That means I can drive a turd and it not weigh on me too much.

All I have heard for the last 20 years is LS engines are better than anything else. Then I drove the Fire Marshal Tahoe at work for a few months and came to realize that the LS really does live up to it's hype. That little engine has heart !

So I found about the cheapest Silverado on Facebook marketplace.

The old guy I bought it from didn't seem too bright as far as car stuff. He just wanted it gone ASAP. I got a great deal and he was ecstatic to see me drive away (foreshadowing)....

About 75 miles later I realized the old guy was a little brighter than I had given him credit for. He was about as bright as the check engine light that illuminated on the panel. <SIGH>......"knock sensor code"....

So I cleared the code hoping it was a fluke, but it came right back. It seems the knock sensors are under the intake manifold and the old boy knew it and was afraid to dig into the repair. Hence the cheap price.

Two new AC Delco sensors, sensor wiring harness, and intake manifold gaskets. Now I get to learn about LS engines.

The front sensor (the one that threw the code) was standing waist deep in water.

Easy deal. I had no idea what I was doing at it took me just under two hours beginning to end. 

It was at this point that a spark of love was igniting. This engine is perhaps the easiest engine I have ever worked on. Maybe there is something to this LS hype afterall.

Much more to come...

"It was at this point that a spark of love was igniting"

  Oh Boy!!    How's the rest of the truck?  Can't wait to see how this turns out.  Good luck.

I love it when Cousin Eddie buys a new to him vehicle!

I've only started putting my LQ4 back together for my '61 Apache.  Having done many Gen1 SBC's, I really like the LS architecture; it's a much better motor.

When are the flip kit and dropped spindles coming in?

Run_Away said:

I love it when Cousin Eddie buys a new to him vehicle!

Truth

Definitely looking forward to the detailing and lowering!

Why does everyone think that I'll lower this truck ? That's crazy. Lowering trucks ruins them.

The front end of this truck was beat up. The grille was flaky. The bumper pushed in. Hood beat up with damage. It was just altogether shabby.

But I did find this guy on Facebook who was parting out a Tahoe. By happenstance the colors were exactly what my truck is, so I snagged the front clip from him for 200.

That got me a straight bumper, nicer paint matched upper bumper cap, unbroken lower valance and better hood, not to mention a nice grille with a billet insert.

While I was swapping that all over I did a little Rockauto light order and new bulbs. Who owns this ghetto E36 M3 with every single bulb in the front burned or rusted out ?

The factory radio had burned out lighting and the CD player didn't work. That made me sad. I do like my CD collection.

So I did a little Crutchfield order and got some inexpensive stuff to replace the old factory stuff.

And to address flaky operation of the fobs, I did the Amazon Chinese replacement fob thing. They programmed properly and have worked just fine yet far. Not bad for 17 bucks.

I love seeing people on here taking a older vehicle that just needs a little love and making a great daily out of it. This thing should give you ton of miles of commuting pleasure. 

There is a lot of nice parts bin oem hp to be had.  You can swap to one of the ls6 or ls2 cams and add the trailblazer as I take for nice gains.  Second hand 243 heads and thinner gaskets equal more ponies.  Truck headers are also cheap...

Nice work Eddie! Yes an LS1 is like A fine wine.....

Agent98 said:

Nice work Eddie! Yes an LS1 is like A fine wine.....

It comes in a cardboard box ?

I'll be following along.  What year is the Silverado?

Doing the LS swap on the Beaumont at work has been a real eye-opener for me.

Opening that engine up, GM has done everything you would do to upgrade old-fashioned SBC when you build it and then some.

I can't fathom why anyone would build a SBC for a fun car anymore unless they're obsessed with looks or originality.

ShawnG said:

Doing the LS swap on the Beaumont at work has been a real eye-opener for me.

Opening that engine up, GM has done everything you would do to upgrade old-fashioned SBC when you build it and then some.

I can't fathom why anyone would build a SBC for a fun car anymore unless they're obsessed with looks or originality.

This. The LS-series is so astronomically ahead of every other V8 I can't image why people would stick with 350/400/454 or whathaveyou. You will always either have more power, less weight, better mileage, cheaper price, better reliability, or a combination of all those.

I'm glad it doesn't seem to have been a big deal for you, but berkeley anybody who clears a CEL and tries to get the deal done before it comes back with no heads-up. That's just not cool, and makes me wish I believed more in karma.

I guess if nothing else he got a much worse deal on selling the truck than if he'd been honest and capable and sorted the the darn thing out first.

Enough grumbling, congrats on the truck! I'm enjoying hearing such a practical appreciation about what's good about an LS, and what's specfically better than what it replaced.

Indy-Guy said:

I'll be following along.  What year is the Silverado?

It's a 2000 model.

Ransom said:

I'm glad it doesn't seem to have been a big deal for you, but berkeley anybody who clears a CEL and tries to get the deal done before it comes back with no heads-up. That's just not cool, and makes me wish I believed more in karma.

I guess if nothing else he got a much worse deal on selling the truck than if he'd been honest and capable and sorted the the darn thing out first.

Enough grumbling, congrats on the truck! I'm enjoying hearing such a practical appreciation about what's good about an LS, and what's specfically better than what it replaced.

All I can say is that I have no way of knowing for certain that he cleared the codes before I got there. For all I know the light came on for me for the first time. In the scheme of things I just shrugged it off. It was the very cheapest Silverado for sale within 150 miles of Dallas Fort Worth. When you wallow around in the bottom of the pig pile you get what you get (I figure)...

So I have dealt with two LS's in the past couple of weeks and they both had the same weird problem.... start up was fine but then oil pressure would drop to 0.  It would kind of come back but not really.

It turns out the o ring in the oil pick up tube is a common failure point.  Freakin' O'Reillys calls it a pick up tube gasket so it is hard for the desk jockey to find.

I'm not too far from you in Forest Hill if you are ever in the mood for a damn good rib lunch.

Can't really beat a Chevy pickup... I already know the secrets of what's to come with this one and it's good. :) 

Pulling the intake on a LS motor soured me on my old SBCs too, everything is so easy in comparison!  I never knew I wanted to LS swap something until I started working on a LS motor.  I love seeing a worn truck get spruced up and put back to service.

I had been watching a set of pull-off 20" factory wheels on Facebook marketplace. They were very local to me (like 5 blocks away from my house) and they had 400 miles on them. The price started at 1000 bucks. That's not gonna happen. DFW is flush with these things and the market just won't support that, even for brand new wheels and tires. Then the price fell to 750. So I sent a polite message saying that while I respected that the wheels were brand new, I would be a buyer at 500 dollars.

And she responded to my message within seconds with an address and the time of noon. So I bought me some wheels.

Then I get there and she didn't have the lugnuts that were promised. So I lowered my offer to 450 to offset the price of a new set of lugnuts.

It looks ten years newer already!

Needs to have the fender gap reduced by 5/7......

Dusterbd13-michael said:

Needs to have the fender gap reduced by 5/7......

damn, now i feel like a bitch because i was gonna suggest 3/5.