LS in a Maverick

I've seen a few done, but both were turbo cars and I assume that is why the OPs cut the shock towers and went for a mustang 2 or the like conversion. Anyone know if an LS based motor fits in naturally aspirated mode without modifying the shock towers?

 

The engine may fit but the headers may cause an issue. You will also need a front sump oil pan (I believe gto's have a front sump).

 

Well I already cracked the truck pan, so that needed replacing anyway. I think holley makes one anyway. I have truck manifolds which are the go-to for ls swaps. I guess I should reassemble my 302 and LS and see the size difference. Imagine a cammed 6.0 with ls3 heads and a tr6060 or t56... a 7000 rpm screamer and reliable.

 

Hope you plan on swapping in a 9" rear too

 

frank (71 gold) has an ls in his car i believe. joe dirt put an ls in a maverick with a turbo but left the shock towers. joe dirt did a build thread on his.

 

Could you point me in the direction of that thread. I searched for Joe dirt ls maverick and got a hot rodder article and no full write up.

 

Joe dirt's car had an aje front suspension, which gets rid of the upper control arm and makes more room for header/exhaust manifolds.

 

I just went out to my garage, I have a 5.3 with truck manifolds on it and it's approximately 25" wide from outside the manifolds. I also measured my parts car shock towers, it's 24 inches between them at the upper control arm. I think you can get the engine to fit, but you're gonna need to get creative on manifolds/headers.

 

Normally, I'd be against a Chevy engine in a Ford but The LS motors are bad-ass.

 

Well the LS should fit, the bore spacing and deck heights are the same as a 351W.

 

I was always a firm believer that anything can fit in anything

 

deck height is shorter and close to the Cleveland's.. but the exhaust ports are higher in the LS stuff.. so, maybe the LS ends up around the same as the 351W in the final width measurement?

Either way.. you'll need to stifle the exhaust down a bit with factory LS truck manifolds(or similar cast iron aftermarket designs) and massage the towers and firewall.. maybe even notch the frame-rails.. to fit them in?.. or go custom headers all the way. Just depends on how much power(exhaust flow) you really need and how much time and cash you'd like to spend.

These cars are pretty darned narrow.. which makes it tough to have your cake and still be allowed to eat it all too.

 

The engine swap has just began, this guy is very good at documenting his progress so it will be very helpful.

http://mmb.maverick.to/threads/my-72-comet-build.91278/page-42#post-1058243

 

Not hard at all with a 302 based stroker.

 

Yep! Saw them make 500+ hp & high 400+ torque on Power Nation from 347 based 302 w/ 93 octane yesterday Sat. May 23rd.