Ok this is pretty much my specialty. 1st question is what are your goals? Just a dependable daily driver? Hot rod with 500hp? Turbo setup with 800hp? Do you want to stay manual or auto trans? 2nd question is will you do it all yourself?
I put these motors in literally everything. I know how to do it cheap or ive had guys that cant sleep without bling bling polished custom parts that work like crap. Its totally up to you.
This is my example.... my 49 GMC 150 has a $400 5.3 i bought complete from a junkyard shelf. It had everything from the intake to pan and came with the harness still on the motor with the ECU still plugged in. I used $100 universal weld in mounts, stock tank feeding a MSD in line pump ($100), used all stock harness that I modified myself and built a custom fuse/relay box ($20), I own HP tuners software so i flashed the stock ECU myself just to turn off anti theft. I needed to use ls1 style camaro exhaust manifolds to clear the frame/steering box and i think i paid $125 for the used set.
So all in all i had a running swap for about $750-800. Now mind you this is hooked up to a stock 1949 3 speed trans with column shift. Only parts you need to fit a LS onto the older trans is a v8 truck bellhousing and a deep pilot bushing. It runs and drives like a dream. There are obviously other add ons like gauge adapters, radiator, and heater core and things like that but it’s honestly not bad if your creative and can do the work yourself. My motor has 140k on it and it still has the original spark plugs and wires on it. Runs like a champ and i drive it almost daily with no issues.
