So it sounds like your budget is tight. Have you considered the lt1 out of a bbody (iron heads) or an fbody (aluminum heads) ? It's a 'fairly' stout package as is (with the fuel injection) and you while you don't need a distributor (dizzy clearance is tight in 240 to begin with), you might want to swap out for a new opti. There aren't that many upgrades to make.. mostly boltons... larger TB, 1.6 roller rockers, decent valve springs and a cam... well the cam isn't a bolton but hey.(CC503). It's not like you're going to have to have it reflashed that often.... there's just not that much to do to it (unless you got the b-body version and decided to upgrade to the aluminum heads later). I guess I'm not seeing the reflashing as a deal breaker... If you don't want to deal with tuning the efi yourself, flashing is it. There's nothing to say in the future you can't plunk down the change for an aftermarket EMS and plug and play that thing to work and tune it yourself.
You are going to have issues with header clearance. You will have to do some fab work on the exhaust to make it work. Even shorty headers will require some massaging. Can you do that work or will you have others do it? Stock exhaust manifolds come pretty close to working as is... I considered using the manifolds that came with my bbody lt1 but made my own headers.
If you do the lt1 you don't need the fuel pressure regulator as it comes with one on the fuel rail.
you will end up spending money on getting the two piece driveshaft shortened and adapted to using the slip yoke, that is unless you have a 1 piece d/s built for you.
I ended up pulling my engine out of a running caprice... I listened to it run, then I yanked the motor. I paid a little more for it just so I could hear it run before I bought it, but even then, $350 for the entire engine with harness, accessories and pcm complete. Granted I trashed the pcm and went with megasquirt but that's a different story.
EDIT... in the end, if you can weld yourself I estimate a loose $1000 for the whole package... again, you may add another $200 for a decent optispark and you end up with a 275 hp package (assuming you get the aluminum heads). This all hinges on you being resourceful when it comes to sourcing a decent engine/trans and doing your due diligence.
I'm all over the place on this thread ��. I'm gonna have to make a whole build thread with more information in a centralized place than what I've been able to find.
Any way, as I've stated before, I'm kinda at a cross road between a LM7 out of a 2002 Silverado and a SBC out of a early 90's 1500/2500. Someone said the SBC pretty much drops in. It'll also be easier to find one as my junkyard has about 13 trucks from 1989-1996. It'll be pretty tough finding an LT1 in the local pnp so If I go the SBC route, I'll probably just upgrade to aluminum heads later down the road.
Here's what I'm thinking, I've already got the sts machining lsx mounts and 4L60E mount. That's $400 right there, obviously I can just sell them on here to the next guy and get my money back and go with the JTR SBC mount. Only thing I'm trying to figure out is how exactly the ignition and TBI work on the L31 engine and if the 4l60 tranny that is mated to it has the same mount as the 4L60E. According to my estimated cost of all this, lsx swap at bare minimum is looking like 1700 where as SBC is looking like 900-1000. Keep in mind this is specifically looking at engine and trans, not including cost of custome exhaust, driveshaft, and fuel pump. All of which I believe can be done easily under $1000. If I got the SBC route, that'll leave me plenty to swap the carb to a non fuel injected one and swap out an upgraded distributor.
At this point, I guess I'm looking more into fitment/difficult vs reward. I have no issue dropping $1700 to get the lm7 in there with the 4l60e but I also have no issue spending less.
Ps: sorry all for the long posts that probably seem like rambling. I guess I'm using this thread as a way to work out questions and indecision rather than ask questions lol. Either way, I hope someone in the future or in the present can find this thread and gain some knowledge from me and others!
Edit: I can also pull a 350 from 96-99 model 1500's. They are the same as the early 90's ones but come with a 4l60e. There's a mod you can do with an MSD distributor to swap the carb to a non fuel injected one but you need to wire the crank position sensor into the Tach wires off the distributor, this solves the TCM issue preventing the trans from shifting. Holly also makes a TPS kit to bolt onto a carb that you also would need to wire to the TCM to get throttle position. This will solve the issue if the 4l60 and 4l60e have different mounts which I'm still trying to figure out. Hard to do when you can't go to a junkyard and look for yourself lol. I'm abroad right now so that's why I can't.
Edit 2: I said that L31 were made for pre 96 model trucks and apparently that's false, they had L05 in the light duty and L19 in the heavy duty. It'll be easier finding a 5.7 out of the 96-2002 range which will come with the 4l60E so if the engine mounts fit right, I will be good mounting the transmission.