Is $4k a realistic goal?
 

Well, after having my 13b motor grenade again im going ls. Ive been able to source a 01 lm7 dropout (engine/tranny/harness/ecu/acc) for $900 locally. I thought about the ronin or grannys kit. Driveshaft, harness and mounts. Ls6 intake, lsx oil pan and fbody alt bracket. Im setting my goal at $3500 for everything. My car is an s5 gtu. Already have the cooling and fuel. What else can i be missing and or is this not gonna happen at my goal? Any advice and help is appreciated. Thanks

Spend the money and do the Ronin kit for sure. Even if you have a good radiator in the car you will have to mount it differently to fit the v8.

If you keep the auto trans it is probably doable on a $4k budget if you do the labor yourself, and modify the harness you have to work. If you switch to a T56, add another $2500-3K.

You will need to search for some good prices on the stuff to make the engine fit (accessories, intake, oil pan and pickup etc.) and will probably have to settle for an LS1 intake instead of LS6. You'll also probably need to stick with cast manifolds.

At the price I'm assuming you are going to do the labor yourself?
The most expensive thing aside from the mounts/subframe is going to be the harness.

If you run the stock harness, likely you are going to have to run aftermarket gauges.
Alternative run a stand along harness with adapters for the 7.

Hit me up if you need more info.

The only gauge change you will need is the speedo. Everything else can work just fine if you have an NA car. If you have a turbo cluster, obviously the boost wont work.

You can use an Integra speedo behind the RX7 face and keep the stock cluster. People have this swap really dialed in on NoRotors. You just need to do the research and legwork. The donor Integra cluster can be had on Ebay for cheap.

The factory GM engine harness can be pruned down and will work just fine for the swap. It only needs 6-7 connections and you are good to go. If your harness is in good condition and you have a couple hours to spare you can get the harness ready to go with the guides that are readily available online. Alternatively you can send the harness off and for a couple hundred it can be pruned down, labeled and prepared for the swap.

OK, I found a 99 ls1 engine with alternator only missing the ac and power steering pump. Ecu is there no harness. $1500. Found out that the painless wiring has a harness already done and with a ecm reflash for $475. I'll be getting the ronin kit and picking up a driveshaft. 4l60e's are cheap from $400-700 fully built with warranty locally. I'll need a stall converter, $??. $4k might be pushing it but I think I can. I've got all the rotary stuff I need to get rid of too. Might help money wise.

I got my car on the road like 9 years ago for about $5k including buying the FC vert roller. I went with a LT1/T56 which i picked up for about $2k combined. I used the Granny's kit. That said i wished i had gone with the pricier options. It was a number of years before i got everything straitened out on it. for another $2500-3k it would've been right in the beginning. If you can swing it buy the custom parts like radiator, etc.

A LM7 and a T56 should cost you around 2,500 all said and done. I can get LQ9's local for under $1,000 complete. T56's are around for $1,300 on average. Throw a clutch and flywheel setup in there, some maintenance, you're probably pushing close to $3,000. Spend the rest on the swap kit and some stuff here and there and you'll be in that area you want to be in. 5.3L's here are 200? Maybe 300? Just gotta do some research and decide how deep into it you want to get.