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Old 10-11-2011, 10:44 PM   #165
syr74
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Drives: Thunderbird
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Kentucky
Posts: 951
Prevalence of cross-breed engine swaps, domestic to domestic, seem to vary a lot by region, era, and type. Right now we are seeing a lot of LS series smallblock engine swaps, relatively speaking, because those engines are small, plentiful, make good power, have good aftermarket support and are easy to work on. When I see a domestic to domestic swap with one of these the car tends to either be a fox body Mustang or an old school street rod. Neither surprises me.

The Fox body chassis gets the nod here for the same reason the LS engine did, it's small, light, plentiful, has a good aftermarket, and is easy to work. In fact, I've seen more Fox body LS swaps than 3rd gen F-body LS swaps which, again, doesn't surprise me because the aftermarket is better for the Fox body chassis. The only downside I see for folks who do this is resale. In my experience a swap like an LS1/LS3 V-8 into a 87 Mustang LX is going to have a difficult time drawing much money if the owners ever needs to sell it because the market for people who want such a thing is, ot surprisingly, somewhat limited.

A 87 Monte Carlo with a LS3 or a 91 GT with a Coyote is going to be a lot easier to sell down the road and you'll almost always get a good deal more money for it relative to what you have in it. For folks who plan on keeping the car, or who are more likely to part everything out when they lose interest, this doesn't really matter. That said, I have seen some folks who ended up surprised at how hard it is too sell a Ford with a Chevy in it or, believe it, a Chevy with a Ford in it.

The exception to the above are the old school street rodders. Chevy motors in Ford cars are common in that hobby, and they aren't especially difficult to sell although like make motor and body does tend to bring more of a premium than it used to in my experience.

Foreign cars with American engine swaps seem to be treated differently altogether. While purists cringe almost nobody else seems to mind a S2000 with an LS3 in it or an other wise perfect MGB with a 302.
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