I have an old 1989 van that is just getting too rusty. But the engine and transmission have always been very reliable. Is it worth pulling this motor to put in on OBS/Gen3 truck or even an old European car? How easily would this motor mate up with a manual transmission?
I'm basically wondering if the Vortec is just better for those type of swaps, making my old TBI of no real use.
Thank you!
I'd say it's worth it. My Papa (Dad's Dad) was a Ford Engine and Transmission tech for 43 years. He said the vans were a huge PITA to work on bc of the space inside (or lack thereof). So pulling out the engine and transmission and swapping it into anything else will make it much easier to work on.
This motor should mount to any manual transmission that was designed for a 1st gen SBC. I took an auto shop class my junior year of HS and took apart and "rebuilt" a 350 SBC built in 1973. When my friend and I were rebuilding his Vortec 5700, the block and internals looked exactly the same as the 73 motor.
Vortec would be better in terms of power and fuel efficiency, but they're tougher to work on and a lot of people prefer TBI bc it's a lot easier and cheaper to work on. IIRC TBI engines use the same intake as carb engines bc TBI is basically just a computer controlled carburetor. If you ever wanted to carb swap your L05, you could go that route too.
