JPaul
Well-Known Member
- Messages
- 2,436
- Location
- Way up north, UT
I'd love to see it. Really, I would. Not many, if any, have seemed to have been able to do the swaps for super cheap so far. If you can do it for less than $5K then please document it and share it so that others can refer to your work and duplicate it. Frankly there aren't really any well documented threads on the process aside from one I can think of and I can't seem to find that one either.
And it's not that it's rocket science, it's that there's quite a few specific bits and pieces and assemblies you need to obtain and put together and modify to make it work. It's not speculation on this either, it's based on the experiences others that have done swaps in the past have shared in the forums. This isn't a 84 Camaro you're looking at, it's a modern highly computer controlled vehicle that prior to '08 wasn't even designed to take anything bigger than the I5 and it shows, and even afterwards the cooling was never quite enough for heavy duty use (they really should have modified the front radiator support to fit a wider radiator, there is room for it). It also takes quite a bit of time, which most folks don't have several weeks to devote to such a project, particularly when for most of us these rigs are our daily drivers as well. I'd believe you doing it for less than $5K if you found a wrecked Alpha as a donor vehicle super cheap to get all the parts from or spent several months sourcing all the parts used. There is at least one thread on here about doing the swap with a pre-'08, you need to go look at it if you haven't yet. It lists most (but not all I believe) of the various parts you need to do the complete swap. Aside from the parts and pumps that bolt on to the engine, the engine mounts, the alpha exhaust system (or one fabricated to fit) the transmission bellhousing, the modifications/replacement of the wiring harness, the computer and programming, and the other obvious things, you're also going to want/need the Alpha torsion bars to handle the increased weight in the front, the airbox, the transmission controller, and a number of other parts for the swap. Then lots of time to get it all put together and actually running.
I've looked over it myself and was glad when I was considering it that I at least would have been starting with an '08, that eliminates half the battle right there. But instead I spent $11K+ and picked up an actual Alpha instead, saving me an untold amount of time, headache, and budget overruns. On top of that I ended up with the adventure packages, front and rear lockers with the cast iron front differential (very expensive to source one these days and frankly you're probably going to want it unless you're planning on doing a SAS as well), heated leather seats, factory backup camera, etc.
If you want to do it and think you can do it and feel like you have the budget to do it, then just do it. Don't be surprised that most of us tell you to not bother with it, especially when there's already quite a few threads on this forum alone about doing the swap and when you asked for everyone's opinion on whether they'd do it (again) or not. Chris has done it, Humvee has done it, atvspeed4 has done it, a number of others have done it. It's not impossible, it's just going to cost you more than you think it will in both time and money with these rigs. Probably half these guys only did the swaps because either they live somewhere that the Alpha's really are near impossible to find (like overseas), or it was back before the price of the Alpha's became low enough to justify buying a whole other vehicle. You'll notice that of all the people that replied, I think only two of the people who actually have done these in the past have replied, and amrg mentioned Humvee's experience. So basically three. Humvee's cost over $10K several years ago, but granted that was in Qatar or near there. Chris did his for fairly inexpensive I guess, I'm not sure what all he had to really put into it though to make it work. And atvspeed4 didn't give a price but it sounds like he wouldn't bother with it again. The rest of us considered doing the swaps but instead spent time finding a good deal on an Alpha because we recognized that for us it just wasn't worth the hassle and cost. Maybe for you it isn't a hassle, maybe you have a daily driver you can use while your truck is down for the swap. If so then great. Do the swap, document all the bits and pieces you needed to get and how much it cost and where you obtained them, share it here and help the future generations of pre-'08 engine swappers.
