Mash Motors 6.2L V8 Swap

[derian06]

Ok this is obviously not about making the smart financial decision, its about you getting what you want and your parents are willing to help/enable you to do that. As a parent of a teenager, I am just trying to help you value the money in your decisions. So money obviously not being a concern, get rid of your rig (part it out, burn it, insurance, whatever...) and buy an Alpha. I think the V8 swap is cool in concept, you say cheap, but I still say its a bad idea, as it is actually very expensive based on the numbers you threw out and it does not solve the problem that you still have a car that was submerged and no matter how clean you think everything is, corrosion in even the small electrical wire/component or even the body, could haunt you for the life of that vehicle. That in my book is a huge uncertainty and a risk I would personally not take. Smart play all along IMO, insurance claim, pay off your loan and use the remaining money to buy something else, if it happens to be another hummer great.

I didn't mean cheap as in cheap if that makes any sense. I just meant out of what is given, the cheap to the cheapest. Really it should be most expensive to least expensive. Bad wording on my part.

 

[derian06]

A motor swap would indeed be a gamble, and my dad understands it is a gamble if anyone was wondering. I've talked to upwards of 7 or 8 mechanics now and all 8 of them said if I replace all the drivetrain harnesses and wires, pcm, tcm, bcm, fuse box, and ecm. I will have no electrical issues having to do with starting and driving my car. I will have my car for 2 or 3 months before sending it off to mash motors. That will give plenty of time for my wires that will corrode to corrode if they even will corrode (fresh water). Then the with bcm in I could see what does and doesn't work. I can also take my whole car apart, i have plenty of time to put it back together. This is the plan atleast. We have 2 years to report it to insurance, and I don't mind not having a car if it means i'll make the right choice.

If the bcm comes in and I have multiple electrical issues the choice will be obvious. But if none are present I'd have to think about it more.

I trust all of you guys, because you're all experienced and are basically hummer mechanics. Which is why i'm spending all this time trying to figure out what will be damaged or what is damaged. The act of simply not looking into saving my hummer, and just throwing in the towel before trying is not one for me. That is just my opinion on it, it gives me peace at mind. And working an extra 40 or 50 hours to have to money to pay off whatever I spend looking into it, is worth it to me (the money for looking into the car is not coming from the money being used to fix the car it's coming from work).

I have a place that specializes in auto electronics, I can take it there and they have the schematics to hummers. They will go through every plug and tell me what I should expect. But i have no idea how expensive that is and if it is even worth it or not to me.

I have mixed feelings on all solutions, it will take time for me to be at peace for a single option. But all your opinions and advice does help.
what I really need is a counter argument or something disproving the 2nd and 3rd sentences of this post, with evidence backing it up.

what plugs in the car that are NOT INCLUDED in the drivetrain (mash motors would be replacing all of the drivetrain electronica)will have an effect on the drivetrain if there are any? these plugs would also have to be at or below water level in order for corrosion to take place.
my opinion is completely performance over luxury if that helps with any response.

 

[Ghostbuster]

Make the insurance claim. Spend the 20k that you were going to use for the 6.2 swap on a low miles alpha. Take all your cool stuff off your truck and put it on the alpha... DONE

edit: this option is not that risky, and takes away a lot of the "what if" questions regarding your flooded h3.

 

[derian06]

Make the insurance claim. Spend the 20k that you were going to use for the 6.2 swap on a low miles alpha. Take all your cool stuff off your truck and put it on the alpha... DONE

edit: this option is not that risky, and takes away a lot of the "what if" questions regarding your flooded h3.

It does seem a hell of a lot simpler then a engine swap into a flooded H3. I just wish there was a way to take the 4.56 gears from my hummer and put it in the new alpha.

Anything else to take advantage of in this situation?

 

[amrg]

Supercharge that Alpha! You would no longer need to re-gear!

Just kidding, if your running 35's, an Alpha is really good with 4.10 gears (esp once you got all the performance mods). Its when you put 37's your acceleration is gonna suffer, from stand still you're going to be way out of the torque range! With 35's alone, I don't think you can justify re-gearing, at 37's, you will need any help in torque you can get!

 

[derian06]

Supercharge that Alpha! You would no longer need to re-gear!

Just kidding, if your running 35's, an Alpha is really good with 4.10 gears (esp once you got all the performance mods). Its when you put 37's your acceleration is gonna suffer, from stand still you're going to be way out of the torque range! With 35's alone, I don't think you can justify re-gearing, at 37's, you will need any help in torque you can get!

I was actually thinking about supercharging it...[emoji28] don't think the pops would be up for it though haha.

What performance mods are even for the alpha? Exhaust, cai, tune, what else???

 

[amrg]

I was actually thinking about supercharging it...[emoji28] don't think the pops would be up for it though haha.

What performance mods are even for the alpha? Exhaust, cai, tune, what else???

GM performance exhaust would cost 350 ish from Borla, superchips for 300 and K&N filter for 50. Thats all for performance.
Otherwise, 6k for a supercharger with a tune!

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

It does seem a hell of a lot simpler then a engine swap into a flooded H3. I just wish there was a way to take the 4.56 gears from my hummer and put it in the new alpha.

Anything else to take advantage of in this situation?

it's a whole lot easier to swap axles than motors... that said, regearing isn't that terribly expensive (compared to re-motoring) ~$1500 including parts. That said, drive the alpha with the 4.10 gears, you might be surprised at how peppy it is.

 

[derian06]

GM performance exhaust would cost 350 ish from Borla, superchips for 300 and K&N filter for 50. Thats all for performance.
Otherwise, 6k for a supercharger with a tune!

Is superchips a tune or? I don't know much about them.

 

[amrg]

Is superchips a tune or? I don't know much about them.

Hand held programmer, has 4 preset programs, (Performance, mileage, Tow & Stock) and allows you to do alot of calibrations.

 

[deserth3]

Two items I think should be mentioned.
1St. The fuse and circuit breaker panel is an actual circuit board. And it can be damaged.
2ND. There are 2 big electrical connectors to the bottom of that board that can still be holding water.
How to take it apart can be found in the installation instructions for roof marker lights and roof offroad lights. You'll have to search for those.

Sent from my MB886 using Tapatalk

 

[derian06]

Hand held programmer, has 4 preset programs, (Performance, mileage, Tow & Stock) and allows you to do alot of calibrations.

Is it better then pcm of nc? I like the fact that you can set it to performance or mileage.

 

[derian06]

Two items I think should be mentioned.
1St. The fuse and circuit breaker panel is an actual circuit board. And it can be damaged.
2ND. There are 2 big electrical connectors to the bottom of that board that can still be holding water.
How to take it apart can be found in the installation instructions for roof marker lights and roof offroad lights. You'll have to search for those.

Sent from my MB886 using Tapatalk

They took all of that out as soon as they got the truck, they said that they think they salvaged it, but we'll have to see.

 

[USMC_TOP]

Good for you! That is an awesome upgrade! Don't let the haters get to you. You just do you..........

 

[derian06]

Here is the new rig, once insurance goes through.

V8
Lockers
Leather
Monsoon
Chromed out *sigh* looks like i'll need more bedliner
Never been offroad
80,000 miles
The last owner was actually the owner of the dealership who talked to me for a good 2 hours about the truck.

 

[poweraidon]

Here is the new rig, once insurance goes through.

V8
Lockers
Leather
Monsoon
Chromed out *sigh* looks like i'll need more bedliner
Never been offroad
80,000 miles
The last owner was actually the owner of the dealership who talked to me for a good 2 hours about the truck.

And back up camera lol... How much was it?

 

[poweraidon]

And are you gonna switch out your tires and other mods to this?

 

[derian06]

And are you gonna switch out your tires and other mods to this?

Backup camera came as an option, and yep I'll still have my km2's

 

[Bananatank]

How much did you pay?

 

[derian06]

How much did you pay?

Haven't bought it yet, list price is $19,900.

 

[Ghostbuster]

Haven't bought it yet, list price is $19,900.

If it's an 08, go $18,500.

 

[derian06]

If it's an 08, go $18,500.

I'll try but the guy is taking care of shipping and i'm 479 miles away.

 

[Ghostbuster]

You should make the trip. Buying a car is like the second biggest purchase anyone makes in their lifetime. Don't buy it until you drive it. Does it come with any type of warranty? Check those tires as well. Those look to be the factory 33in bridgestones... and if they have 83k miles on them... :gaah:
That could help you get a lower price...

Also, what insurance company do you have?

eta: and that guy (second owner) (owner of the dealership) only had it for about six months... Why? Does he just go through cars that fast, or is there something else to it. Watch out for the crooks man. There are a bunch of them in car sales...

Good luck. Hopefully in September you'll have a new rig and be able to come to Arkansas for an H40 meet.

 

[derian06]

You should make the trip. Buying a car is like the second biggest purchase anyone makes in their lifetime. Don't buy it until you drive it. Does it come with any type of warranty? Check those tires as well. Those look to be the factory 33in bridgestones... and if they have 83k miles on them... :gaah:
That could help you get a lower price...

Also, what insurance company do you have?

eta: and that guy (second owner) (owner of the dealership) only had it for about six months... Why? Does he just go through cars that fast, or is there something else to it. Watch out for the crooks man. There are a bunch of them in car sales...

Good luck. Hopefully in September you'll have a new rig and be able to come to Arkansas for an H40 meet.

I just wrote a big long paragraph about what we talked about and how long. And how my gut tells me a he is a genuine person. How they're in a small town in a family owned lot and how they own 5 lots. And all of these informative things got deleted when i looke how long the drive was.

But it ended like this. I'm probably going to make the drive it's only 7 or 8 hours.

 

[Big2dabank]

I'll try but the guy is taking care of shipping and i'm 479 miles away.

Sounds like you've already settled for his asking price. Screw shipping, make the drive and take a friend with you. Car sales and genuine person should not be in the same sentence as that is rarely the case. Their job is to do exactly what he is doing with you, build friendship and trust and make you feel like your getting a great deal on a great car while they are sticking it up your backend. Know your sh!t when you sit down to haggle the price. Look over the car thoroughly (not just the shiny chrome and red paint), bring a flash light, test drive it on a rough road and not smooth asphalt. Take his list price and start discounting from there, new battery?, new tires?, new brakes?, ball joints?, fluids?, hubs?, seals leaking?, etc.. Even though you are traveling a long distance, be prepared to walk away if something doesn't feel right. Its your money and its his job to get as much of it as possible, but its your job to keep as much of it as possible. Good Luck.