[Formulajones]

Originally Posted by HWYSTR455

It's totally the norm, which is why I don't buy onto the LS lifter conversion for Pontiacs. All you have to do is Google 'LS lifter noise' or do a search on YouTube, and you will see how normal it is.

And no worries about not grasping the point, it's just that you can't make a cost comparison between a boneyard used engine and a fresh engine rebuild. It's complicated.

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Sure you can, it's not complicated at all. I can tell you any engine I build from scratch, by the time I completely go through it and do it right, I'm spending about $10k. That's if I have the block and crank already in my possession. Even a cheap SBC sets me back over $6k and that's if I already have a block and heads and a crank, intake and carb sitting here.

It's just not cheap to build an engine correctly these days and there are no guarantees with it either. Then you have machine shop hang ups, and parts availability right now is absolutely ridiculous.

That's what people are looking at. LS engines are sitting around most everywhere right now and not all that expensive. Dropped in and running is much cheaper than building a classic engine, and you usually get an overdrive with it to boot. Not saying that's what I would do (depending on the car) but that's what people are considering. That's the attraction.


For the record, It's not that I find issues with the LS lifters a problem, because I don't, I simply don't buy into the LS lifter conversion because I just don't find it necessary when the retro stuff has worked fine for me for 30 years. People trying to reinvent the wheel. I just don't need it.