the 05 truck will not have a aluminum block, everyone says "ls" even when it is not a true LS. they only came in GTO pontiac G8 vette's transams and camaros.... and V spec caddy's ... trucks have iron blocks and aluminum heads. the reason people say LS is due to it being a similar architecture. its a gen 3 small block..... and oh yeah . there is no "ls" 305... the 4.8 is actually 292.9 CI and the 5.7 isnt truly a 350 either its a 348CI.... the 5.3 is 323CI.... the 3rd gen SBC or "ls" series motors everyone likes to call them are nothing like the old 305,327,350 everyone knows from back when ..... they share nothing...in fact the deck height and cam centerline location has more in common with a 351 Windsor than a chevy of old.... but GOD can those heads breath!

 

I have been shoehorning engines where God did not design them since the early 1980's, it is sort of in my blood and bones. I look at my Toyota truck all of the time and ponder the possibilities, from a Lexus v8 to a Cummins diesel, and every time, the same arguments stop me:

1. Cost vs Benefit: doing an engine swap correctly takes money and time, and the payoff just isn't there for these. A 300hp micro truck is going to be cool, and a tire fryer, sure, but what then? The back is light as hell, meaning you will just boil tires if you try and use all of that power, and if you install a heavy engine (and there are lots of ways not to, I know) the end product will have the maneuverability of a lawn dart. The changes you are going to have make to accommodate the engine are going to be lavish, expensive, and time consuming, and you said this truck is your daily driver?

2. Cool factor: Everybody that swaps an engine says it is the coolest thing ever, which is exactly the same thing you hear from the guy who marries the high maintenance trophy wife. They are trying to justify their own decisions, and if they convince more people to do they same, they must be right, eh?

3. Engineering: Once you are in it, you are IN IT, there is no going back. Shops will assist you, to a point, but they aren't going to get rich off of this sort of swap, so they aren't going to be as focused as you or on your deadlines, unless you are willing to throw money at them, and lets be honest, if we had money to throw around, we would be restoring 1960's supercars, not tinkering with leftover Toyota mini trucks.

I am NOT disparaging our trucks, I have one, and if you stumble across my build thread, you will find I am as in to it as anyone. I am also, however, aware that the essential coolness of our trucks does not derive from performance as in power and speed, but from reliability and function and cheap and cheerful pluck. If you want to swap in a v8 just to do it, that is your call, one I have made countless times. Someday, I may write an account of my Porsche 911 Turbo motor into a 1963 Karman Ghia story, but that was a fluff engine into fluff car and was a tremendous engineering effort for about a weeks worth of fun, and about $8k pissed away into nothing.

I am tuning my 22r, making it happier and better breathing (next is a header and complete 2.5 exhaust) but I am doing this with the opinion that to sacrifice the essential nature of the truck as a stately but utterly dependable workhorse would be a mistake of the first order. That being opinion however, your mileage may vary.

 

I've had my 22r hybrid powered 1982 pickup to 135 GPS verified mph. With a passenger.

They don't need alot of power to get stupid fast. Remember they weigh 2400 pounds.

I'm not one to say don't do a v8 swap, but remember these trucks are unforgiving in a wreck. And they don't handle very well also.

BUT - I always lean to a 5.0 for with a t5. Engine is narrow, front sump, and cheap. 215hp stock and 300 easily. Comes fuel injected most of the time. I'd rather have that then a crummy 305 camaro/caprice/pickup motor.

My motor I'm piecing together for my mercedes 190e. (Swapping it someday!)