[HawaiianXterra]

Given the price of anything 4x4 right now I’d swap in a new engine but that’s just me.

No kidding! When the time comes I'm thinking new engine and trans over getting another used or new 4x4. I'll just keep my beloved X.

 

[CThoreal]

Why not a 4.8 or 5.3L LS swap? Increase power a bunch, get better mileage and never do anything but change the oil. Kits are available.

I have never seen an LS swap kit for our platform(Xterra, Frontier) can you provide a link or info? LS' are great for all the well documented reasons, but the VK V8 also has a stellar reputation for reliability and performance, and the later VK56DE version makes 400+ hp and torque in stock form. I cant see an LS swap being nearly as plug and play or affordable as a VK swap. I would love to be proven wrong though.

 

[careyj]

Well the ol witch hasn’t burned a drop in 600 miles now, and the intermittent oil-in-the-cat light is off more than on now. must’ve scared her pretty bad. Maybe just the oil gallery is on the table to get another couple years out of her. Runs great when it runs great. I had to work extra hours this week so couldn’t take it in but I’ll get it checked out soon. I’m leaning toward keeping this one regardless unless it’s way worse than I think. The options out there are good but not awesome at the moment.

 

[zanethan]

Yeah? Where would you find those? What would be the advantages over a vk swap?

The biggest advantage is that LS engines are in just about 500,000,000 GM trucks so they are plentiful and cheap. But you’d need a ton of custom fab and finagling to get it all to work. It’s likely it’ll cost about the same at the end of the day. There are a few LS swapped X’s out there. None on this forum that I know of.