I hate you guys also. (Chevy LS content)

I will make this fast.

1. Could a LS4 from a Chevy Impala SS fit in a '05 Chevy Malibu?

2. Having a shop do ALL the work and keeping a stock tune would it run under $10k for everything?

1. Possibly

2. Doubtful

Take the $10k and buy a better car.

Your car is a front wheel drive platform...that is not a possible swap for anywhere near 10k.

In reply to morecowbell:

And the LS4 is a fwd v8....

The ls4 is fwd v8, all I can add is in a Pontiac grand am, there was a need to notch frame rails.

In reply to Will:

What's the fun in that?

honestly if you want FWD v8 just go buy an impala ss or gp gxp. then you get the ls4 already, for way less than 10k.

i'm all for crazy swaps, but with all the new electronics, emissions, the fact that the w body has a larger engine bay than the malibu, on top of having a shop do the work, you're not going to sniff it for 10k.

Thanks, I figured as much. Just trying to figure what to do on that eventual day at VIR when the engine or trans blows.

Looks like anything other than the stock engine will cost at least 4 times as much and only yield a 20% (3.9l from malibu ss) - 25% gain (3.6l from pontiac G6 GTP/GXP).

Is there a reason you're so committed to this car? Sorry for being blunt, but even if you get the engine situation sorted out, you still have a heavy, automatic, FWD Mac strut rental car.

I like being the underdog.

Knowing my capabilities surpass the limits of the car.

Passing "sports cars" in HPDE with a 4 door grocery getter with a stuffed bear in a car seat in the back and a baby on board sign in the window.

This is neither my DD nor my only track car ('96 Miata). It is something that if I ball up I can currently walk away from without crying.

I was hoping you all would say a LS4 swap would be a near impossible and stupid expensive proposition. Same as I was told the other swaps were. I'm smart enough to know that some of my ideas need to be sunk at the dock before that ship sets sail.

I think that you should go ahead and look for something else the fits the "underdog" qualifications when the time comes to hang up the Malibu. Maybe something with a buick badge? A 3.6L Lacrosse should haul ass or a 3.5L fusion or Milan.

I don't know how much money I would sink in it but I did think about it for my Malibu if the motor went bad before the body rotted away. It certainly couldn't be any worse an idea than a customer I had that put a 4.9 caddy motor in a Cimarron.