1996 4.3 to 5.3 Swap

[Safariwagon]

I am a little slow getting going here. Seems several places make the engine mounts. Looking to retain the factory A/C so I am checking into that. One thing I haven't been able to find much information on is the transmission. Aas seen in the above pics it's the 3 piece 4l60E. Can I just switch the bellhousing over to the "LS" style or do I still need some kind of adaptor? I've read varying opinions on this. Some say input shafts are different and torque convertor spacing is different, etc. Anyone here done this yet?

[Chevydillan]

You'll have to use the flat 6.0 flex plate with a spacer and probably elongate the torque converter holes. Thats the only way that trans will work behind the ls engine. It's cheap and easy. Factory a/c is easy to keep as well, not sure what compressor your truck has but there are kits out there to keep it. I used dirty dingo DD2550C mounts. Worked perfect.

[Safariwagon]

I have heard Dirty Dingo mounts work well. I just made a deal to get rid of my daily driver 2012 Jeep Patriot (what a P.O.S.) so the $ I have left over from paying my loan off should more than take care of this swap. I planned on having the tranny rebuilt since it was out. Should I just switch it over to a different one that is more applicable to this application? I have not had a wire harness built yet either. Planned on going with a Nelson one. Any suggestions?

[Blasphemy]

If you have the money ($950+) I say go for the Nelson harness. But if you want to try and save money, you can find a junkyard harness and have it modified or take the time and research how to modify it yourself. Either way you're going to have a standalone harness with minimal connections to plug into the body. As far as the trans, I would personally find a 4L65E or 4L80E, cuz even a rebuilt 60 probably wouldn't last you too long especially after modifications.