03 yukon headed to scrap, should i buy it? LS rolling chassis?

[AyWoSch Motors]

Hello all. Odd question...

So one my boss's friends has a 03 GMC Yukon, that they left at his house. I guess they were moving, so they dumped it there and just forgot about it until just recently.
Well it's just been sitting in the back back yard now for like a year, and they finally came by and we got talking. They decided they're just gonna bring it to the scrapyard and junk it, dont want to think about it anymore. It runs and drives, but it's a complete toilet. I mean they trashed the thing, it stinks, everything is busted inside, body looks like crap, it is garbage.
But... it does still run and drive.
Its 5.3 Vortec LS, 4L65E, NP246, and 8in 10bolt rear end.
Engine has like 300k but runs, trans she said is a little iffy, but functions, everything else is okay.

Now I'm not an LS guy, dont ever really want to mess with one (too many wires and sensors and computerised thingamajigs), but, I know so many people love them, and theres still a huge market or swaping them into things.

So there's my question, should I buy this hunk o junk, just or a potential chassis resale? Is it worth it?
I mean if they send it to scrap, shes probably only gonna get like 200$ for it, so i thought I'd just offer them like 200 and to just take it off they're hands free of the hassle.
Thought maybe just keep the doors and glass, and the brain, and then pull the body off and scrap it and just keep the frame with all the goodies.

Dont know what LS are worth nowadays, I know they've gone down in demand and popularity a bit. Especially a 5.3 with 300k ish miles on it, so she says.

Worth the headache or 200$ or somewhere around there, or should I just let it go to scrap and wave bye bye?

Thanks.

 

[QBuff02]

If it was me, i'd buy it and pull the drivetrain and scrap the rest. might make for a good little project later on. And with the aftermarket ripe with systems to run these engines and control the transmissions you can put them in just about anything.

 

[Soundmound]

For what a carton of smokes cost in Washington you'd have some bartering stock lol. If I were you with all that space and skill I'd drop two bills on it for the what if possibility. Just have one less date night at Cheesecake factory and you've covered the cost.

 

[Shorty81]

...let it go

 

[Bextreme04]

You would be a lot of money ahead for $200 if you were going to use any of that yourself. I bought a 97 K2500 as a donor for my swap stuff for $500. I pulled and kept the engine/trans and a few other things and sold about $1000 worth of stuff off it including seats and catalytic converters. Then I had a local scrapper come haul it off and they gave me another $150 just for that.

You should be able to get $1000 for a core 5.3/4l60 combo with the ecm and wiring harness at least. Probably even more than that. If anything the LS market has gone up quite a bit in the last couple years.

 

[CalSgt]

Last month the wrecking yard I got my ECM at had several LS drivetrains (a few 5.3's and a 6.0 I think) sitting inside near the counter. I think they were all around $800 or so with engine, trans, TC, harness and ECM. A few of the tags claimed 260-280K for milage when pulled.

If you are doing a swap $200 would be worth it for all the extra bits needed. I'd guess if the rest of the truck has been thrashed and neglected that the drivetrain was too. Probably never got the oil changed in the last 30K of its life.

 

[AyWoSch Motors]

Last month the wrecking yard I got my ECM at had several LS drivetrains (a few 5.3's and a 6.0 I think) sitting inside near the counter. I think they were all around $800 or so with engine, trans, TC, harness and ECM. A few of the tags claimed 260-280K for milage when pulled.

If you are doing a swap $200 would be worth it for all the extra bits needed. I'd guess if the rest of the truck has been thrashed and neglected that the drivetrain was too. Probably never got the oil changed in the last 30K of its life.

Well I'm not interested in a swap, was only interested in it as a pull and resale.

I know the guy that owned it, hes not a half bad mechanic, pretty good a regular maintenance, he just beats on stuff. Which is weird I know, but I'm sure he did oil changes when it was due.
Plus it was GF and her kids that destroyed the inside I'm sure, looks like that type of damage.
Either way, not my problem if I sell it, haha.

 

[AyWoSch Motors]

I went to the scrap yard and the junkyard Friday, and talked to my buddies there. My guy at the scrapyard said with price per ton right now, hed probably give her $160-$180 for it, and my friend at the junkyard said he probaly pay about $150-$200 for it.
So I texted the lady yeaterday and said hi, told her what the junkyard guys said about her truck, and told her I'd give her $200 and take it away free, doesnt have to deal with it again, even with its issues.

No response until this afternoon, and she just texted back, "not Interested".

I'm like WTH? Thought that was a good deal. Didnt even want to talk about it. Oh well.

 

[Grit dog]

I went to the scrap yard and the junkyard Friday, and talked to my buddies there. My guy at the scrapyard said with price per ton right now, hed probably give her $160-$180 for it, and my friend at the junkyard said he probaly pay about $150-$200 for it.
So I texted the lady yeaterday and said hi, told her what the junkyard guys said about her truck, and told her I'd give her $200 and take it away free, doesnt have to deal with it again, even with its issues.

No response until this afternoon, and she just texted back, "not Interested".

I'm like WTH? Thought that was a good deal. Didnt even want to talk about it. Oh well.

Sounds like she helped you make the best decision. Don’t take this the wrong way, but you don’t need a 300k mile pile of junk with a bad transmission to add to your collection.
And who cares what other peoples bad decisions are? Your boss should have drug the pos off his property and cleaned up his crap pile as well. But he’s stuck with it and the owner is stupid and you don’t need it.
Best case scenario is yours. You don’t have to deal with anything…

 

[oldretiredafguy]

I went to the scrap yard and the junkyard Friday, and talked to my buddies there. My guy at the scrapyard said with price per ton right now, hed probably give her $160-$180 for it, and my friend at the junkyard said he probaly pay about $150-$200 for it.
So I texted the lady yeaterday and said hi, told her what the junkyard guys said about her truck, and told her I'd give her $200 and take it away free, doesnt have to deal with it again, even with its issues.

No response until this afternoon, and she just texted back, "not Interested".

I'm like WTH? Thought that was a good deal. Didnt even want to talk about it. Oh well.

One less headache to fiddle with. Maybe her cousin's husband's friend told her it was "worth way more" than the couple of 'C' notes. Another great example of "I know what I've got."

 

[Camar068]

my opinion....if the LS engine needs rebuilt or is over 200K miles......you'd have to give it to me....and I'd still have to think about it. It's not cheap to rebuild an LS top to bottom.

 

[CalSgt]

my opinion....if the LS engine needs rebuilt or is over 200K miles......you'd have to give it to me....and I'd still have to think about it. It's not cheap to rebuild an LS top to bottom.

Geeze…. It’s not cheap to build a classic SBC by the time you factor in machine work. I’ve never priced an LS rebuild I can only imagine the additional cost

 

[Hunter79764]

I know you aren't planning a swap, and this deal is gone now anyway, but for future reference...
In general, if you are going to rebuild it then it isn't worth it for a budget build. The beauty of the LS swap is that a factory longblock with 200k is still generally fine to use as-is with some new valve springs. I've got a 5.3 with 300k (granted, taken care of fairly well and mostly highway miles) that had factory crosshatch on the cylinder bores when I tore it down, and still had great oil pressure etc. I'd have no issues dropping that engine into another truck and running it with new springs and maybe replace the knock sensors and oil pressure sensor while it's out, just because it's a pain once installed. If you have one that smokes and burns oil and loses coolant, then yeah, just rebuild whatever you want, a 5.3 (LS) core is basically equivalent to a 5.7 (SBC) core. If you want cheap, just find a 5.3 that is in a little better shape and run it. If you want to rebuild something that isn't broken, then pick your poison, the SBC might be a little cheaper stock for stock, but if you build them to similar reasonable power levels (~300-400 hp), the LS would still use cheap factory parts, but the SBC would use more expensive aftermarket parts and probably take the lead on cost.

Anyway, just wanted to throw some info out there if you come across something similar again.

 

[TotalyHucked]

Man I'd be all over that deal, but I'd want it for me. Even at 300k, that engine likely is still in great shape. Slip a bumpstick it in it, regasket it and roll out.

 

[dvdswan]

Snag it. You can sell the engine, trans, t/case, wiring harness, and PCM for at least a 1k if not more. depends on your area.