Aluminum or “STEAL” LS engine?

Welcome back G-body fans. It’s Engine time!

The first LS engine attempt was a complete engine and transmission package sourced from a friend for $1600.00 for an all aluminum 5.7 L LS engine out of a ’99 Trans Am WS6 with 90K miles. Then I found a “Steal” of a deal on a 6.0L iron block with 50K! The individual selling the engine on Craigslist was talked down to $500.00 for the 2001 LKQ junkyard long block engine! The Aluminum 5.7L was then sold for $1650. The savings would soon disappear though, the extra parts needed to make this engine look sweet are adding up!!!

Before we get to far ahead though, I would like to send a very sincere thanks out to the folks at BRP Hotrods, Moroso, Lokar, Kwik Performance, F.A.S.T. and Swagelok of St. Louis. Representatives from each of these companies helped solved part integration issues. The product support from these companies is top-notch!

All cleaned up 6.0L / 4l60e core / modified Moroso 7qt oil pan / BRP Motor mounts / hand polished stock valve covers, VHT aluminum engine paint
The BRP hotrod motor mounts are very nice but were not supposed to work with the Moroso 7qt oil pan. In fact, at first it didn’t. The oil pan was contacting the passenger side of the frame/engine cradle. A call to BRP Hotrod and Moroso got the issue fixed.

Here is a little background of the engine and some detail photos.

So this is how the $500 truck motor started out. I thought about using the truck intake, but found the FAST intake on Craigslist cheap also!
Before hand polishing and painting.
Wasn’t sure if the stock valve covers would polish very well, but they came out ok. This pic also has the moroso oil pan before the modification and painted with VHT engine paint.
Seen here, the Moroso 7qt baffled oil pan used with the BRP motor mounts. It is not a combination that will work. It rides the frame very minimally. Moroso came to the rescue!
Moroso modified this oil pan to make it work. As seen in this photo, it clears now with no issues. The driver side of the oil pan had 0.30″ clearance from the beginning, so no issues there either.
From this angle you can see the brake lines that run along the frame under the engine also clear the Moroso oil pan (both sides)
There are a lot of wet sump oil pans that fit, but this one holds 7qts of oil, has baffels and doors, and sits up higher than the frame! Very cool product!

 

The engine was now in place using the BRP motor mounts. The transmission core was trial fit to the G-force cross-member. Now, on to the rest of the engine build up. The following parts were sourced from Craigslist: a 90mm F.A.S.T intake, an AccuFab 90mm throttle body, Ls1 corvette fuel rail, ford 30 lbs injectors, and a brand new Be Cool g-body polished radiator.  In the following pics I will show you some of the modifications it took to make these part work together.

The stock corvette fuel rail was modified to fit with the stock coil bracket and truck coils. This shows the Stainless steel compression fitting from Swagelok. It is a 3/8 inch compression to AN-6.
I purchased the Lokar LS1 cable and LS2 throttle cable bracket with the overdrive provision. The bracket mounted to the F.A.S.T intake did not line up with the Accufab throttle body cam, so I built a 1/4 inch spacer and it worked perfect.
The Lokar cable end did not line up in the grove due to incorrect length. Lokar took my throttle body and sent back a cable end that fit perfect! Seen here is the correct length cable end. Again, excellent product support!
Kwik performance brackets look great in my opinion. Excellent product and excellent customer support. I’m using a 2010 Camaro water pump with the truck balancer and with the corresponding pulleys for the correct alignment. The headers are BRP Hotrod ceramic coated mid-length set and fit like they are supposed to with the matching engine mounts. I mounted the Lokar locking oil dipstick on a spare hole in the head with a stainless steel spacer and bolt.
This view I wanted to show the throttle cable placement and how the fuel line was run on top of the F.A.S.T. intake. I will go into how the “All” stainless fuel system is routed in a later post. This pic also shows a better view of the Kwik performance system. At this point, I have LESS invested in this set-up than a salvage yard/Ebay price of an aluminum LS2 6.0L from a GTO.

As you can see, lots of things to keep working on.  Next on the agenda is a small break, its time for SEMA 2012! This will be my first trip out to this trade show and I’m excited. If I get some good pics, I will post them.

Thanks for keeping up with HotRodRegal.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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