four questions

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doood

Amateur Mechanic
Sep 24, 2020
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All the questions because I don't have a service manual.... If it's annoying, please point me to a pirate service manual online.

1) LM7 5.3l crate engine (ATK) has instructions to "seal the bolts joining flywheel/flexplate to crank" to avoid oil leak. I found discussion in some LS GTO forum discussing oil contamination of clutch to use PTFE (teflon) paste for this purpose. I asked ATK what to use (RTV?).

2) Do most NA LS builds NOT use an oil cooler? Seems my donor truck (2WD Silverado) did not have stock oil cooler because there is a delete cover above the oil filter. Strangely, my dakota digital dash came with an additional oil cooler delete cover (for use with included oil pressure instrument). My aftermarket radiator, marketed as specifically G-Body, does not have an oil cooler. Soooo, my radiator is bitchin' and I'm pretty sure I don't need the oil cooler. Comments? Out of curiosity, is this where turbo LS guys take oil for the spools?

3) Crate engine instructions tell me to prime the oil pump with oil before attempting start. I've been aware of this and seen a Youtuber use a drill pump to fill the engine from the oil galley port (normally plugged) and I've seen some other guy use a funnel to simply prime the pump and fill the oil filter. Both inserted rubber fuel line or whatever flex tubing well into the oil galley port. I get the feeling the funnel is better and the drill pump is overkill.

4) I installed LS6 valley cover with integral PCV valve and it fits perfectly. I have a blank-off for the driver's side valve cover PCV nipple; don't know if I'm going to try to pull the press-fit nipple out of the valve cover and use the blank-off or just cap it with a jimmy hat. If I understand correctly, I can simply blank off the driver's side valve cover PCV nipple and route the LS6 PCV nipple to the intake manifold vacuum. I will connect the passenger side valve cover nipple on the LS1 throttle body bypass hole opposite the idle air valve for "fresh air in". If I want to get fancier, I can put a fuel filter or catch can before the intake manifold.
 

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81cutlass

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Nobody really runs oil coolers on swaps. Early 2500's got coolers but 1500's didn't. Some LS3 equipped cars like camaros got pan mounted coolers but thats a different topic. Keep the cap on and it's fine. If you are road racing the car hard maybe consider it but I wouldn't bother.

Priming LS engines isn't as doable as traditional SBC's since the pump is crank snout driven. 99% of the time you can just start it and it self primes. My lq4 I put together was probably in the 1% that didnt self prime on first startup. There are 2 plugs on the block, drivers side near the main bearing caps. I pulled one out and tapped it and connected a pressurized tank and force primed the system. I have seen people use weed sprayers also. In my opinion let it self prime or force lube via a pressurized tank or gear pump. The hose with gravity method isn't going to do much.
 
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doood

Amateur Mechanic
Sep 24, 2020
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Nobody really runs oil coolers on swaps. Early 2500's got coolers but 1500's didn't. Some LS3 equipped cars like camaros got pan mounted coolers but thats a different topic. Keep the cap on and it's fine. If you are road racing the car hard maybe consider it but I wouldn't bother.

Priming LS engines isn't as doable as traditional SBC's since the pump is crank snout driven. 99% of the time you can just start it and it self primes. My lq4 I put together was probably in the 1% that didnt self prime on first startup. There are 2 plugs on the block, drivers side near the main bearing caps. I pulled one out and tapped it and connected a pressurized tank and force primed the system. I have seen people use weed sprayers also. In my opinion let it self prime or force lube via a pressurized tank or gear pump. The hose with gravity method isn't going to do much.
pressurized tank or weed sprayer is clever AF.
 
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Tony1968

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I poured about 4 ounces thru block plug near front of block to fill the oil pump. Replaced plug and cranked over engine for 15 or 20 seconds and had about 30psi if I remember correctly. You can do it as stated in other ways but this was pretty simple.
 
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doood

Amateur Mechanic
Sep 24, 2020
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I poured about 4 ounces thru block plug near front of block to fill the oil pump. Replaced plug and cranked over engine for 15 or 20 seconds and had about 30psi if I remember correctly. You can do it as stated in other ways but this was pretty simple.
I got responses from "powertrain products" (ATK distributor that sold the long block) - conservative advice of course (warranty).

About the flex-plate bolts: "RTV is fine, but be careful as too much can get into the oil system and damage the bearings and/or cross-thread the bolt."

About priming the oil: "Any access point to the oil system is fine, you want to prime until you have oil through the entire engine make sure to spin the engine by had a few times during the process to lubricate the cam bearings properly. The oil cooler block-off is an acceptable location to do this."

About the oil cooler: "It (block-off) was stock apparently."

About the PCV system: "That is a fine solution."

I think I'll use PTFE thread sealer and not RTV on the flex-plate bolts tonight. Reusing donor engine bolts and flex-plate.

I have a threaded piece of brass to adapt the Dakota Digital oil pressure sender (for gage cluster) to the stock location behind the intake. I might use that to oil the system with a 1 Gal weed sprayer bottle ($5/ea Walmart), since the only lube in the engine is what they applied during assembly (new long block). That's a ways off.
 

scoti

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Sep 5, 2019
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"seal the bolts joining flywheel/flexplate to crank" to avoid oil leak.
What am I missing about the 'flex-plate bolts' ? Why (or how) would installing the requisite hardware for the flex-plate/flywheel into the crank flange cause an oil leak?
The crank flange is external & the engine is sealed @ the rear main right?
 
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doood

Amateur Mechanic
Sep 24, 2020
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What am I missing about the 'flex-plate bolts' ? Why (or how) would installing the requisite hardware for the flex-plate/flywheel into the crank flange cause an oil leak?
The crank flange is external & the engine is sealed @ the rear main right?
I am/was surprised also, but there was a tag on the crank that says it'll leak. There are a few google hits. Maybe they drilled a blind hole into a through hole and there is now a path?
 

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Texas82GP

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I am/was surprised also, but there was a tag on the crank that says it'll leak. There are a few google hits. Maybe they drilled a blind hole into a through hole and there is now a path?
That's a new one on me. I installed the flywheel on my brother's 6.0 and the flexplate on my 5.3 with just Loctite on the threads. I've never heard of applying sealer to the bolts.
 

Texas82GP

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The procedure for both my brother's 02 Sierra and my 08 Sierra call only for threadlocker. No mention of sealer....
Screenshot_20210414-140628_Samsung Internet.jpg


Screenshot_20210414-140525_Samsung Internet.jpg
 
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Tony1968

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I don't remember looking closely enough at crank when I installed it but even if the holes for flexplate go all the way into the crank case wouldn't thread locker still stop oil from seeping out? I mean it's thread locker. It's in the threads and it can't go anywhere?
 
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