Head Games

[Streetbu]

I have zero experience regarding LS swaps in S10's. But I wonder if they are similar to g bodies in that with the truck accessories the p/s pump pulley will be very close to the steering gear box? That's the reason I did not want truck accessories. I used F body p/s pump, balancer, water pump, and an ICT alternator bracket. Cleaned things up. Luckily I found the the p/s and matching bracket locally for only $40, which is not usually the case.

 

[CopperNick]

And that is one concern that I do have. In watching some of the "How-to" swap videos, the brackets coming into conflict with the power steering box has been an issue that the various narrators offered differing solutions for. As you pointed out available real estate can become a problem in the case of a swap. In my situation, going with the F-Body brackets and plenum would give me a tighter, more compact install. Apparently i will have to move the rad forward no matter what, simply because there are two additional cylinders to contend with. The big wheeze with F-components is that they are rarer than snake lips in the local yards; most of those wrecks get sent down east for auction. I could probably get lucky if I was able to get over the border and visit a couple of the yards in Minnesota but the border is still closed to us and likely to remain so for who knows how long.

As general question here, i had planned to use the stock exhaust manifolds simply because I have them and because they do sit close to the block. However, as delivered by the factory, they came with a pair of goofy looking sheet metal shrouds that, I guess, were some kind of heat shield. One was already gone when I chose this motor, the other, well three out of four screws came out; the fourth resisted then and now.
I am wondering if it would be worth my time and effort to shave off the bosses into which those screws get screwed? They are just over sized lumps of metal that were included when the manifolds were casted. My only concern would be the thickness of the tube wall once they were shaved away and the curves blended to match the balance of the shape of the casting. In addition, the passenger side has some kind of boss/flange casted to it that is sort of baffling in terms of what it was for. No holes, no unique shape to it, just this sort of over-sized "ear" that just seems to hang in the wind.

The factory manifolds would not be an issue to remove; someone already beat me to the chore of yarding out the old mounting bolts and replaced them with a pretty set of gold anodized 10.9 capscrews. All I have done with them is to carefully re-extract them on a one at a time basis, apply some never seize to the threads because they are steel screws being inserted in to an aluminum casting, and hand thread them back in for the first few threads to get them tracking right. After that, 3/8ths air drive ratchet to snug and finish off by hand. i have no desire to try to extract a broken fastener from an aluminum casting. They are hard enough to dig out of steel and I got real lucky the last time.

I do get that aftermarket headers could be a cheaper solution in terms of time and labour but there is the absence of a larg budget for this project at this time that is the sticking point. It is coming on fall and I have some overhead bills that have priority here.



Nick

 

[Northernregal]

I have an ICT Accessory drive and the only thing that really matters for your swap is depth of crank pulley, truck is the longest, early F body is mid length and Corvette is the shortest. ICT has a setup to reuse your AC pump and S10 power steering setup. Here are the links.

AC/Power steering Pump Bracket.

S10 LS Swap A/C Compressor and Power Steering Bracket LS1 LS3 LSX LQ4 LQ9 4.8L 5.3L 6.0L | 551779-3 - ICT Billet

Buy S10 LS Swap A/C Compressor and Power Steering Bracket LS1 LS3 LSX LQ4 LQ9 4.8L 5.3L 6.0L (551779-3) from ICT Billet and browse through a huge selection of Made in USA LS/LT swap and conversion parts, manufactured at the state of the art plant.

www.ictbillet.com

Alt Bracket.

S10 LS Swap Alternator Bracket LS1 LS3 LSX LQ4 LQ9 4.8L 5.3L 6.0L | 551780-3 - ICT Billet

Buy S10 LS Swap Alternator Bracket LS1 LS3 LSX LQ4 LQ9 4.8L 5.3L 6.0L (551780-3) from ICT Billet and browse through a huge selection of Made in USA LS/LT swap and conversion parts, manufactured at the state of the art plant.

www.ictbillet.com

If you have the right engine mounts, you should be able to use stock truck accessories, if you want to make it pretty or have fitment issues these will solve that.

 

[CopperNick]

SWEET!!! Just came over from the ICT website and they were exactly what I was looking for and the prices are totally acceptable, plus American Made; Total Bonus. Even with the exchange and shipping, the bite looks to fall below the 5 C's cdn mark.

On a darker note, during the ongoing delousing of the 5.3 I had spotted what looked like a crack or split in the passenger side exhaust casting. Thought it was likely just a bit of casting flash until today. Managed to wrestle it off although the dipstick tube was totally uncooperative and found that it was a surface fracture that ran the entire circumference of the tube. Surprised the manifold did not split apart when I separated it from the head. I don't want hedders for this mill. Up here under daily service they commit suicide after about two years and two winters. Swapping them out on a regular basis on my old 78 Monte was enough of a pita that I have no desire to repeat the exercise.



Nick

 

[CopperNick]

So what little free time I have had this past month has mostly gone to other projects with a little bit of attention going to the 5.3 from time to time. Did pull the waterpump and pop the back cover off. Seemed to be mostly a case of the micro-cruds that was binding up the impeller from turning freely.

But I do have a question. For the 02 5.3 motor that I scored from that avalanche, which version or part number of the LS6 intake plenum would be correct? I have discovered that there are at least three different part number for that intake, and probably more. Either way, used or new, I need to know which part number(s) would be correct for my application before I go crusading on E-Bay, or digging through some yard's stock of discarded units.

The biggest criteria here, I am thinking, is that the 2002 engine management harness electrical connections for the fuel injectors need to be compatible with the injectors that would come with the manifold, unless I can just transfer the injectors over from the old rail, or use the rail and injectors as a complete assembly and just swap out the crossover tube. I have seen versions of the LS6 plenum that were being offered c/w the fuel rails and injectors but have no way of knowing if the electrical sockets on the injectors are compatible and will mate with the plugs on the harness.

Thoughts, ideas, and recommendations, anyone????



Nick

 

[64nailhead]

Do you have the harness and ECM or do you have to purchase them? What transmission are you using?


I'm late to this thread, but cathedral port FTW all day, every time unless you're building a 650hp NA build.

 

[CopperNick]

Okay. The engine management harness and its matching ECM are both coming from a same year, 2002, 5.3 that I am presently picking apart at my local yard. The back story on the harness is that, due to a broken hydraulic pump, they can't lift the truck to get access to the pan, starter, lower block, and t-mission connections for the harness to get it free. Everything topside is unplugged. The ECM/ECU is already here and stashed in my Monte's cabin.

Yeah, I am planning on staying with the 706 casting cathedral port head. I just need some guidance on which part number LS-6 plenum I ought to be looking for. Typical GM, they came in multiple iterations that had different part numbers. Around here they are not thick on the ground. Most of the LS series motors are truck orphans which means they got an entirely different plenum tp ply with. Changing to the LS plenum give me more room between the hood and the plenum itself.



Nick

 

[Streetbu]

They are all obsolete and not replaced so you must get a used one. Which one doesn't really matter. Be careful on Ebay though, many people are trying to pass off an LS1 intake as an LS6. The LS1 has an egr port right above the throttle body, LS6 doesn't.

This link describes the differences and includes pics of the bottom where they differ. Check it out.

LS6 intake part #'s - CorvetteForum - Chevrolet Corvette Forum Discussion

C5 Tech - LS6 intake part #'s - It appears there's various part numbers for the LS6 intake. Can anyone tell me if 12573572 is an LS6 intake? Can anyone tell me all of the part numbers for the LS6 intake? Thank you. Mike

www.corvetteforum.com

 

[CopperNick]

COOL. Thanks!!! Be right back

Ann-nd, I'm ba-ack.

Check me on this StreetBu, from that link you provided, what I was able to harvest was that there were 3 numbers for the LS-6 manifold that collectively, spanned a time frame from 1998-2004. This much jibes with what I was able to discover elsewhere.

The oldest, offered between 1998-2000, came on the Camaro, p/n 12573572 and had no provision for an Exhaust Gas Recirculation port (EGR)

The next one, offered between 2001-2002, came on the Camaro again, p/n 12561184, no mention of EGR capability

The last one,. also offered between 2001-2002, is p/n 12561182, and no mention of the application or EGR.

The only way to distinguish an LS-6 from any of the other manifolds is to flip it over and check the bottom. The LS-6 is FLAT. The rest, apparently, aren't.

There was also an dual application intake designated LS-1/LS-6 that appeared from2001-2004 but no part number for this was provided or mentioned.

It looks like either of the 01-02 intakes, 12561182, or 12561184 would be correct and work for me. The EGR port,if present, would just get a plug as the exhaust manifolds have no provision for an EGR valve. The boss is there but it was never drilled or tapped for the application.

How'm I doing so far???



Nick

 

[jiho]

at this point in my life I get my adrenaline thrills mostly from just waking up in the morning

Criminy, "just waking up" is absolute rock bottom in my day. Horrifying sometimes. Needs a little coffee, then some screwball ideas.