neilb

Hello everyone, I thought I'd start a thread for my engine build as a place to ask questions and post some photos.

The recipient of the new mill is my '84 F41 sports coupe, which I just bought this past april. It is a super clean car, and only 150000km on the Odo. The only real disappointing thing is the weak old 305.

I got my Aluminum 5.3l long block from a customer at work who had us replace it due to some bottom end noise. I got it for the crazy price of $25.00!!! Once I got it home, I tore into it and found that the bottom end noise was actually caused by the loose oil pump mounting bolts. I have pulled the heads, Cam, and main bearing caps, and so far things are looking pretty good. The cam bearings need replacing because there is some copper showing through, and I will likely be getting the crank polished and replacing the main and rod bearings even though they still look ok. The cylinder walls look great, I can still see the cross hatching!

I have ordered Edelbrock's Performer RPM dual plane carb intake, and GM Performance Parts LS hot Cam kit, which specs at 219*/228*, .525"/.525", on a 112* lsa. A customer at work has a fairly new Edelbrock 650 carb which he is willing to sell to me for $250.00.

I'm not sure what the plan is for exhaust yet, I'll have to do some figuring.

For the cylinder heads, I have two options sitting in the garage: 243 castings and 799 castings. And here comes my first question: Which is the better head for a mild street engine?

question #2, where is the best place to source a Fbody oil pan? I have seen the swap pans, though they all cost $350.00 on up. Are the F body pans still available from GM?

This build will make progress, but very slowly so please be patient.

I will post pics as I can, I will try to snap some tomorrow.

This isn't my first engine swap, but it is my first LS engine swap, so any input/suggestions would be great!

Thanks!

alex722607

iTrader: (3)

You are still gonna need something for the crank sensor and the cam sensor (and the coils) - the PCM normally does that - since your going carb -that will be a bit more challenging than EFI.

An f-body pan - and accessories can be found on the classifieds here or at LS1Tech, ebay, or Nook and Tranny. F-body pans are still available from GM, atleast they were when I was doing the swap.

novaderrik

i'll be doing the same thing, and i got a hell of a deal on my aluminum 5.3.. got it for $100 after it was pulled out of an '09 SUburban for a lifter tick on cold start that went away once it got up to temp.. pulled it apart and found that one of the lifters for the cylinder deactivation had loose guts that rattled around...

mine has the 243 heads, which is what i'll be using.

mine has 340,000 miles on it but looks brand new internally. there is even a crosshatch on the cylinders... i'm just going to go totally low buck on it and just ram a hone thru the cylinders, clean everything up, and put it back together with new rings and bearings. i'll be running the LS9 cam because it's cheap and a Summit kit that comes with all new lifters, springs, and roller trunions for the rocker arms. i'll need to get a different timing chain and sprocket for the 3 bolt cam, but i should be into the engine for under $1k, with about that much more in the efi stuff.. i'll be giving up a little power with the LS1 F body intake, throttle body, and exhaust manifolds but should still have just north of 400 horsepowers and 400 torques and might even be able to squeeze out 30mpg if i can manage to drive it nice..

these newer motors are just simply amazing in every way. as much as i love me a good 355, i can't wait to start playing with the gen4 engine that's on the engine stand out in my garage..

neilb

I will be using the MSD ignition controller #6010 LS, which allows me to use the factory ignition coils and controls timing through the cam, crank, Map, and temp sensors.

I'm thinking I'll price out the pan through GM, because I will get it at the shop cost through my work. The prices on www.superchevyperformance.com are pretty tempting, but I'll see if I can find a better deal. Too bad the GM muscle car pans are too deep, they are so cheap!

neilb

Sounds like you have a pretty sweet build going on! I looked at the LS9 cam kit, but decided against it because I was told the lsa is too wide to run with a carb.

I agree, these engines are pretty amazing, and I'm really looking forward to seeing what kind of power I will be making. My goal is similar to yours, near 400hp+. I read an engine build article on www.Hotrod.com, using a stock 5.3l, a small comp cams, and a carb, and they got 417hp!

neilb

pics as promised,

The block is looking pretty good so far. What looks like scoring on the cylinder walls in the pic, is just oil/dirt smears from cleaning off the pistons. I gave the block a pressure wash, but it will need a proper degreasing, which will be done when the cam bearings are installed at the machine shop.

cosmick

799s were an exactly identical replacement for the 243s. The only difference is the casting number.

neilb

Ok, got it! Thanks for the info. I'll prob drop both sets off at the machine shop and tell them to clean up which ever pair is in better shape.

In other news, I finished pulling the bottom end, and discovered a bit of carnage from the low oil pressure. The Main thrust bearing took a sh*t kicking! Luckily the crank still looks awesome, and I think just a polish will get me back into shape. The machine shop has quoted me $60.00 labour to install the cam bearings, another $60.00-$80.00 to polish the crank, plus the cost of new bearings. They will also degrease and thoroughly check the block. Said it will be "a few hundred bucks" total roughly. Not bad. I'm thinking I'll drop the block and crank off later this week for them to get started.

R13_Braz

Trust me when I say that superchevy is the best deal for everything. I spent hours upon hours researching, browsing ebay and craigslist, and searching for a cheaper setup and didn't find it.

Just under $300 for everything, brand new in box and ready to go is the best I could find. And I was really happy with how it arrived.

That's about right on the shop. To do everything you stated, plus having to grind the crank to .010/.010, I got out the door for $325 at my machine shop. That's vatted, magnaflux, cleaned out, cam brearings etc.

I'll be following your build. Just got done with the installation of mine. Lots of break in and little things left. lol. Never finished.

neilb

Look what came yesterday! Looking good! The carb I picked up from a customer at work for who we just installed the MSD atomic EFI on his '74 corvette. The carb is Edelbrock's Thunder Series AVS 650 cfm, with the endura shine. I couldn't resist mocking it all up to get a sneak peak.

neilb

So I've got a couple of things happening with this build. I've been doing some research into the accessory brackets, and in keeping with my budget build, I want to try to use the truck brackets with some modifications for hood clearance. I think I have a plan all set out, but I won't know for sure until I get all the pieces. My plan for the waterpump is to use a LS3 Camaro pump. Apparently it uses the same pulley depth as the truck, plus it gives me an upper rad hose outlet facing straight out on the driver's side.

I have started to polish the stock valve covers... no pics yet, they are looking not too bad so far, but I have much more sanding and polishing to do.

I also have been offered a complete iron block 6.0l engine for free. I was told that it blew a spark plug out and damaged the threads in one head, but is otherwise ok. It's a high mileage engine though, close to 500000km. Not sure what I'm going to do with it, maybe just steal bits and pieces off of it, or I'll tear it apart and see what it looks like. Discplacement always wins... Points to ponder.

I haven't sent out the block/heads to the machine shop yet. My wife has been off work for the last month due to an illness, and is just getting back to work this week, so hopefully things can get moving on a bit quicker soon.

neilb

Small update, I've been doing some more research on LS cylinder heads, and stumbled on an article in Hot Rod magazine, where they compare heads. What they found is certain heads were cast in a different manner than the sand casting, and found that the one casting style consistently provided an extra 5-8hp. The way to identify, are the heads which flow better have a triangular casting mark below each sparkplug hole. Apparently the casting method provides a smoother and more consistent port wall. In my case my 243 heads have the triangular casting marks, but my 799 heads don't. I guess I know which set I'll be using.

neilb

Well its been a while since posting. Since my last post my wife and I sold our house, put all our stuff in storage and lived with the inlaws for a month. We are now settled into our new house and now that christmas is done I can get back to my ls build.

I have ordered the LS1 oil pan, pickup, dipstick and tube, and windage tray from my local GM dealer. Turns out even with how good of a price it was from superchevy, by the time I paid shipping, duties, and the exchange rate ( almost $0.50 on the dollar) it would cost more than buying new from GM. I got everything for $582 cad. Not much else has happened and I hope to finally get it all to the machine shop for the cleanup work soon. I am worried about the crank as it developed surface rust while it was in storage even with a coating of oil on it. It looks like it can just be polished still but im not sure.

neilb

A question i do have is what motor mounts are available for ls swaps that still allows me to run a factory ls style a/c compressor? Most of the adaptors i have seen state that they cannot be used with a/c. I have also looked into AJE's tubular LS swap k frame which provide motor mounts as part of their kit and has lots of clearance for a/c. It also has the option of a coil over kit for a very reasonable price, but sticking with the factory k frame is the most economical. Thoughts?

five7kid

iTrader: (14)

You have to use swap mounts that use the LS engine side mounts (typically 4th gen f-body that I've seen - not sure about using other LS chassis types like trucks). I got the ones I used from Spohn. Holley (Hooker) now also has some available (move the engine forward some - will probably require notching the back of the K-member to use the f-body oil pan; had to notch mine with the Spohn mounts as well).

You will have to notch the K-member to keep the AC compressor in the factory LS location.

neilb

I was aware of having to notch the k frame for the compressor clearance and for the oil pan. I was hoping there were an adaptor set that uses the old sbc mounts (to save money since I have them) but still allow the a/c. Looks like thats not going to be an option. I am leaning towards getting the aje k frame because the clearance plus the coil overs allows me easy ride height adjustment. The nose will be way up going from a iron block/head 305 to the all aluminum 5.3l.

neilb

My oil pan, windage tray, dipstick and tube arrived yesterday. Seems the parts guy forgot to order the oil pickup tube though so I'll have to order that again. I know I've said this before, but I'm really hoping to get the block, heads and crank to the machine shop soon. Just seems life keeps getting in the way. My goal is to have the engine assembled by the end of the winter. For exhaust, I think I'll be going with the racing innovations long tubes and either my current Dynomax cat back or step up to the hawks 4" sinister or a mufflex system. The trans will be the mildly built 700r4 that's in my '86, but will need to be modified to work with a non computer controlled car. Any info on this?