...a bit of a pain...

My son's 2001 S10 Blazer, some may recall, had a 5.3 punched out to 5.7 swapped into before he got it. He's had to really fuss with it, constantly, it seems. It's both his daily driver and weekend warrior.

It had an LS1 intake on it when he got it, along with an unknown lumpity cam. They used the 5.3 accessories. Always seemed slower than it should be. He found a deal on a BBK intake, installed it, but it's been really inconsistent at the track. We thought perhaps it was the metal intake sucking up heat, so just to see, we put the LS1 intake back on (this after a tranny rebuild, rear end rebuild, and engine rebuild). First time back to the track with the LS1 intake, it lost almost half a second and was again all over the place.

I had an LS2 intake that was sold to me as an LS6 way back when, so I suggested we try it. He found some injector o-rings that fit both the LS1 injectors and the LS2 intake. Already had Wilson fuel rails. I had picked up a knock off of a FAST 92mm TB for my stroked LQ4 project, had trouble with the IAC fitting, so I went and bought a real FAST TB. Tonight we modified the knock off TB so the IAC fit using a Dremel & fine stone, and went about swapping on the LS2 intake. Then found out the TPS wouldn't fit the throttle shaft, so had to take the die grinder to the shaft until it did fit. With the intake mounted, the throttle arm cable eccentric hit the water pump outlet, so we had to bang on it, and cut off the lower unused part of the eccentric. Then the top bolt nub on the water pump hit the bottom of the TB flange, so had to grind away some of the flange. And, the alternator bracket got in the way of the TPS connector, so had to grind some if it back.

Of course, the LS2 was DBW, so there wasn't any place to mount the cable housing bracket. He got a piece of perforated corner brace from Ace Hardware, cut a chunk off it, and used the front two intake mount bolts to mount it, then bolted the cable housing bracket to this fabricated bracket.

After fussing with a few little things like injector o-ring leaks, we finally fired it up. For the first time since he's had it, it idles where it is supposed to. The throttle response is excellent. So, we'll see how it does Friday evening at the track.

Oh, as he was starting to take things apart this evening, he discovered the MAF/IAT connector wasn't hooked up. Wonder if that had anything to do with the slow erratic times at the track the last time?

 

What are you calling slow? Is this a 2 door or a 4 door? My brother and i have been stabbing a 5.3 into a 2001 s10. Plan on starting it this coming weekend. No room under that hood at all.

 

It's a 2-door. It's basically built the same as my LS1/4L60E Camaro, except for the intake (I have LS6), converter (I have a 3600 stall Rev Max, he has a 4000 stall Yank), and gears (I have 3.73, he has 4.10). His weighs about 300 pounds more than mine going down the track. So, you'd expect about 3 tenths difference, plus maybe a little for the extra wind resistance. Last Friday I was running 12.8's, he was running 13.6's (at 9000-9400 DA).

I should have said I was posting this for the benefit of those swapping in a truck engine and using the truck accessories (assuming they know what to do about the alternator and hood clearance). The LS1/6 type of throttle body can be used with minor mods to the water pump outlet (a 2010 Camaro water pump may fix that). But, if you go with the larger TB type intake, such as LS2 or a FAST, you'll have more things to worry about.

 

I went extra cheep lol

 

How does the butt dyno feel? Does it feel like it has woke up any? Let us know how it goes at the track.

 

I'm not sure I fully understand the situation here. You tried a couple different intake/tb combos, and discovered that the vehicle runs best with the LS2 intake, but then discovered that the MAF/IAT was disconnected with the other configurations. Wouldn't it be necessary to have the MAF/IAT functioning properly in all situations to be able to credit the intake/tb with any improvements?

The reason that I ask all of this is that generally the LS2 intake is considered to be the worst of all the factory intakes, despite the larger throttle body opening, so I'm having a hard time believing that the intake should get much/any credit for your improvements.

 

The MAF being disconnected does tend to disqualify that combo, except that it had an LS1 intake on it when he got it.

What is consistent, though, is the idle was never right with any combo, until this LS2. The original TB appears to have had an attempt at porting/polishing, but I couldn't see anything about it that would have caused an idle problem. The TB, however, was the only constant with the LS1 and BBK intakes (2 different LS1 intakes, actually), and bad idle.

His best ET was obtained with the BBK, after it had a chance to thoroughly cool, earlier this spring. But, consistency was nonexistent with it. It may have been the TB, though. With only one race with the LS2 intake, he could finally dial the thing (his last pass he broke out, but so did I just before him, as did the guy I was running, and others that round; happens a lot to us at Bandimere - air changes on us with no hint it's going to).

 

I did not know this...

 

HP wise, all else being equal, LS6 >LS2>LS1.

 

You can try too port ls2 intake . It's said to make more power than ls6 ..not a lot of info I've found tho as many people rather get a ls6 intake .but interesting nonetheless as next step would be $$$ fast lsx intakes ..

http://www.peakspeedshop.com/

 

I've seen that. I don't think he wants to spend another $250 right now. I doubt it's holding him back that much.

I think the Yank converter is probably holding him back now more than anything. Too much stall - the original swappers said they intended to spray it, but I'm not sure it's even the right converter for that. He'd probably pick up a couple of tenths if he had the same converter I'm running in the LS1/4L60E. He could likely sell the Yank for what my converter cost me.

 

How high the stall

 

4k

 

Yea that's kinda high.. For stall your thinking 3200-3600k be ideal ? .. Was cam spec out for nitrous also or previous owner put cam in for sound..

 

Never figured out exactly what the cam was that came in it. I suspect it was a Thumpr cam, but couldn't find anything about the numbers that were on it. He put an LS6 cam in it, and it picked up several tenths.

My converter is supposed to be 3600 stall, but I can only get it to 3400 at altitude holding it with the brakes. It feels perfect coming off the line, though, and has decent - no, very good, street manners. His isn't so great on the street, and seems a little lazy coming off the line.

 

Sounded like a poorly matched setup .. But sounds like a fun car tho

Loose stall .. No bueno on the street lol

Thought about restalling instead of selling ?

 

Right now I don't know that he wants to spend any money that isn't necessary. His Be Cool radiator started leaking at the tube to header joint, 2 doses of Bars Leak didn't stop it, so he had to get a new radiator (cheaper than repairing the Be Cool). Didn't help that the engine temp gauge in the cluster stopped working. He's on a college student budget, and the Bank of Dad isn't being very cooperative. The radiator and temp gauge were about all he wanted to handle. He likes the truck, and likes to race, but I think his heart is more into shooting and reloading.

Restall is an option, but the Yank is an off-the-shelf item, and as well as my combo works, he's probably more inclined to just buy what is known to work.

 

Yea I agree .. It is a money pit or it can be

Shooting and reloading as into guns? that is addictive .. Being with Marines " Corpsman" , Iraq, and shooting all types of weapons that I've shot ..and sometimes go to local ranges .. it's really fun .. My wife is into it now and she always have a blast ..