LS7 Fiero swap
04-03-2008, 05:47 PM
#42
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update from the Fiero forum
Originally posted by Archie:
We've done a lot of work to The Perfect Union in the last months. Some of it has been covered here and there are still other things to show you. I'll update that stuff later.
Today, it's all about the LSx series of engines in general & the LS7 in particular.
I'm so excited about the Ls series of engines that I can't stand it.
Let me share some of that with you.
All of the LS7 engines are built & test ran by hand at the Wixom Performance Build Center in Wixom, MI by GM & the UAW.
The 1st thing you notice when you look at the engine is the tag on the intake manifold.
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Our engine was built by Dale Swenson....
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Look at the size of those exhaust ports & the Dry Sump Oil Pan....
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When we put any LSx engine in a Fiero we have to make a slight modification to the oil pan & we always turn the intake manifold around.
So we have to take the oil pan & Intake manifold off right away.
Join us for the fun of taking apart a $14000.00 engine.......
We've done a lot of work to The Perfect Union in the last months. Some of it has been covered here and there are still other things to show you. I'll update that stuff later.
Today, it's all about the LSx series of engines in general & the LS7 in particular.
I'm so excited about the Ls series of engines that I can't stand it.
Let me share some of that with you.
All of the LS7 engines are built & test ran by hand at the Wixom Performance Build Center in Wixom, MI by GM & the UAW.
The 1st thing you notice when you look at the engine is the tag on the intake manifold.
Our engine was built by Dale Swenson....
Look at the size of those exhaust ports & the Dry Sump Oil Pan....
When we put any LSx engine in a Fiero we have to make a slight modification to the oil pan & we always turn the intake manifold around.
So we have to take the oil pan & Intake manifold off right away.
Join us for the fun of taking apart a $14000.00 engine.......
04-03-2008, 05:48 PM
#43
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more.....
Originally posted by Archie:
On the oil pan we have to make a modification in the area of this little plate above the oil filter.....
To make it so we can turn around the intake manifold, we have to modify this oil pressure sender boss.....
I'll show more details about that later. For now we can just enjoy what we can see when we have the oil pan & intake manifold off.....
Wow, what excitement, how about an oil pan that doesn't store oil......
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The fun thing is what you can see with the pan off....... tell us what you see in these pics.....
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.....
On the oil pan we have to make a modification in the area of this little plate above the oil filter.....
To make it so we can turn around the intake manifold, we have to modify this oil pressure sender boss.....
I'll show more details about that later. For now we can just enjoy what we can see when we have the oil pan & intake manifold off.....
Wow, what excitement, how about an oil pan that doesn't store oil......
The fun thing is what you can see with the pan off....... tell us what you see in these pics.....
.....
04-03-2008, 05:51 PM
#44
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Originally posted by Archie:
One majopr thing that helps when you're turning the intake manifold around is that the bottom of the intake manifold doesn't seal to the valley to keep the oil in the engine. All of the LSx engines have a Valley Cover. Also note in this pic the oil pressure sender mount that sticks up from the Valley cover, we have to modify that to turn the intake around.
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Then there's this view....
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I like this series of pictures.....
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Archie
One majopr thing that helps when you're turning the intake manifold around is that the bottom of the intake manifold doesn't seal to the valley to keep the oil in the engine. All of the LSx engines have a Valley Cover. Also note in this pic the oil pressure sender mount that sticks up from the Valley cover, we have to modify that to turn the intake around.
Then there's this view....
I like this series of pictures.....
Archie
04-03-2008, 06:11 PM
#46
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Originally posted by Archie:
We only have to do this mod when we turn the intake around on the LS2, LS3 & LS7.
On the LS1 & LS6 the oil fitting is a lot lower and a simple fitting can be used to turn the OPS away from the intake.
We modified this today (along with the oil pan) & I took them over to be welded.
Was
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Now
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On the oil pan there are 2 holes just above the Oil filter.....
One is oil out & the other is oil in. On every LS engine I've seen so far GM just puts a cover on those holes (pictured above) that just turns the oil around to go back towards the oil pan. This cover is in the way of the only place we can mount a starter. So we drill a hole inside the oil pan to bypas the need for this cover & then we weld the holes closed. I don't have good pics of this mod on Troy's oil pan today so here are a few pics from my files.
These are from Doc John's car.
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We also got a lot of prep done on the new engine cradle & we've got the underside of the chassis almost ready for paint.
Archie
We only have to do this mod when we turn the intake around on the LS2, LS3 & LS7.
On the LS1 & LS6 the oil fitting is a lot lower and a simple fitting can be used to turn the OPS away from the intake.
We modified this today (along with the oil pan) & I took them over to be welded.
Was
Now
On the oil pan there are 2 holes just above the Oil filter.....
One is oil out & the other is oil in. On every LS engine I've seen so far GM just puts a cover on those holes (pictured above) that just turns the oil around to go back towards the oil pan. This cover is in the way of the only place we can mount a starter. So we drill a hole inside the oil pan to bypas the need for this cover & then we weld the holes closed. I don't have good pics of this mod on Troy's oil pan today so here are a few pics from my files.
These are from Doc John's car.
We also got a lot of prep done on the new engine cradle & we've got the underside of the chassis almost ready for paint.
Archie
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04-03-2008, 08:39 PM
#48
Now they think I'm crazy for other reasons.
Archie
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04-05-2008, 09:06 AM
#53
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Update time
Originally posted by Archie:
We've got a lot of progress in the last 2 days.
These pics should show you some of what's been going on.
Note that this is all trial fitting, the engine/trans/cradle will be all coming out of the car before it goes to paint. We'll be sending the cradle out for powdercoating that's why it isn't painted in these pics.
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Archie
We've got a lot of progress in the last 2 days.
These pics should show you some of what's been going on.
Note that this is all trial fitting, the engine/trans/cradle will be all coming out of the car before it goes to paint. We'll be sending the cradle out for powdercoating that's why it isn't painted in these pics.
Archie
04-06-2008, 12:59 PM
#54
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I havent seen one of the v8 cars have a decent dyno slip that have come out of that shop. I have seen a few dyno vids online of them, all of them unimpressive. What tuning if any will go into this? What engine management system will be used?
04-06-2008, 02:12 PM
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http://www.hotrodlane.cc/ . As for a dyno tune after the build, sure if I feel that the Ls7 is not snapping my neck hard enough
I'll spring for a tune or two. But seriously I'm sure that a ls7 on 6 cylinders would rocket this car, so I'm sure a lS7 even with a factory tune running on all 8 would do fine. As for dyno vids of other peoples cars, it's up to to them to decide if they are not happy and want to tune it, right? Archie installs the motor that the owner provides and honors any request for performance mods.BTW: I thought that the Caddy STS had North Stars, did you swap and LSX in to it? If so sounds interesting any Dyno slips or vids ?
Last edited by mrtroyboy; 04-06-2008 at 02:21 PM. Reason: added btw
04-06-2008, 02:29 PM
#57
Doc John's car (he posted on page 2 or 3) Has the only LS engine car that has had a Dyno posted on the internet. Maybe you missed that one. His LS2 put down numbers that were right in line with what a new LS2 crate engine is expected to put out.
Only 2 of the online videos are of cars we've built. One of them was an overcarburated SBC using a Flush-o-matic 3000 that had just finished a 1200 mile trip to the Dyno location. It only had 100 miles before that trip & hadn't been tuned at all at that time. Any others you've found were built by the owners so you'd have to ask them.
But this Forum is about LS series engines so that's what matters here.
This LS7 will be using a Street & Performance harness & programming unless we can find another vendor who wants to supply us a better setup.
On this LS7 car the goal is to have it put back together with paint before a show it's going to in July. It's not being built for drag racing, so any 1/4 miles times (if any) will be after our prior commitments.
Archie
Only 2 of the online videos are of cars we've built. One of them was an overcarburated SBC using a Flush-o-matic 3000 that had just finished a 1200 mile trip to the Dyno location. It only had 100 miles before that trip & hadn't been tuned at all at that time. Any others you've found were built by the owners so you'd have to ask them.
But this Forum is about LS series engines so that's what matters here.
This LS7 will be using a Street & Performance harness & programming unless we can find another vendor who wants to supply us a better setup.
On this LS7 car the goal is to have it put back together with paint before a show it's going to in July. It's not being built for drag racing, so any 1/4 miles times (if any) will be after our prior commitments.
Archie
Last edited by Archie; 04-06-2008 at 02:40 PM.
04-06-2008, 03:34 PM
#58
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The engine management system will be provided by Street and Performance
http://www.hotrodlane.cc/ . As for a dyno tune after the build, sure if I feel that the Ls7 is not snapping my neck hard enough I'll spring for a tune or two. But seriously I'm sure that a ls7 on 6 cylinders would rocket this car, so I'm sure a lS7 even with a factory tune running on all 8 would do fine. As for dyno vids of other peoples cars, it's up to to them to decide if they are not happy and want to tune it, right? Archie installs the motor that the owner provides and honors any request for performance mods.
BTW: I thought that the Caddy STS had North Stars, did you swap and LSX in to it? If so sounds interesting any Dyno slips or vids ?
http://www.hotrodlane.cc/ . As for a dyno tune after the build, sure if I feel that the Ls7 is not snapping my neck hard enough
I'll spring for a tune or two. But seriously I'm sure that a ls7 on 6 cylinders would rocket this car, so I'm sure a lS7 even with a factory tune running on all 8 would do fine. As for dyno vids of other peoples cars, it's up to to them to decide if they are not happy and want to tune it, right? Archie installs the motor that the owner provides and honors any request for performance mods.BTW: I thought that the Caddy STS had North Stars, did you swap and LSX in to it? If so sounds interesting any Dyno slips or vids ?
My 2 former Trans-Ams were ls1 cars. Right now the only thing I own with an LS in it is our Yukon.I hope your project turns out well. Should be pretty sick, I just have not seen anything performance wise come from this fella. He installs these engines but doesnt provide any dyno tuning? So you would have to take it to another shop to get everything worked out?
What engine management is running the other ls1 fieros? Have any HP numbers or times for those?
04-06-2008, 04:23 PM
#59
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. Speed + Caddy comfort= sweet
04-06-2008, 04:36 PM
#60
I hope your project turns out well. Should be pretty sick, I just have not seen anything performance wise come from this fella. He installs these engines but doesnt provide any dyno tuning? So you would have to take it to another shop to get everything worked out?
What engine management is running the other ls1 fieros? Have any HP numbers or times for those?
What engine management is running the other ls1 fieros? Have any HP numbers or times for those?
So far we've used the S&P systems on all the in house LS swaps.
I don't have a Dyno sitting in the middle of my shop. A lot of shops that install engines into vehicles don't have in house Dynos. A dyno is available only a few blocks away. We don't build engines here, we just install new Chevy crate engines for some customers. So if a customer wants to pay me by the hour to drive his car 400 miles or so to break in his clutch, then we can take it to the dyno for him. Most of my customers would prefer to drive their newly built cars the 1st 400 miles themselves.
We do Engine swap kits for Fieros & custom body parts for them. Some customers want us to do the swaps for them too. We work on Fieros EXCLUSIVELY, we typically don't work on anything except Fieros & we don't work on stock Fieros. That's the way I've been doing this for 20 years now.
So if you'd like to tell me how to run my business, go ahead.
Archie