I just bought this car and have a tune scheduled next weekend so I figured I would throw a few other changes into the mix so I won't have to keep re-tuning with each small change.
The car has a Honker, 228/232/598/600/113 cam, springs, LG LT's and an UP. The car has bucking like crazy at any rpm under 4K. WOT and progressive throttle is just fine but at 20-30% throttle, it bucks like crazy. So I need a retune. Anyway, on to the pics. This turned out to be the LS3 maf and the Honker CAI.
Like a few of you, I will tear into anything.
Word of warning.
If I could do this again, I would be happy to pay the charge to port this intake. I spent a week (off and on after work) messing with this thing. Cut my hands multiple times since it very sharp inside and my arm got stuck in the intake God knows how many times!
I cut out the posts, the breather tube sticking out and mildly ported the runners as far as I could reach. It came out great, IMHO.
This is the 2nd intake I have ported and it needs to be smooth, that's my advice. Again, IMHO, just pay to have this done.
Throttle body, very basic to port and polish just be careful NOT to go beyond where the blade rotates to maintain idle.
I did not get a pic of the LS3 mouth before I ported it, I forgot. Here is the mouth with the posts removed and the vacum post removed. There is still plenty of plastic dust in there, I had not cleaned the intake yet.
Stock runners.
Ported runners, not cleaned yet.
Bottom showing the JB Weld to replace the post holes. It took 2 (packages) of JB Weld.
A few other random pics.
I left the "insulation" intake cover off when I put it back together, no additional noise as far as I can tell. The coil covers are gay to me so they will be trashed.
Car still bucks but it has more power at any rpm under the curve. It's easier to launch since it takes less throttle BUT it does spin with much less throttle. I have TSP 1 7/8 C6 headers on the way and I will have it all retuned together. I will also be added TEA LS3 heads soon and then a small 100-125 shot. I will say even right now this car feels as quick as my KB Cobra was, no joke.
As soon as Diablosport has time, they will be tuning it. Thanks Johan (soon)!
__________________ 2008 LS3 M6 - Not stock
Last edited by JayplaySS2; 11-08-2009 at 06:41 PM..
Awesome work as usual Jay, I can't wait to ride in the finished product! Let me know when your getting it tuned, maybe I can swing by for a bit.
P.S. Glad I'm not the only one who thinks fuel rail covers are gay!
__________________ 1971 Pontiac LeMans Sport 350 4bbl : Cammed out ect. ect. ........SOLD........ unfortunately
2002 Pontiac Trans Am Ram Air A4: Cammed/Stalled...and all the crap that goes with
2002 Chevrolet Corvette ZO6: Vararam, LG LT's, !CATS, Magnaflow, CCW 505A's
I just did a port job on my LS2 intake, but did not take it apart to port it on the inside. I went as far in as I could with my hands on the runners.
You are absolutely right on the cuts (bought a 1 oz tube of Neosporin) and time. I spend 12 hours in 3 days to get the TB side and the ports near smooth.
I started with 80 grit (no dremel) all by hand and finished with 220.
How did you take it apart?
My car is down for a while and I would not mind taking it apart so long as it can be put back together, but you're right- I would not want to do this again.
Maybe I'll post some pics of my hack job in my thread.
Add some more details (which grits at which stage and how you got the final smoothing and cleaning) and more pics of it taken apart if you have them....that would make a great how-to.
I examined the post more closely and it seems you reached in to port the inside rather than taking it apart so one of my questions is probably irrelevant.
Last edited by v8newb; 11-07-2009 at 09:22 PM..
Reason: noticed intake manifold may not have been taken apart
__________________ 99 Z28 mystic teal roller,rear qa1's spohn adj ta,adj phb,eibach pro kit,4.11's,th400,4xx stroker coming january 2010
01 tahoe 20's screens,LT's,etc...
99 trans am LT's,3"Y pipe,waiting on-cam,springs,stall,4.10's,fast intake
I NEED A FAST INTAKE PM ME IF YOU HAVE ONE FOR SALE
I just did a port job on my LS2 intake, but did not take it apart to port it on the inside. I went as far in as I could with my hands on the runners.
You are absolutely right on the cuts (bought a 1 oz tube of Neosporin) and time. I spend 12 hours in 3 days to get the TB side and the ports near smooth.
I started with 80 grit (no dremel) all by hand and finished with 220.
How did you take it apart?
My car is down for a while and I would not mind taking it apart so long as it can be put back together, but you're right- I would not want to do this again.
Maybe I'll post some pics of my hack job in my thread.
Add some more details (which grits at which stage and how you got the final smoothing and cleaning) and more pics of it taken apart if you have them....that would make a great how-to.
I examined the post more closely and it seems you reached in to port the inside rather than taking it apart so one of my questions is probably irrelevant.
Correct, I reached in as far as I could for porting and I had to use a hacksaw blade to cut all 3 posts.
I used a Dremel only.
60 grit sanding wheels, MANY of them.
Cutting bit to trim down the posts.
180 grit polishing wheel to smooth.
That's about it. Very time consuming but worth it, just don't rush it, you can't put back material.
Assuming your going to try to post dyno results, do you have another untouched LS3 intake so you can dyno back to back dyno results?
__________________
Quote:
Originally Posted by John Lingenfelter
The world's best cam combined with a poor set of heads will produce an engine that's a dog. But bolt on a set of great heads even with a poor cam, and that engine will still make great power.
Assuming your going to try to post dyno results, do you have another untouched LS3 intake so you can dyno back to back dyno results?
Nope. I just did this for others to see in the event they wanted to do this. It is usually worth 10-12rwhp.
I will say I figured out the bucking issue.
LS3's have a very sensitive maf, I placed a section of window screen over the maf and it smoothed it out by 50% right away. I will need a new maf or a different CAI.
I can definitely attest that the newer style sensors can be a pain, but I would think callaway would have done a fair bit of testing before bringing their intake to market. Your problem could simply be in the tune as the calibration table could need to be altered now that the intake has been modified. You might see what your tuner has to say before mucking about too much with it.
My Ported LS3 intake/TB pics 
