Tappeter

iTrader: (2)

I gots lots of questions, anyone have any good (correct) answers?
1.Any one know what kind of metal the fuel rail on our LS4 engines are made of ? Are they Stainless steel? Plated steel or brass?
2. Can they be soldered or brazed or do they have to be welded?
3. How hard is it to bend them and still keep them aligned?
I am gathering stuff for a manifold swap, either LS1 (much cheaper) or LS6. I know our fuel rail needs to be modified to fit these manifolds. The center "T joint" in the rail apparently hits the top of the LS6 or LS1. Also the mounting holes don't match. I was wondering if I could cut the 1/2" cross tube on both ends, rotated it up a few degrees and then braze it back together with some overlapping tubing for re-enforcement.
Or can the cross tube be bent up to clear?
Another idea is to use a heat gun to really heat up the small area on the manifold that causes interference to soften it and to use a small socket to dimple the area down slightly to clear the rail tubing. Can this be done?
The obvious fix ( but much more expensive) is to use taller injectors if there are any we could swap with.

AlabamaGuy

iTrader: (5)

Haven't thought about melting the manifold, but I'm sure grinding it down some wouldn't hurt. I believe that's what the few who have done the swap have actually done.

Sittingmongoose

iTrader: (1)

My shop rewelded them i think and bent the up a lot so they didnt have to grind into the intake.

nmp0098

This is on my phone so bear with me. I wouldn't melt the manifold because you'll distort the runner for that cylinder and get an imbalance. You can safely grind some clearance though. I don't know what metal the fuel rail is made of, but I'd guess stainless. It is tough. I just took it on and off a lot to keep things lined up, and I tried to be really careful and slow. I ended up bending the T up on the inlet side and straightening out th other side a lot. If you look at SMs, when they cut and welded the inlet side they straightened that side out instead. If you look close, neither one of Ts are level any more. I wouldn't weld anywhere that had fuel in it, just like a gas tank for the same reasons.

chevyman9306

iTrader: (9)

don't know what metal it is but what about getting some raw tubing and fabbing it up to work??? could get a pipe bender to bend the piping to fit so you wouldn't have to worry about your welds leaking

supercatxr7

iTrader: (5)

How about just picking up some aftermarket LS6 fuel rails and using them? I'm going to go this route and will modify alternator bracket if needed to make them fit.

nmp0098

If you can swing them at about 200, Aeromotive makes some fuel rails that should work.

supercatxr7

iTrader: (5)

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/LS1-L...Q5fAccessories

nmp0098

Exactly the type of rail I was talking about, and a great find on the price. The mounting tabs should be really easy to modify to fit shorty injectors and not have to mess with the alternator bracket, and for those who care about what their car looks like under the hood I think they look great.