1969 camaro....World 427 or LS7
The oil lines and tank are pretty simple. As long as your crossmember doesnt interfere it's no big deal. Tuning will hopefully be resolved very soon. We have developed upgraded pistons for the LS7. If you're interested in us building one for you, or a sleeved LS2, or a world products block give me a call or email jason@katechengines.com.
586-791-4120 x234
The LS7 would be much lighter, and with the dry sump would be killer on track days. The cost would be much higher.
Another option would be our 402 "old school" gen3 crate engine. This engine comes with a carb and ignition system that is simple to hook up in a older car, and weighs in under 400 pounds with 575hp available. It is available to ship in shortblock form in 1 day and can be assembled and shipped in 1 week complete. It has a traditional wet sump pan.
Kurt
The LS7 is one sweet engine. It would take a little more effort to drop it into your Camaro, but I am doing something similar...running an LS7 in a stand-alone environment. Your results in a Camaro would be remarkable and a real show-stopper. There are a couple of folks on this board building Camaros and a couple doing older Vettes. One guy is doing a '53 on a C5 chassis with the LS7.
Wheel-2-Wheel (see above) has a close connection with GM, and a company called BigStuff3 (BS3). BS3 makes ignition and timing systems for many LSx applications; most recently for the LS7. The BigStuff3 system (harness and ECU) for the LS7 should be available by the end of the month, as testing is just finishing up. The combination made 548 bhp on my engine.

Also, the BS3 system is very flexible in terms of programming for future engine mods, like forced induction or N2O.
Good luck and let us know what you decide...
As far as putting the LS7 in the car, it shouldn't be much worse than putting an LS1 in, which isn't too bad. The potential issues I see are, obviously the oil lines, oil drain, computer, accesories and I'm sure I'll find more when I start putting the engine in the car. The subframe you use could effect these issues, too. I plan to go with an aftermarket sub, which ought to make my life a little easier. The computer issue should be solved in the near future, but right now it is a definite issue. One of the oil drains could blocked by the subframe, especially if it is stock. I have no way of knowing this without trying it, however. The oil pan itself looks like it ought to clear the stock sub, but that is only an educated guess. Search for info on LS1's in first gens, and that really should tell you what is involved.
All that said, LS7 in '69 would be sweet. After all, that's why I'm putting one in the '68.
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I have a '69 Olds 442, which has a mild 455, and of course it has a carb. It's an Edelbrock, which is a very accurate carb as far as mixture is concerned, but it can't compare to the accuracy of FI. No having to deal with a choke or worrying about the tune changing with the weather is a great thing.
Once you go to any sort of LS1, you won't want to go back to anything else.
- Hot and cold starts are much easier.
- No "loading up" issues at idle.
- No fuel starvation" with hard breaking, acceleration, or cornering.
- Better fuel economy and emissions.
- No fiddling with weather or altitude changes.
- EFI is more expensive.
- The installation is more complex with a throttle body, manifold to support injectors and fuel rails, ECU, sensors and wires.
- It's more complicated to dial in.
Lastly, I am sure a World Products big "small block Chevy" is a great product...state-of-the-art. But, my experience has been that the design of the "high-performance" SBC seems to use a little more oil than the LSx series. Also, with a "power tune" on a carb setup, the guy behind you may get some tears in his eyes from the rich exhaust.
Summary, I would definitely go EFI and LSx. It's a little harder, but you will be glad you did. And, there is a lot of knowledgable help here from folks have done it.
Keep us posted...
You are on the right path. Keep searching for first-gen swaps. Read, read, read this board. Look at the profiles of the people that have responded to you. From there, you can find their posts, many of which will be about the topics you are looking for. You may also have noticed there is a "swaps" section from the main page. Also, be sure to take advantage of the search capabilities. For example: "first gen", "1st gen", "69 camaro", etc. Lots of good threads here...



