renaissanceman

Hey all, I am considering getting back into hot rodding, I used to be a Ford fanatic but they are just out of touch now days with the common man / woman (Coyote). I havent turned a wrench since 1988 -89 when I got out of the Air Force, so I have a lot to catch up on and learn. I obviously have a lot of questions so I hope this community can help an Old Dog learn new tricks LOL. I am starting this thread as a sort of storehouse of questions and info to help me on my journey. Who knows, it may hepl other other Old Dogs or newcomers. I havent yet decided on what vehicle or engine size or version I will be going with, so I'm starting here to help figure out the engine selection.

Edited
My thoughts are to build an engine that can grow with me, if that makes any sense. I plan to start out probably with N/A EFI (500 RWHP and a lot of torque) and end up with a turbo or twin turbo build maybe with (MS3 if I become rich). Probably have to start off with the $300.00 MegaSquirt DIY system. This one kinda sucks though because you are very limited on what and how many things you can do at once with it. Edited

Ill start of with the first question to see how helpful / willing people are to answer something that I should automatically know but dont.

1) What happened to cubic inch ratings and what are the c.i. ratings of these stock LS engines? (ANSWERED)
2) I have watched a lot of Toutube videos, mainly, Sloppy mechanics channel. I have noticed that the timing chains always have a lot of slack, this makes me very
nervous. Are all LS timing chains lose like this?

B52bombardier1

My 5.3 liter LS engine is just a smidge over 323 cubic inches. I don't know these values all by heart because a metric measurement is fine by me for knowing the displacement. A quick search on the Internet will reveal all of these metric volumes in cubic inches so there's little need to memorize them. The engine in my 6.2 liter Camaro is a little over 378 C.I. - zero to jail in about three seconds with that engine.

You will also find that every fastener that I've seen so far on an LS engine is metric. Time for a new set of tools. I picked a 5.3 LS engine and its mated, never been apart transmission because they are abundant, inexpensive and fuel injected compared to the original 350 C.I. engine in my El Camino. I can't imagine that a Coyote Ford engine is much more complicated than any LS.

Rick

RPM WS6

iTrader: (3)

The thing about metric-to-standard conversion charts is that they are only useful if you know the exact displacement in liters (most published specs are rounded). For example, the typical "5.7L" which is used to describe the LS1 is just a rounded number, and wouldn't give you the correct displacement in cubic inches: 5.700L = 347.835ci, but the LS1 is not a "348" CI engine.

In reality, the LS1 is 346ci (rounded from 345.699ci) as its actual metric displacement is 5.665L (5.67L, rounded further to the typical "5.7L" normally seen in most publications).

cookseyb

Don't feel bad, I'm 76 and had to relearn all this stuff... Lotsa good books out there on this GM platform also YouTube has alot of info. I'm working on my 3rd engine and absolutely believe they are the best pushrod engines out there! Come on in the water is fine.

RevGTO

iTrader: (12)

I was an old school Pontiac guy when I bought my first 4th gen Firebird (LT1) in 1997 and then my first LS1 in 2003. I was stunned to learn how much these computer controlled, electronically fuel injected, emissions compliant cars could in fact be modified for performance - something I didn't think possible. This discovery ushered in a whole new world of tinkering and tuning. You're a little late to the party, but by no means too late!

renaissanceman

Thanks guys, I guess ci 's are no longer king for the street rod LOL

renaissanceman

Yea, Id probably still be a ford man if they could design a engine that wasnt overcomplicated, overengineered not to mention very expensive engine like that crap coyote engine...what a shame. Soooo, hello cheby LOL

bammax

The LS style engines aren't complicated at all. The tuning can be a nightmare though. I've always preferred the simplicity of a carb and mechanical linkages on the transmission, but it's virtually impossible to get the same performance and streetability from that type of setup as you would from a high mile junkyard ls style motor. You just have to find someone who can actually tune it. Everyone claims they can, but there's definitely an art to it.

By the way, everything is metric and the head bolts are torque to yield so you can't reuse them and the torque process is totally different from what you're used to. Figured I'd say it before you got to that point.

renaissanceman

Yea,this is what Im picking up on and that anything descent to tune your car with is damn right expensive, so there goes the budget friendly right out of the window LOL

B52bombardier1

Find your local HP Tuners expert or do a mail order tune with somebody else. My PCM reprogramming cost me $150 - two HP Tuners credits for $100 and fifty bucks for my local expert's time, effort and expertise. I guess I don't consider $150 all that expensive. And all completed within 24 hours and back to me.

Rick

SoCalDave

I'll share something I just learned. The 5.3 iron block can be bored to 5.7 liters, and the 5.3s are plentiful. I just got a 2001 Camaro and the LS1 runs as strong as I remember back in 2002. The LS1 came stock with 241 heads and the LS2 came stock with 243 heads; haven't learned about the other casting numbers yet.

RPM WS6

iTrader: (3)

This is only true for 2001-02 and some very late-build 2000 cars. 1999 through most of 2000 received 853 heads, and 1998 received 806.

SoCalDave

Nice to know, thanks. I also read that the manifolds can be port matched. I'm a fan of port matching, so I may do that to my intake manifold during the summer when I have more time; my heads too if I just can't help myself.