I Need Understanding on modern LS Electronics
Thread Starter
Joined: Feb 2013
Posts: 359
Likes: 1
From: Benton, Louisiana
I Need Understanding on modern LS Electronics Hey, I guess I'm stuck in the 1990's, Probably cause that's the last time I rebuilt one of about a 100 motors. So that means I'm pretty ignorant as to how these new LS motor electronics work. Can anybody suggest a starting point book on these.
My project is to install a LS3 motor in a 996 Porsche Carrera C4S. I know I can handle all the mechanical stuff. I'm thinking of buying a jegs or summit E-rod motor. Will this be a plug and play, or am I going to need some new equipment to get it to run correctly?
Check out my build underway
https://ls1tech.com/forums/conversio...onversion.html
Thanks, Michael
My project is to install a LS3 motor in a 996 Porsche Carrera C4S. I know I can handle all the mechanical stuff. I'm thinking of buying a jegs or summit E-rod motor. Will this be a plug and play, or am I going to need some new equipment to get it to run correctly?
Check out my build underway
https://ls1tech.com/forums/conversio...onversion.html
Thanks, Michael
The E-rod motor at Summit says it comes with the sensors, Cats and engine control module. As long as you plug it together correctly and have proper fuel and power, it should be plug and play. It even includes a drive by wire accelerator pedal you can mount in the car it you need it. You can call Summit and they should be able to answer more specific questions about the unit.
You won't be tuning the control module yourself nor will you need to, so as long as you are putting the motor in as-is, you won't need any complex understanding of the LS3 systems. If you don't have any codes on start up, it should be fine. If you need any kind of advanced work done on the control unit, I would recommend bringing it to a shop that does a lot of LS tuning and have them look into it. Other than that, all you should need to know how to do is unplug and change a sensor if it's bad.
If you want to learn about the individual sensors and their functions, then any book on modern EFI systems would be a good start. The LS uses sensors that do the same thing as their counterpart on every other OBDII car. How the signal comes from the sensor and how the PCM reads them may be different from other cars, but that gets into complex PCM code. An O2, TPS, MAF, and knock sensor all perform the same functions no matter what car you are referring to, even if the parts do not resemble each other. A reference manual for the LS3 Camaro or Corvette may help you diagnose specific engine problems down the line though.
Hope this helps a little.
You won't be tuning the control module yourself nor will you need to, so as long as you are putting the motor in as-is, you won't need any complex understanding of the LS3 systems. If you don't have any codes on start up, it should be fine. If you need any kind of advanced work done on the control unit, I would recommend bringing it to a shop that does a lot of LS tuning and have them look into it. Other than that, all you should need to know how to do is unplug and change a sensor if it's bad.
If you want to learn about the individual sensors and their functions, then any book on modern EFI systems would be a good start. The LS uses sensors that do the same thing as their counterpart on every other OBDII car. How the signal comes from the sensor and how the PCM reads them may be different from other cars, but that gets into complex PCM code. An O2, TPS, MAF, and knock sensor all perform the same functions no matter what car you are referring to, even if the parts do not resemble each other. A reference manual for the LS3 Camaro or Corvette may help you diagnose specific engine problems down the line though.
Hope this helps a little.
Thread Starter
Joined: Feb 2013
Posts: 359
Likes: 1
From: Benton, Louisiana
That info helps, Now if I use a donor car motor and I get all the parts off the same car is that plug and play? Scan tool, is there a software program one that would use my laptop. Hope I'm not sounding Too ignorant. Thanks again.
Michael
Michael
Very cool project, you fab guys have some amazing talents!
I came from the late sixties & early seventies making the LS transition several years back. I was a decent tuner of carbs & distributors with a good understanding of fuel cct's, so I'm able to relate that to Fuel Injection. Greg Banish has some books that are very good explaining the inputs & outputs as well as some basics as to how the information is processed.
For a scan tool I would suggest tuning software which includes extremely good scanning capability. I'm not suggesting to get into the tuning side, however the ability to get some email help or assistance such on this forum would be worth it's weight in gold. Which software is another topic should you decide to go that route.
The LS3 is a very good choice, the power potential should ever decide to turn it up is amazing. We are seeing 500 rwhp with simple inexpensive modifications.
Looking forward to your updates!
I came from the late sixties & early seventies making the LS transition several years back. I was a decent tuner of carbs & distributors with a good understanding of fuel cct's, so I'm able to relate that to Fuel Injection. Greg Banish has some books that are very good explaining the inputs & outputs as well as some basics as to how the information is processed.
For a scan tool I would suggest tuning software which includes extremely good scanning capability. I'm not suggesting to get into the tuning side, however the ability to get some email help or assistance such on this forum would be worth it's weight in gold. Which software is another topic should you decide to go that route.
The LS3 is a very good choice, the power potential should ever decide to turn it up is amazing. We are seeing 500 rwhp with simple inexpensive modifications.
Looking forward to your updates!
Last edited by ctd; Apr 8, 2013 at 08:18 AM.
