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A "new" motor for our project car
by Frank Colgoni
 
 

Background/Some Problems
In article 12, we introduced you to the motor of choice for our project car. That is, a 2000 LS-1 (Camaro version). We have been building around that motor and have discovered numerous differences in the LS-1 and 4L60E transmission when compared with traditional small block Chevys/transmission combos. These differences have caused some delay as we've stickhandled through them.

To be more specific, before deciding on the placement and style of motor mounts, we knew that we needed the headers. When sourcing these through Street and Performance, we found that the only style of LS-1 header available (off the shelf) was a swept back design. What we didn't know, at the time, was that they were developing a block hugger style - bummer, as you'll find out. When we got the headers and fitted them to the motor we got a surpise. On the passenger side, the headers virtually touched the frame rails even without a gasket. We concluded that a notch would be required in the rail to accomodate. See the picture below
 
  As a result, the notch was made to the rail and a motor mount was custom fabricated to suit. Once again, see the picture below. The guys at Lowdown did a nice job here. Too bad it wouldn't last.
 
 

Shortly after this was completed, Street and Performance issued a new catalogue (can you see where this is going yet?) While flipping through the catalogue looking for additional bits we'd need, I spotted a set of block huggers for the LS-1. Obviously these had been in development.

After conferring with Tom at Lowdown, we decided that, despite the work that had been done to date, in the long run, the block huggers would be the better option as we were going to have a second problem on the drivers side getting the steering linkage through. So, we brought the headers back to Horton Street Rod Products for return to Street and Performance. Some time later, the block huggers arrived. The clearance problem was resolved. See drivers side picture below. Were the problems resolved? No way - read on.
 
  If you look closely at the picture above then compare to the the second photo on the page detailing the first motor mount, you'll notice that the mount in the picture above is not the same. Why? Well, when we solved one problem, we created another. Because block hugger headers exit straight down below the middle two cylinders and because the original mounts were fabricated for a swept back header design, the collector of the block huggers made contact with original mounts. Back to the drawing board for a new design which moved the frame part of the mount slightly toward the front with the motor part of the mount angled slighty toward the rear of the motor. Refer to the picture above for the detail of the motor part of the mount and the picture below for the frame part of the mount. You'll also notice that in the new design, the tubular part of the mount is now the frame side of the mount. It was the reverse in the first design. In any case, it's finally sorted out. Thank God.
 
 

Finally - the "new" Motor
Having said all that, I'll get back to the topic of this article. No, I'm not going to say that after all that, we're changing to a motor that will undo all of this trial and error. I'm using the word new to only suggest newer and a variation on what we already had.

Our motor supplier, Bob Hilton of Hilton Motorsports mentioned that he could supply us with a motor out of a very low mileage 2002 Corvette if we were interested. We didn't jump right in (although it was tempting right off the bat). We considered the pros and cons and the pros won out. The cons were that there were some mods that must take place. i.e. oil pan swap as the Corvette pan has additional width because of its "wings", a Camaro throttle body would be required to allow for cable activation versus the Corvette activation by wire and the change to a Camaro crank pulley to align with AC and alternator pulleys using aftermarket brackets. Also, the Vette motor is normally mated to a transaxle.

We received the motor this week, made some of the necessary mods and mated it to a tranny. It will be in the car shortly. The picture below is how it looks at present.

There will be more on the motor, brackets, etc. in the future. The trials and tribulations of hot rodding. Oh, by the way, we're picking up an additional 45 h.p (350) and 25 lb-ft of torque (360). With a good intake system and free flowing exhaust, who knows.