Читать книгу Swap LS Engines into Chevelles & GM A-Bodies - Jefferson Bryant - Страница 6

INTRODUCTION

GM A-Body muscle cars (Chevelle, Buick GS, Pontiac GTO, and Oldsmobile Cutlass) are some of the most popular vehicles for an LS engine project. A wide range of aftermarket support provides nearly anything you could possibly need to complete a swap project. Sifting through all of this can be confusing. Although the typical carbureted Chevy small-block or Chevy big-block is a relatively “bolt-in” procedure, swapping an LS engine into an A-Body car requires thorough planning, many different parts, and significant work. But it pays off with easy start-up, consistent performance in any weather conditions, and horsepower from 400 on up.

With this book, you can sort through each component of an LS swap into any GM A-Body from 1964 through 1972. The main components of an LS swap are the motor/transmission mounts, oil pan, transmission, engine control module (ECM) and wiring, accessory drive, and fuel system. The two most common positions for LS mounts are stock and forward. The stock position places the transmission bellhousing flange in the same location as a stock Chevy small-block. This works for older GM transmissions without much issue, but modern transmissions are larger and hit the transmission tunnel. Moving the engine forward about 1½ inches allows most modern automatics to fit without tunnel mods and reduces how much the tunnel needs to be modified for late-model manual transmissions, such as the popular T56.

Oil pan clearance is another key factor when performing an LS engine swap. LS engines have a variety of oil pan designs that fit many different GM chassis platforms, but most of them do not work well in the A-Body frame. However, several oil pans fit the A-Body, and the aftermarket offers many more options for direct fit for the Chevelle and its brethren.

The transmission crossmembers used in these cars vary by year and model, mainly convertibles and non-convertibles. Most A-Body cars have open-channel frames, which use a tubular crossmember. The convertibles, El Camino, and high-performance A-Bodies use a boxed frame, which has a formed plate steel crossmember. The chassis for both vehicles has multiple positions to match various transmissions. In most cases, you can keep your stock crossmember and simply move it to a new position in the frame or replace it with an aftermarket crossmember.

A myriad of components, accessories, and controllers are available for swap projects. The ECM for LS and Vortec engines work well even in high-horsepower boosted applications, but these engines also require special software that is either very simplistic or extremely complex. Hence, this limits the average mechanic doing a swap project. Aftermarket controllers are typically easy to tune and often offer advanced tuning parameters without special software. A handheld programmer is sufficient for the most basic tuning, and therefore it’s easy to tune the stock ECM. An abundance of aftermarket and a few stock accessories on the front of the engine are available for A-Body swaps.

The fuel system is another critical component of an LS swap because nearly all of them require return lines and electric pumps. You can use either an in-tank pump or an external electric pump, both have benefits and drawbacks.

You will find information on all of these topics and many more inside this book to help you wade through the world of Swapping LS-series engines Into GM A-Body cars.