The FAST intake comes sized for their 102mm Big Mouth throttle body which we already have on the previous engine so we will be reusing that.
We will be running FAST high volume fuel rails. Even though our NA engine does not have super high fuel demand, this will help reduce the chance of any fuel starvation caused by fuel system resonance.
LS engines are notoriously hard on coils. We will be replacing our stock coils with FAST’s XR Series coils. The XR coils produce 15-20 percent more spark energy than any combination of stock coils, including the LS7 and Truck coils. With pure copper windings, the coils produce close to 50,000 volts. They have been tested at up to 8000 rpm and 1500 hp. They have also been proven to live in harsh racing conditions that fry stock coils.
We will also be using FAST Custom Fit plug wires. These wires have a tuned, reactive wound core that filters out and reduces RF and EMI interference that can wreak havoc with modern electronics while still having a super low resistance of 25 ohms per foot. The wires have a double layer of silicone insulation that is good for up to 550 degrees and is pre-terminated with molded-in boots.
To finish off our engine we used Comp Cams billet valve covers. Anyone who has built an LS engine using shaft rockers knows that it’s hard to find valve covers that will clear them. Shaft rockers are bulky need a lot of clearance, you usually need to grind on the rail area of the cylinder head to clear them and these valve covers are designed with this in mind to clear them. The valve covers are designed to clear just about any tall rocker/long valve spring combo possible. The billet covers use the stock o-ring seal for leak free service. They also have provisions and internal baffling for OEM as well as dry sump vent tubes. The valve covers have provisions for valve spring oil squirters for endurance applications. The valve covers come with stainless ARP hardware as a nice extra touch.
The Comp valve covers have threaded provisions and hardware for the LS engines individual coils. The stiff billet construction will prevent deflection in the rail area reducing the chances of oil leaks.
7 comments
Do you think using thermal paste (ala CPUs) would help increase heat transfer on the main bearings?
Might aid in bearing spinning. Usually, engine builders advocate a tight fit on the main saddle for best heat transfer.
it won’t one bit: It will just desolve in oil. Let alone the chunks that get stuck at the oil pickup or the bearings. It just will not work if you really want to remove heat: Graphite paper. Bit that will nog keep the bearing in place. A graphite-silicon based sealer will most likely transfer heat a little less, but will be more resillient to spinning bearings.
Then again: Bearings normally won’t spin that much, unless there are either opposing forces ( flat 4’s for instance) or when the stroke gets to large compaired to the connecting rod. It isn’t so much extra power as it is the rod stroke length.
Mike – any thoughts on using a stock 4.8 crank to reduce the stroke and increase the rod length?
For a road racing or circle track car sure. A drift car needs grunt so I don’t think I would ever destroke one. Mange rod ratio, yes but not destroke. For Dai Yoshihara’s engines, I run a big 4.250 stroke for grunt but also run a super long 6.350 rod with a tall deck block. This gives a stroke to rod length ratio of 1.494:1 which is within the realm of OEM production engines yet still packs a bunch of displacement into a small package. One of our older blocks with a big bore gives us 477 cubic inches!
Mike – What is the best roller rocker / shaft roller rocker option for a stock ls3 head?
For drifting with lower rpm, probably Crower.