How To Swap A Gen III Into A '64-'72 A-Body - Part I

OK, so along with this huge story, we also managed to get the engine bolted into the car. When the radiator and headers get here, we will slap those in and write a story about how to wire the car and tune it along with some detailed information on the transmission controls. By then, your project might have caught up if you get to work now.>>>

I've got a what?
If it says Corvette on the valve cover, it's likely a Y-body engine right? How do you know? Below are some quick spotters' tips for identifying your LS engine.

You might be asked if you have a 24x or a 58x crank trigger. An easy way to know is by the color of the plug near the flexplate or flywheel at the rear of the block. Gray is 58x; black is 24x.>>>

All Gen III LS1 and LS6 engines use an aluminum block. Truck engines used iron except for the aluminum LM4 5.3 that arrived in the SSR. The LS2 will have 6.0 cast into the block behind the flywheel. The LS1/LS6 will be 5.7 liters with a 3.89-inch finished bore, and the LS2 will have a 4.00-inch finished bore. LS1/LS6 is Gen III and LS2 is Gen IV. Gen IIIs also have a knock sensor under the intake and a cam sensor on the rear of the cam under the intake. Gen IV has knock-sensor locations on both sides of the block, and the cam sensor is in the front cover.>>>

The block number is cast into...        read full caption The block number is cast into the block behind the driver-side cylinder head. A good decoder book is Chevy LS1/LS6 V-8s by Will Handzel. It has all the codes for the blocks and heads and many other helpful bits of info.

We popped the valve cover...        read full caption We popped the valve cover to get the number off the cylinder head. If you don't want to do that, the last four digits are stamped on the passenger-side front. This engine has 241 LS1 heads; 243 would indicate an LS6. LS1 heads also have an oval exhaust port instead of the LS6's D-shape.