Build 400HP 6.2L LS with 6 Speed auto swap....no lift. Plug 'n play swap kit in development

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Just run an LS car pan easy fix... If your worried about starvation add a high volume oil pump and leave the high pressure spring out... I like the idea of the 6l80e for it's extra gears and better driveshaft clearance but I hear a lot of bad things about them mot being very reliable. My transmission guy says the 4L65 and 4L70e are much better transmissions for strength. For manifolds why not just run the cast Hooker manifolds? Good for 450hp and fit perfect? Finding a stock manifold to fit with the truck intake is a unicorn.. We've all tried and have come close but no cigar.. Closest clearing are the manifolds Rockrod posted. I've always wondered though what they use on the E-rod motors.. I want to try these as they are a CARB approved header. http://www.amazon.com/Patriot-H8080-1-Metallic-Ceramic-Exhaust/dp/B00KMOS7VS?tag=ihco-20. Good luck on your build look forward to seeing your progress :)
 
I appreciate the input on the oil pan. The car pan is definitely my fall back Plan B option. I just really want to try my idea first. The holiday weekend and family have kept me away from the shop or I would have done it already.

Those E-rod headers look a lot like L99 Camaro manifolds in their overall shape. Those are another potential candidate that I want to look into. You may very well be right when it comes to having to run headers, but with new vehicles with different manifolds coming along every few years, I have to at least try. What is available now might not have been available 3 years ago when the last person went through this exercise. Using factory manifolds makes a lot of things easier(inspections, heat management, cost, etc), so I feel like it's a worthwhile endeavor to try and find ones that work.

As for the 6L80, I have never heard of any issues with them when they're being run at normal to moderate HP. The guys pushing 700+ RWHP through them seem to have problems, but that doesn't seem unreasonable to me. I have talked to a lot of people who run them and they can be tricky to tune for "comfortable street manners," but a lot of those same vehicles are making a lot more power. I don't claim to have it all figured out, but I believe that the 6 speed is the way of the future, and that it is superior hardware in the long run compared to a 4L6X variant. The fact that it looks like it was made for our trucks fitment wise is just icing on the cake. With that said, I am sure I will have to spend a decent amount of time working on the the transmission tune to get it where I want it.

I appreciate the feedback guys and don't want to come across as argumentative or defensive, I just want to be extremely thorough in my approach since I want to market this. If it weren't for that, I'd just throw some headers on there and move on to everything else.
 
Rockrod, swapping to a car intake certainly makes fitment easier, but adds complications and additional costs elsewhere(compatibility between car intake and truck accessories is a big one). Starting with a car engine to begin with would probably be easier at that point, but that leads to having to source a different tranny. My goal is to be able to tell people, "get the engine and trans from xxxx vehicle, and install this oil pan and these manifolds that come in my kit, and install the engine." We'll see if that is an attainable goal or not.

Have any of you tried the CTS-V manifolds? They look nice and high/tight, and the flange appears to be more inline front to back than the LS2 'Vette manifolds.
 
I actually wondered if the cts-v manifolds would work also along with the G8 manifolds. Asking questions and giving feedback helps when jumping into something you've never done before. I don't think your being defensive. You plan on building kits to sell for the DIY once you get it nailed down?
 
Yeah, that is why I am stuck on factory manifolds. If this were just for me, I would have done headers a long time ago since I don't have any inspections or emissions to contend with personally.
 
A lot of this can be pieced together in a "kit". The spot where you will get hung up is the wiring. Unless they send you their entire engine harness for you to rework. Is it doable, sure it is. Wish there were a way to still get factory harness connectors... What are your plans for the shifter? There are aftermarket options though a factory Toyota one would be cool too.
 
The wiring is the central piece to the kit, and in my opinion the biggest value adder for a prospective customer.

I was under the impression the factory connectors were still available. I intend to have a 100% new harness produced to eliminate all splicing connections by the customer. I have a lead on a manufacturer for the harnesses, I just have to develop it first.

I suppose if the connectors are unavailable they could be salvaged and exchanged on a core charge basis.
 
completely uninformed question here but would swapping sides or flipping them offer any kind of resolution to the manifold problem?
 
Few questions, are you retaining oem ex manifolds to make the swap 48 state emissions user friendly? Have you gotten to the harness yet? I am on a phone so what vehicle and year are you dropping this in?
 
Summiteer said:
completely uninformed question here but would swapping sides or flipping them offer any kind of resolution to the manifold problem?
Click to expand...

It is possible to flip LS manifolds side to side and upside down, but I don't think there is anything to be gained by doing that in this application.

burnttoastburgos said:
Few questions, are you retaining oem ex manifolds to make the swap 48 state emissions user friendly? Have you gotten to the harness yet? I am on a phone so what vehicle and year are you dropping this in?
Click to expand...

Yes, that's the reason for wanting to use stock manifolds. I have not started on the harness yet. I want to get everything mounted so I can lay the harness in and get the lengths of everything right.

This swap is going into a '94 OBD1 80 series. I have a '96 that will get swapped also to iron out the differences in the OBD1 & OBD2 and confirm there are no conflicts with the parts I will be offering. Sort of a beta version if you will. That one will likely get a 5.3/6L80 out of a truck/tahoe.
 
as i am new to 80's, please excuse my ignorance but what is OBD1 & 2 mean
 
Arya Ebrahimi said:
The wiring is the central piece to the kit, and in my opinion the biggest value adder for a prospective customer.

I was under the impression the factory connectors were still available. I intend to have a 100% new harness produced to eliminate all splicing connections by the customer. I have a lead on a manufacturer for the harnesses, I just have to develop it first.

I suppose if the connectors are unavailable they could be salvaged and exchanged on a core charge basis.
Click to expand...

When I did my swap I tried very hard to locate the factory connectors. No dice. I ended up hacking the stock engine harness just to get the connectors needed. Even then I still have to run additional wires to get the gm sensors sending the signals to the stock gauges. Not only does the engine harness need modifications, but so does the transmission harness to parse out the speedo and cdl wires. That stuff is part of the engine harness as well. I highly recommend a thorough reading of the ewd. Then you have to take the harness and match up the wire colors and start dissecting. It's loads of fun. It would be 1000% easier if only those connectors could be sourced (along with the electrical pins and tool to assemble them). I ended up buying a weatherpak kit just to build my own.
 
I am working on a lead for the stock connectors, but am prepared to sacrifice my stock harness if I have to.

In other news, I picked up a set of CTS-V manifolds and downpipes/cats this morning. They look promising. I should be able to try them tonight.
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They fit! :bounce:

The driver's side needs to have the heat shield clearanced in order to clear the steering shaft, but otherwise it fits well.
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The passenger side fits without modification, although the clearance to the frame rail is tight(1/8"). There's a ton of meat on the flange there though, so a quick pass with the grinder should relieve that issue.
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I need to put the hood on to see if I can raise the engine 1/2"-1". If so, I will have plenty of room.

The factory CTS-V downpipes/cats even bolt on to the manifolds, but will require mods to really work. The cats themselves touch the frame rails, and I had to remove the sway bar mounts to bolt them up. I think they can be tweaked to work though.
 
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