After lots of work, it was finally time to turn our pile of parts into an engine. We'd already assembled our Chevy LS1's bottom end and heads, but now it was time for the fun part.
First up: our camshaft, courtesy of Crane Cams. We'd already installed new cam bearings while the bottom end was apart, so installing this was …
Read the rest of the story
The PO of my '99 FRC is a very good friend of mine and he always asked me about what he should do in regards to modifications. When he had to replace the blown stock LS1 engine a few years ago, the shop setup the Gen III 5.7L LS block with the Manley high pressure pump #10295 due to the vertical clearance on the forged rod beings being sightly wider than stock vs. the 18% higher flow rated but stock pressure Manley #10296 pump. Due to the wider clearances we have to run at least 5w-40 oil as well. They used the LS2 timing chain #12586482, LS2 lifter trays #12596365 and LS7 lifters #12499225. Not sure if this is still the hot lick setup or not, but it seemed to work well at the time and she is still running strong today.
One thing to help reduce oil consumption at the track to use the '01-03 LS6 valley cover or even better yet the '04-05 LS6 valley cover and PVC vent tube setup as well as a catch can. I am using '04-05 valley cover and will add an Elite Engineering catch can setup in my '99 FRC.
I agree on the LS6 valley cover, but realized it too late–the car still has its LS1 cover on it for now. That may change in the future, though.