LS4 V8 DoD 4T65-E TAPShift swap underway (pics inside)

[Aaron]

Stupid cover? I don't think so. I like GM's engine covers; they hide the ugly plastic intakes and fuel systems GM and many other car makers are using these days. But to each his own I guess.

I agree. As badass as the LSX series are, the one thing they aren't is pretty.

[Fastback86]

I like the look of them, personally. I just wonder what the point of making the wiring so clean is if all you're going to do is cover it up. But like you said, to each their own. I think you should leave it off so people can appreciate your attention to detail, but thats just me.

[The Dark Side of Will]

Absolutely.
I think the engine's look better without the covers, as long as attention has been paid to making them look clean and well organized.

[Sinister Fiero]

Absolutely.
I think the engine's look better without the covers, as long as attention has been paid to making them look clean and well organized.

True that; but there is only so much you can do with stock parts. IMHO, the LS2 intake looked a lot better than the LS4's. Then there's the coils. Could I move them off the valve covers? Sure. But then more $$$ for parts and time would be requried to do this. The thing I like about the LS4's engine cover is it hides the coils.

[The Dark Side of Will]

I like the coils. I think that the symmetry and repetition adds to the look of organization. After all, if all the wiring for them looks like someone put thought into it, then that's that much more thought that went into the swap as a whole, and improves the whole product.

[crzyone]

Looking good. Get that stupid cover off there and show off your work.

Stupid cover? I don't think so. I like GM's engine covers; they hide the ugly plastic intakes and fuel systems GM and many other car makers are using these days. But to each his own I guess.

I would run a N* engine cover if my motor came with it. I agree that it makes it look a lot cleaner. I painted my coil covers, intake and valve covers but it still looks like a plastic gm engine.

[darkhorizon]

I like covers, i still want to get my 3800SC cover on somehow.

This is after i paint it, and maybe get around to plugging in my speedo converter.

[The Dark Side of Will]

I painted my coil covers, intake and valve covers but it still looks like a plastic gm engine.

Umm... it kinda IS plastic... at least the manifold and coil modules. Polish the magnesium cam covers...


So for people who like engine covers, what are the characteristics of a pretty engine? What kind of engine would you leave uncovered?

I think I've been over what I like... Organization, symmetry, etc. The impression that someone put thought into the routing of each and every wire, hose or tube... I don't want to cover that up when so much went into it.

Besides, putting the beauty cover on a Northstar would muffler the Cadillac symphony for 4 cams, 32 valves, 8 pots and dual pipes.

[crzyone]

I think a 3800sc is a great looking engine when you install an aftermarket fuel rail, clean up the wiring and paint it nice. The Supercharger makes the engine look good.

The LSX and LS1 look so much nicer with the corvette covers on the motor than without.

I have not seen a 2000+ engine cover so I can't really say how nice it is or isn't but it would hide the busy TB with all the vacume lines and such.

[Aaron]

I think the 3.4 DOHC is a great looking engine stock. The red plug wires, the valve covers and intake, it just looks really clean. The plastic cover only covers the front injectors too, it doesn't cover the entire engine.

[p8ntman442]

quad, 4 plug wires, no cover for the win.

[The Dark Side of Will]

Yeah, the Q4 is hott... like a 1930's Indy engine. It would be sweeter without COP, but hey, you can't have everything.

[Sinister Fiero]

Just a FYI: My website provider switched their email handling software sometime last week, and unknown to me this completely shut down my sp@gmtuners.com email account. They are working to resolve the problem now, so until they do, please use the following email address to contact me:

sinisterperformance@dtcc.cz28.com

[Sinister Fiero]

Umm... it kinda IS plastic... at least the manifold and coil modules. Polish the magnesium cam covers...


So for people who like engine covers, what are the characteristics of a pretty engine? What kind of engine would you leave uncovered?

I think I've been over what I like... Organization, symmetry, etc. The impression that someone put thought into the routing of each and every wire, hose or tube... I don't want to cover that up when so much went into it.

Besides, putting the beauty cover on a Northstar would muffler the Cadillac symphony for 4 cams, 32 valves, 8 pots and dual pipes.

What spawned all this is my customer found a picture of an LSx that looked like this:



As you can see in the picture, this engine had a different intake, valve covers, and coil mounting system. Might even have different fuel rails than stock (don't know because I haven't seen every Corvette fuel system). The customer wanted his engine to look similar to this when done, but I told him it wouldn't be possible without changing the intake and valve covers and doing a lot of extra work which would have significantly ran up the cost of the swap.

I suggested if he wanted to clean things up a bit, the stock LS4 engine cover would cover up the ignition coils and intake. The problem with the LS4's intake is it has a bunch of crap coming out of the top of it (MAP sensor, PCV vac port, mounting bosses for engine cover, etc) that can't be removed easily. The ignition coils used on these LSx engines are ugly as they are mounted from the factory, IMHO. And even if you remove the coils from the valve covers, then you are left with a lot of extra tall mounting bosses that would need to be ground down and smoothed out. Then after you did that, you would need to locate the coils to another location would require much more time/work to do plus possibly getting some custom plug wires depending on where you are going to put them.

So what this all boils down to is more work = more cost. And not everybody is going to want to pay for that. I certainly can't afford to do it all for nothing. So it is up to the customer if they elect to pay for the extra "dress up" beyond what I already do to clean up the wiring and such which is included in every base swap I do. If you don't like engine covers then that's your opinion. But I think they are a great compromise for those who don't want to spend a lot of extra money just to change the entire top end of the engine to make it look better. Besides, the LS4's engine cover is very easily removed.

To take this discussion further, compare these two pictures of previous swaps I have done...





What's the cost difference in the above two swaps? The second one has the aftermarket fuel rails which I believe cost $400 and don't give you any performance advantage whatsoever. The prep work that went into the supercharger BEFORE paint I believe took 200 hours. I have no idea what my customer was charged for that because I didn't have anything to do with it outside of it was a mutual friend who did the work. But you can imagine how much 200 hours worth of work would cost. Then there's the paint. So how many of you are going to spend that much extra $$$ just to make the engine look that much better?

I can tell you that if I was on a budget for a swap I was doing for myself, I probably wouldn't spend the extra money on dress-up. But that's because I am more interested in performance than looks. Don't get me wrong, it has to be clean. But I'm not going to spend thousands of extra dollars in making the engine compartment a show winner when I am more interested in getting down the 1/4 mile as fast as possible. After all, all that paint and dress up doesn't make the car any faster. Now if someone wants to pay me to make their engine swap a show winner, I will GLADLY do what they ask and pay for.

-ryan

[Sinister Fiero]

[The Dark Side of Will]

I didn't know they made serpentine belts more than a mile long...

I'm not saying that someone has to spend 200 hours polishing things in order to leave the cover off. I just think that engines look fine without covers as long as someone has paid attention to making them neat and organized. I think the LS1 coils look fine because that's where they FUNCTION best (ie, have the shortest wires & simplest installation). I think that dress up for the sake of dress up is a waste of time and money. A certain amount is fine, so long as a LOT LESS effort went into dress up than went into the engine in the first place. 200 hours of work might be OK on a BIG Whipple, but it's (IMNSHO) a waste on an M90.

[Sinister Fiero]

I didn't know they made serpentine belts more than a mile long...

Believe it or not the length of belt I needed for my revised serp setup was a normally stocked part at autozone -- 102", 6-rib, which is a little shorter than stock LS4. Not really that long; there are longer ones.

I'm not saying that someone has to spend 200 hours polishing things in order to leave the cover off. I just think that engines look fine without covers as long as someone has paid attention to making them neat and organized. I think the LS1 coils look fine because that's where they FUNCTION best (ie, have the shortest wires & simplest installation). I think that dress up for the sake of dress up is a waste of time and money. A certain amount is fine, so long as a LOT LESS effort went into dress up than went into the engine in the first place. 200 hours of work might be OK on a BIG Whipple, but it's (IMNSHO) a waste on an M90.

I understand where you are coming from. But I'm just one of those people who thinks some of these factory intakes and ignition setups are just too "busy" looking. I like the simple look. In all honesty, I would prefer the Northstar coil pack over the LSx coil setup. Just like the looks of it better. But this is just one of those personal preference issues.

Originally, the owner of this car wanted to paint the plastic intake but that isn't an option because there are no plastic adhesion promoters that will hold up to the heat - believe me I've checked. So the LS4 cover is the compromise we came up with.

[The Dark Side of Will]

That looks like a FAST LSX intake on the engine pictured above. How was that made red? That's plastic also...

[Sinister Fiero]

That looks like a FAST LSX intake on the engine pictured above. How was that made red? That's plastic also...

They might have very well painted it. You can paint plastic; there are adhesion promoters out there that will make the paint stick to the plastic intake on these engines. But the problem is none of them are rated for engine compartment temperatures. So what can happen is the paint can dull or start to peel off after a period of time/use. Sure it may look great for a year or two, maybe less; but how long it lasts is going to depend on a lot of factors. And I simply cannot sell someone an intake paint job if I can't be sure it is going to last.

[The Dark Side of Will]

Intake manifold repaints then become a maintenance cost associated with having a blingin' engine bay.