Air intake LS1

Only just starting my conversion , motor sitting in bay and looking at air intake . Am I right to think that LS1 drive by cable is longer than drive by wire throttle body . This would explain why every option I have tried doesn’t fit. Does this mean if I want to stay cable I’ll have remove the hood latch to get a decent intake. Thanks Brett

You can retain the hood latch with a drive by cable throttle body.  It is tight and it may not be as efficient if you were to remove the hood latch to make for less of a curve going into the throttle body but I did it on my conversion.  I wanted to retain the flip up headlamp mechanism and the hood latch on my car.  I was able to do it with pieces purchased from [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] There is a 90 degree rubber hose to a 3.5" aluminum pipe that I sectioned and welded to make it go around the headlamp arm. The MAF is attached to a 45 degree hose that is connected to the 3.5" aluminum pipe. The air filter is attached to the MAF.  I have attached a picture of my intake system.  Good luck, Gil[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Gil,

I too am trying to figure out my air intake setup but my FAST manifold and Jantzer throttle body extend further forward and upward than the stock units and removing the hood latch seem inevitable.  I will likely need to modify the hood as well.  I'm considering going straight out the front into the intercooler space.

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<Hood latch Interference>                                          <MC Brake Lines>

Regarding the brake lines, I found your engine bay pic very informative as I'm currently wrestling with repositioning coil packs and finalizing connection of my brake MC unit.  I see you rotated your MC a bit, I presume to make room for a coil pack bracket.  I plan to make a similar bracket.  Your brake lines look continuous as well vs. extensions.

I would love to hear and see your solution to the custom coil pack bracket and how you made the brake line connections to the MC.  I'm open for suggestions.  TIA!

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hope this helps
Carl

Thanks Carl!  

Your set-up looks really clean.  I noticed you have plenty of clearance for the air intake plumbing, and your PS fluid reservoir is much different than mine. I'm wondering if your LS motor is a 5.3 or 5.7?

I like the remote coil locations but that's exactly where I was planning to put the intake filter(Corvette type).

Also, your MC brake lines look good. I haven't looked into this yet but are there a junctions in these lines on the other side of the firewall where I can remove the stock lines and replace them with longer units? That sure would be nice!!

More for me to think about....

The engine in my car is a LM4 aluminum 5.3 out of a Trailblazer so it has the truck style coils that are attached to the valve covers with flat steel brackets. I cut the brackets by the master cylinder and drilled new holes to relocate the coils.
I installed the hydro booster as it came out of the box from the TPC kit and it ended up in the position shown. You would have to loosen the big nut at the rear of the hydro booster to reposition it. That's something you don't really want to do after it is installed with the engine in the car. Just about everything in the driver's side rear of the engine compartment is a pain to work on.
I made new one piece brake lines for the front brakes from the master cylinder to the brake hoses and I made an extension for the rear that I spliced in the heater intake area so you couldn't see it.
Hope this helps, Gil

Very helpful!! Thank you.

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I made a custom bracket and stacked my drivers side coils on the valve cover. Maybe not as clean, but more practical.

With the intake, you want to avoid installing the maf near any bends to avoid getting eroneous airflow readings.

i bought a union fitting for the brake lines and have a couple made to extend it to the master cylinder.
as for the coil relocation, I bought the kit on amazon and did my custom plug wires.
for the intake I also wanted to go straight through but that would eliminate the hood latch and I didn't want to do hood pins for now. kinda wanted the incognito look.

Thanks guys for the tips and photos! So helpful.

I certainly learn something new from the forum every time I log on... IE the coil relocation kit on Amazon.

I feel much more comfortable now moving forward, knowing that I'm not missing some tried and true installation approach.

Looks like a good brake line bender and flaring tool are also in my immediate future.

Here are 3 different setups I've done.


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Thanks so much Bob!!

I think a lot of forum folks at this point in their build will appreciate what you're sharing.  I sure do!!

After more clearance evaluation of my own set up, it looks like I will be going directly out the front with my air intake similar to your example #3.  That's the price I have to pay for using an aftermarket intake and throttle body.

On top of that, a hood modification is inevitable.  Personally, I have always liked the hood bulge on the Jaguar XKE roadsters and if I carry it forward through to the front panel just a bit it might actually look good.  Some digital renditions will ultimately tell that tale!

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<Jaguar XKE Hood Bulge>

Speaking of the front panel in example #3, I trust you came up with a clean way to make it removable for air filter maintenance.  

I'm still figuring out how to take the front panel off...LOL!

If you have an early 944, pre 1985, then your panel is welded on. Otherwise it is screwed on in multiple places. If it’s screwed on, then you have to raise the headlights to access the nuts in front of the headlights and there is also a screw attaching the panel to fender right in the corner by the headlight. There is also a screw inboard of the headlight that requires a long screwdriver to reach it. I can take some pics Monday if needed. Already left the shop today.

Thanks Bob, that helps a lot.

I have an '87 and I only found 4 bolts... at least I know now where to look for the others!

Thanks to everyone I now have somewhere to start .