Camaro5 Chevy Camaro Forum / Camaro ZL1, SS and V6 Forums - Camaro5.com
 
Bigwormgraphix
Go Back   Camaro5 Chevy Camaro Forum / Camaro ZL1, SS and V6 Forums - Camaro5.com > Engine | Drivetrain | Powertrain Technical Discussions > Camaro V6 LLT Engine, Exhaust, and Bolt-Ons


Reply
 
Thread Tools
Old 03-01-2015, 01:58 AM   #1
SV6GUY
Endlessly Wrenching
 
SV6GUY's Avatar
 
Drives: VE SV6 S2 manual
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: Australia
Posts: 57
Cool LFX manifold on an LLT

Thought i'd share this for any N/A LLT camaro owners looking to install an LFX manifold.

I mainly wanted to undertake the swap because the composite manifold from the LFX is substantially lighter, does not heat soak compared to the cast iron LLT manifold and may improve performance - more on this later. As far as i know, i'm the first N/A LLT to give this a shot while MagnumForceGB was the first LLT owner to give it a shot with his killer IPF set up.

Installation was relatively straight forward but the 6 bolts that hold down the manifold had be about 10mm longer, my catch can hose had to be replaced with a longer line and the evap solenoid needed to be plumbed in with a fitting for the LFX side.

Here's what the engine bay looked like beforehand



Made a few little modifications to the LFX manifold to give it a bit more flow. I cut off the grid up top, filled in the dip with plastic weld and sanded it all smooth.



Gridless



Dried up plastic weld, not shot of the smoothed product though



New piece over the stock LLT gasket and MACE 12mm insulator



A nice match between the LLT gasket and my new piece



Looks like the spark plugs and coils can be swapped with ease now



Bonus shot of my MAF and Vmax CNC ported throttle body



Almost there...



And finally, the finished product



While the engine bay has lost some sex appeal, the pick up in down low-mid range torque was huge. Shifting through gears feels much better, there's no slight hesitation or dead spot once you hit next gear. I've found power to be stronger right through to redline and the car pulls effortlessly through corners with the extra bump in torque. The loss of weight up top was also a huge bonus and on day one it was 95 degrees out and the car pulled as if it was a modest 75.

I did run into a couple of oddities. First, the car would surge while cruising but after a few hundred kms, that has since stopped mostly- from what i've been told, it's likely due to the air leaking out of manifold into the OTR (negative vacuum) but the computer has mostly relearned to compensate. I might put a tube style intake if it bothers me but i'll probably wait until i'm ready for FI. Also my strut bar can no longer clear the manifold, but i hardly think it was doing anything in the first place.

Oh and the week before that i gave the car a detail with a machine polisher (first time), here's a before and after shot. Random orbiters are awesome ignore the filthy wheels please

SV6GUY is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-01-2015, 02:03 AM   #2
redleader
redleader
 
Drives: 2010
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: UK
Posts: 2,201
Thank you for the writeup !! :-)
Where can we buy one?
I'm the the UK so expect I will have to rob the bank yet again :-(
redleader is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-01-2015, 02:48 AM   #3
SV6GUY
Endlessly Wrenching
 
SV6GUY's Avatar
 
Drives: VE SV6 S2 manual
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: Australia
Posts: 57
Quote:
Originally Posted by redleader View Post
Thank you for the writeup !! :-)
Where can we buy one?
I'm the the UK so expect I will have to rob the bank yet again :-(
The absolute cheapest place i could find was amazon ($160) but would only post to the U.S. I had to use a mail forwarding company to get it home, fortunately Australia Post offers that service at about $40usd.
SV6GUY is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-01-2015, 07:03 AM   #4
JantzenOKC


 
JantzenOKC's Avatar
 
Drives: '13 2LT/RS Twin Turbo
Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: Edmond, Oklahoma
Posts: 3,073
I think your engine bay looks much better with the plastic lfx setup.. I never cared for the cast llt intake. Unless there's a carburetor in the middle of it I don't want a metal intake.
JantzenOKC is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-01-2015, 09:34 AM   #5
Ventmaster


 
Ventmaster's Avatar
 
Drives: 2017 1SS 6spd
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Utah
Posts: 2,840
If you remove the Mace 12mm insulator would you have clearance for the strut brace?

I agree they don't do much, but they look great! And the adaptor for the LFX manifold is giving you about the same space as the Mace, correct?

Nice write up and your car looks great!
Ventmaster is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-01-2015, 11:00 AM   #6
redleader
redleader
 
Drives: 2010
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: UK
Posts: 2,201
I have my LLT with a 12mm ICEolator & Engine Cover and still have room between it and the Strut Brace.
Is there a further height change by adding the LFX Intake?
Thx.
redleader is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-01-2015, 04:36 PM   #7
Ventmaster


 
Ventmaster's Avatar
 
Drives: 2017 1SS 6spd
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Utah
Posts: 2,840
Quote:
Originally Posted by redleader View Post
I have my LLT with a 12mm ICEolator & Engine Cover and still have room between it and the Strut Brace.
Is there a further height change by adding the LFX Intake?
Thx.
On the LFX engine, the composite manifold sits right on top the motor.

To use it (the LFX manifold) on a LLT motor, you need an adaptor to match up the intake ports. It can be seen (bright silver) in the OP's pictures #5,6, and 7. In picture 7 you can see well how tall it is.

GM was nice enuff to make the adaptor for us to use the LLT engine with LFX manny in the 2012 Chevy Traverse. It will bolt right up to your Camaro too!

I'm not sure of the part#, but cost from a friendly dealer should be $265-$280. List price is $367.98- never pay full retail for GM parts. Tell your local parts guy what you can get it for online, but that you'd rather spend your money locally. He'll meet you as much as possible.
Ventmaster is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-01-2015, 04:44 PM   #8
kjkjr27
COTW 9/16/13
 
kjkjr27's Avatar
 
Drives: 2011 2LT/RS Camaro IOM
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Syracuse
Posts: 10,089
Awesome. Have all the parts on my kitchen table to do this intake swap come spring, can't wait!
__________________
kjkjr27 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-01-2015, 11:40 PM   #9
camaro2lt
 
camaro2lt's Avatar
 
Drives: 2010 Camaro 2LT VR/RS CGM Rally's
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Palmyra, PA
Posts: 5,675
where do we buy the adapter for this?
__________________
camaro2lt is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-01-2015, 11:40 PM   #10
SV6GUY
Endlessly Wrenching
 
SV6GUY's Avatar
 
Drives: VE SV6 S2 manual
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: Australia
Posts: 57
Quote:
Originally Posted by JantzenOKC View Post
I think your engine bay looks much better with the plastic lfx setup.. I never cared for the cast llt intake. Unless there's a carburetor in the middle of it I don't want a metal intake.
thanks! i do miss the look of the strut bar, but the gains from my insulators were by far the best out of all my modifications - so there's that to consider.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ventmaster View Post
If you remove the Mace 12mm insulator would you have clearance for the strut brace?

I agree they don't do much, but they look great! And the adaptor for the LFX manifold is giving you about the same space as the Mace, correct?

Nice write up and your car looks great!
I think it should clear without it but i'm in no rush to find out.

Well that's the thing, the lower adapter is the same size as the stock lower adapter on the LFX, just the lower ports to accommodate the LLT heads is different. My insulators with the LLT manifold seemingly had a lower profile than the LFX manifold with the same sized insulators.

Thank you!

Quote:
Originally Posted by redleader View Post
I have my LLT with a 12mm ICEolator & Engine Cover and still have room between it and the Strut Brace.
Is there a further height change by adding the LFX Intake?
Thx.
Yep, the LFX manifold must have a higher profile than the cast LLT; so longer runners = more torque down low. Which makes perfect sense given how much more torque she has down low.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ventmaster View Post
On the LFX engine, the composite manifold sits right on top the motor.

To use it (the LFX manifold) on a LLT motor, you need an adaptor to match up the intake ports. It can be seen (bright silver) in the OP's pictures #5,6, and 7. In picture 7 you can see well how tall it is.

GM was nice enuff to make the adaptor for us to use the LLT engine with LFX manny in the 2012 Chevy Traverse. It will bolt right up to your Camaro too!

I'm not sure of the part#, but cost from a friendly dealer should be $265-$280. List price is $367.98- never pay full retail for GM parts. Tell your local parts guy what you can get it for online, but that you'd rather spend your money locally. He'll meet you as much as possible.
The part number is 12633365 by ACDelco, i bought it on amazon for $165! they had none in stock at the time (estimated wait of 2-3 months) but have since stocked up and are ready to deliver when you're ready to buy.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Quote:
Originally Posted by kjkjr27 View Post
Awesome. Have all the parts on my kitchen table to do this intake swap come spring, can't wait!
Awesome man! i'm sure you'll be impressed, keep us all updated, especially if you experience any surging like i have.
SV6GUY is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-02-2015, 04:00 AM   #11
terry_b

 
terry_b's Avatar
 
Drives: 2014 2SS/RS 1LE
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Hudson, MA
Posts: 1,379
Send a message via MSN to terry_b
12633365 by ACDelco - Got this in my amazon wishlist for the future, but from everything I can find online this part number is just good for the adapter right? This is just the lower cast portion and I would still have to source the upper plastic intake plenum?
__________________
terry_b is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-02-2015, 12:19 PM   #12
redleader
redleader
 
Drives: 2010
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: UK
Posts: 2,201
Oh Well
Double whammy :-(
#sob
Name:  ImageUploadedByTapatalk1425320320.689499.jpg
Views: 2119
Size:  99.4 KB
redleader is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-02-2015, 12:47 PM   #13
KMPrenger


 
KMPrenger's Avatar
 
Drives: 16 Camaro SS, 15 Colorado
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Jefferson City, Missouri
Posts: 13,941
Very cool! Thanks for sharing. For some reason here at work, I can't view the images. :(

I think if I were to do this mod, I'm not sure that I'd use a spacer, in addition to the adapter that goes on the bottom of the LFX manifold. I'm not saying there is any problem with doing so, but I think we've found that after a certain point of making the runners longer, you start to lose top end power.

I'm betting that if I went with a modded LFX intake like the one that Jac_Fab offers, and used just the GM adapter, that would likely be enough of a difference for me. Not to mention since I'm using a Vararam air intake, I couldn't raise my intake too much...otherwise the my air intake wouldn't work correctly.

Looking forward to seeing what kjkjr27 thinks. I've been running a ported LLT intake for a long while now, but I can't say it ever really impressed me all that much.
__________________
2016 Camaro 1SS - 8-speed - NPP - Black bowties
2010 Camaro 1LT V6 (Sold. I will miss her!)
KMPrenger is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-02-2015, 01:22 PM   #14
MagnumForceGB


 
MagnumForceGB's Avatar
 
Drives: Fastest 2010 Camaro V6
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Newcastle, OK
Posts: 3,571
Glad to see others doing this mod. I was skeptical at first about it going from a stage 4 ported LLT manifold but the gains are there.
__________________
Camaro V6 = 11.268 @ 120.11
MagnumForceGB is offline   Reply With Quote
 
Reply

Thread Tools

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 05:32 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.9 Beta 4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.