How much does the LS6 engine weigh?
 

Hey guys...

I'm from the C3 section :leaving:

Doing some pondering about dropping a fuel injected engine into a C3. Wondering how much the LS6 and LS1's weigh... I know they are capable of making a ton of power, but I'd like to know how much weight one would take off the front end!

:cheers:

I believe a fully dressed LSx is 460lbs.

I believe the weight loss is right around 100lbs or so. The block is about 85lbs lighter and the plastic intake is probably another 15lbs or so.

Dope

Cool...

Has anyone carbed one? Or installed a crank trigger ignition? :cheers:

I don't think I would carb it. Carburetors are rather stone age technology. The electronic fuel injection, while probably not producing any more maximum power, makes the car much more driveable throughout the RPM range. The EFI probably gives you more power at everything but WOT. It also gives you a lot better gas mileage.

Yeah... but all the wires? ;)

Think of it as a learning experience. You have got to deal with the computer anyway because of the ignition system: no distributor and 8 coils all driven by the computer.

All the holes are in the motor for sensors anyway. Might as well use them instead of pluggin them.

You can get a hod rod wiring kit to get the LS6 into anything. Check out the hybrid forum in ls1tech.com. To tune, there's HPTuners and LS1Tech. I have HPTuners, and like it a lot. They come out with substantial upgrades every few months, and they can rewrite the PCM much faster than the competition. Only problem with this option is the cost. The PCM is going to cost around $300 and $650 for HPTuners with the Wide band O2 wiring cable, then add another $350 for a wide band kit. There's the wiring harness for the motor too, but I have no idea what it'd cost.

If you are a hardcore diy guy, check out MegaSquirt at www.msefi.com. Some guys were running it at the local track a few months ago on a Fiat roadster. They put together the kit themselves and probably spent $100 for the PCM and other parts. The tuning software is free, and the forum support for it is pretty good. The software looked just as capable as HPTuners was at the time, but wide band support wasn't available back then either.

As for weight, people drop the LSx into Porsche 944's without any weight gain. The 944 has a 3L V6 turbo. The 944 is one of the best handling cars to ever come out of a factory, so it'd simply be wrong if a conversion screwed up the handling.

I think Kinsler makes a carb intake manifold kit. If you do it, I hope you do it all the way with individual carbs for each runner and LONG horn tube runners. I have a picture of a Shelby AC Cobra if you want to see how I think it should be done.

Disagree with you here. Both the LS1 and LS6 have aluminum block.

ls1 auto tranny fully dressed 457 lbs
ls1 manual fully dressed 492 lbs
ls6 manual fully dressed 492 lbs

Here is a link that has the difference between the engines and the weight at the bottom of the page.

2001 LS1 vs. 2001 LS6 Engine Comparison

The LS2 is 50 lbs lighter. I'd love to learn how they dropped 50 lbs off an already light engine!

I seem to recall something about changing the exhaust manifolds to make the weight loss.

It has to be more than the exhaust manifolds. Even the heaviest manifolds/cats/h-pipe only weighed 72.5 lbs. The lightest header/cats/x-pipe system still weighs 45.4 lbs.

The numbers I have here aren't matching up yet: http://forums.corvetteforum.com/showthread.php?t=976812

Undressed...these are 300lbs, in case you wondered...

I don't know why you're disagreeing with me, I was off by 3lbs. Although it is interesting that the manual version is 35lbs heavier. I wonder if they're including the clutch assembly while the auto only includes the flexplate.

Dope

Check ls1tech.com. GMPP makes a carb intake. Only a few of the most hardcore drag guys run them though.

Honestly, 99.9% of guys who swap LSx motors into another car run the factory electronics. It can't be that hard, judging by this.

Plus, then you can get 30mpg in your C3 and impress your friends ;)

Dope

Dope, I'm just guessing, but he might have been referring to the wide open "LSx" weight, which could refer to 4 different engines, in several different configurations.

I am curious as to what they're calling "fully dressed". I would like a weight with just the block, internals, oil pan, front/rear/timing covers, heads, electronics and intake manifold. Those parts aren't likely to change. The exhaust, pulleys and clutch change significantly for any modaholic.

The way I first read your post it read like the difference you were saying was a 100lbs between the LS1 and LS6 so that is why I was disagreeing with you :cheers:

:cheers:

Dope