I have been reading alot about installing the ls6 manifold on to my 97 m6. My only mods as of now are the vararam intake and a borla catback exhaust. I was wondering what perfourmence gains I could expect after installing a weiand intake manifold that has some port work done.

Also, how hard would it be to make the swap if done by a mildly competent mechanic. Or how much should I expect to pay for a shop to do the work?

Any help is appericated...

 

There's not a lot of positive feedback on the Weiand manifold. IMHO you would probably be better off picking up a used Z06 intake. They're usually good for 5-7hp; maybe a little more on a slightly more modded car.

The intake swap is VERY simple on these cars; However, a shop will still charge you big $$s to swap one out, probably because of the name plate on the car

 

its a pretty simple procedure. after removing mine twice, i could probably do a R&R in 30 minutes.

 

easy cheesy...

about 10 (8)mm bolts. You will need a fuel disconnect tool to pull the ful line off. Those are at auto-zone for about 4-5 bucks. you will have to swap the injectors to the new intake, which is easy. Just pull them out and plug them back in. Be sure to clean all the goop and crap from the rubber O ring on the injector before you put them back in.

The back of the intake has a vaccum line (very small, easy to break:o) and a big hose going to the brake booster. sounds like a lot for the novice, but its no sweat

 

Whoops, hang on there! Not completely a bolt over swap. There are some things that need to be modified to bolt the LS6 intake to your LS1.

Your LS1 has a coolant breather tube that bolts to the back of the heads and runs forward under the manifold to two more vent tubes on the front of the heads and then through the MAF. If you do not do these mods you will crack the manifold when you try to bolt it down. You can do one of two things, either grind the plastic on the bottom of the LS6 manifold to clear the tubes, or go to the later LS6 set up for the vent tubes which amounts to blocking off the rear vents, and putting a new later model vent tube on the front. These tubes bleed air back to the radiator and necessary to eliminate air pockets in the head assembly cooling jackets.

I personally went with updating to the LS6 setup rather than grinding the manifold. If you get a used ZO6 manifold make sure you get new gaskets.

Follow the manual torque procedeure to make sure you have no leaks. Make sure you don't mess with the knock sensor wires too much, they are fragile.

Go to LS1 how to dot com they have a step by step you can follow.

I found it to be a cheap HP add on, I got a used LS6 manifold off the forum, cleaned it up and bingo a couple of dollars a few beers and couple of hours work, cheap HP.

 

thanks for the help, I have been searching for install instructions and it dosnt sound to bad. Im just not for sure on the coolant lines.

 

You can get the part # for the lines on "LS1howto. The swap literally takes about 15 mins (after the manifold is off of course) including the cleanup