I have a 2000 Corvette FHT w/ a 6-speed manual. I have some questions about engine swaps.

If I ever have any time, I'll get a centrifugal supercharger and long tube headers installed on my LS1. I'm going to run it with E85. If nothing big pops up, I'll try to get it done next winter (I had to move this winter).

I've read that the LS1 can have a lot of problems. Cylinder walls cracking, oil pumps failing, rotating assembly failing under boost...etc.

If my LS1 poops out five years down the road, I want to have a plan for a replacement. Ideally, I'd want an LS9, but there is no way I would spend that kind of money.

This is what I would want:
1) keep the original slow engine controller currently in the C5
2) reuse the supercharger, injectors and headers on a different LS
3) lower compression ratio (somewhere around 9.5)
4) mild cam (probably stock)

Is the 2005 LS2 an easy swap because the reluctor wheel hadn't changed?

Are 2006-up LS2's any easier to install than an LS3?

Is the LS2 or LS3 block a lot more robust than the LS1?

How much boost can you run on a LS2 or LS3 without using a forged rotating assembly?

If a stock rotating assembly is used, what's the best way to drop compression ratio? Heads? Thick head Gasket? Is that going to get anywhere close to a 9.5 CR?

Is it more cost effective to buy a complete engine (like an LS2) or buy block, heads, intake etc. separately and assemble? Does the most cost effective path change with a forged rotating assembly? Does the most cost effective path change if rectangle port heads are used?

 

Not sure why you think an LS1 has a lot of problems. There are quite a few guys on this forum running 10 lbs of boost with a methanol injection. They seem to be able to keep out of detonation, but are destroying rings then pistons.

I just bought a 402 LS2 with a forged bottom end. If you go aftermarket (and you should if you want to go big with the boost) you can order which reluctor wheel you need, but you still need a conversion kit with it. I don't know why, that's what the guys from TSP recommended.

 

I've got 131k miles on a stock longblock LS1, 24k miles with 480-510rwhp through a supercharger. Tuning is the most important thing when modding these cars. They are not fragile if you have a good tuner, and people have made more than double the hp through the stock bottom end.

As for engine swaps, the choices are endless. Built LQ4/9, Built LS1/2/3/6/7, strokers, etc.

 

other than more head choices and maybe more stock displacement, is there any advantage to switching to an LS2 block over an LS1?

When looking at swap posts, I keep seeing that people do it after their LS1 block cracks. That's why I'm concerned.

Here is one example, but I've seen a lot more:
http://www.ls1tech.com/forums/new-ls...ed-advice.html

10 PSI boost is okay with a stock LS1 bottom end, head gasket and head bolts and E85 or 93+meth? Is that the limit?

If you had a fully forged rotating assembly, and aftermarket head gasket and bolts, how much boost can you do with E85 or 93+meth? 15 PSI?

I'm doing 15 PSI with just 93 octane and no meth in another car. Lots less displacement though and a liquid to air innercooler with lots of heat exchanger.

 

All depends how you drive the car. I'm at 10 lbs of boost, stock bottom end, for three years now.......and no meth.

 

If and when you replace the shortblock and are running boost I think it would be better to have the shortblock specifically built to run boost than just dropping in a replacement crate motor. Pistons would be forged and selected for desired compression ratio and ring selection would be different. Not that a crate motor wouldn't work, you'd just have more durability going with a custom build, and would be fairly inexpensive if staying with stock cubes and just rebuilding the shortblock you already have.