C5 base LS1 swap to LS6
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: Oct 2018
Posts: 458
Likes: 29
From: Bellingham, wa.
C5 base LS1 swap to LS6
So I am wondering what changes to my base C5 are needed to drop in a LS6. Do I need to find the appropriate control computer or can I reflash the base C5? Also if I need the computer from the LS6 are they hard-to find and how much should I expect to spend. Any other changes need to be made? Tia.
Drifting
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 1,333
Likes: 32
From: cruising between USA and Canada... SAVE THE WAVE!
So I am wondering what changes to my base C5 are needed to drop in a LS6. Do I need to find the appropriate control computer or can I reflash the base C5? Also if I need the computer from the LS6 are they hard-to find and how much should I expect to spend. Any other changes need to be made? Tia.
when I converted my c5 coupe into a zo6 setup, the first thing we did was pull the heads to take a look inside (car had about 100,000 miles on it). to our surprise, the block was mint- cylinders were in perfect shape- there was no ridge up top and the crosshatching was clearly visible. Plugs were clean, motor was silent and oil was never down at oil change time. We decided to save ourselves the trouble and simply used the heads, cam, intake, etc. and kept the ls1 block. when that was all said and done we used a base '04 zo6 "tune" thru hp tuners and tweaked that. Unless you have issues with your engine and need to swap it out in one shot, we were surprised actually to find that if we took that route, we would be discarding a perfect engine. You could easily find 243 heads, LS6 intake, ls6 cam, coils, injectors, etc for around $1k and not have to worry about an unknown engine. The main differences between the ls1 and ls6 block is bay to bay "windows" that help with prolonged high revving. I don't know what condition your engine is in, but i'd say you may not need to consider swapping an entire engine if your block is in tip top shape already.
HTH,
Tom
