So is the original engine not repairable? Is the engine swap for a different reason?

 

The engine has 121k on it, a wiped cam and a broken plastic timing chain guide. At this point the very minimum mandatory is a rebuild. But that's not what this thread is all about. No, this thread is about removing a bad LS2 from a 2007 and dropping in a LS3/480. Sleeper style. This car is bone stock. Stock airbox, Stock exhaust. The car will even retain the LS2 coil covers, even tho they will be lying.

 

Wait...are you saying the motor has to come out of a C6 to take the heads off? What about a C5? I hope I'm misreading that.

 

It does make things easier. And it would be wrong for a shop to entertain internal engine repairs on a performance machine with so many miles on the clock. But the drivers side head can come off in the car it is just a tight squeeze

 

Ok. Gotcha. I'm hoping my Z lasts longer than 121k.

 

there's a trick to it for sure. the engine and car must be raised together about a foot up off the sub frame. Then the motor can slide forward and out. And we are a busy corvette shop, if this was just going to be a simple repair, I wouldn't have made a thread about it. I wasn't sure if this was going to get a ls3, ls3/480, or lsx376 but I knew it was getting one of them so I started this thread to demonstrate a ls2 to ls3 swap and how easy it can be done in a 2007(2005 is a bit more difficult).

 

The new powerplant is here..





There is a couple of things that need to be transferred over from the old motor. The oil pan that comes with the crate motor will not fit a corvette. And the throttle body must be swapped over. Here is the motor going back in..

 

And the untrained eye will never notice the upper rad hose connecting to the water pump on the drivers side of the throttle body or the dexos oil fill cap instead of mobil 1, or the map sensor..


But there will be no mistaken above stock performance. This customer has good taste. Sleeper style. Internal engine mods only. No wild chop to the idle. Just a bunch of extra ponies as defined by a dyno roller and not the ear(noise level). Speaking of which, tomorrow we get to setup a tune for this with hptuners and then this can go home.