Dyno-Proven GM LS1 Thru LS7 Performance Parts
by Richard Holdener
Publisher: SA Design
Softcover
160 pages
ISBN-13: 978-1-932494-40-2

This book is like having 150+ different magazine articles on Gen 3 V8 dyno tests all in one place. It's hard to argue with the convenience and value of that. Another attractive feature of this book is the way each dyno tested product is covered. Each story is two-pages long with text on the left and images and charts on the right...very orderly and easy to read.

A wide variety of popular modifications–intake throttle bodies, intake manifolds camshafts, cylinder heads, headers, superchargers, turbos and nitrous oxide injection systems–for GM LS1, LS2, LS6 and some Gen 3 truck engines are covered. Most of the parts mainstream modificaitons from name-brand manufacturers rather than obscure items from sources of which you've never heard.

The way Dyno-Proven GM LS1 Thru LS7 Performance Parts reads and Author, Holdener's, background as a magazine writer has us of the opinion that some of the chapters in this book are rewritten or re-edited magazine pieces. If your not a regular reader of Mr. Holdener's magazine content, that's no big deal, but if you're a regular reader of magazines which cover the GM LS-series engine, you might feel a little miffed at paying for a book containing material you've already read.

The book's title implies it contains material on the LS4–there is none. Also, contrary to the title, there is no impartial testing of anything for the LS7. There is test of a C6 Corvette Z06 exhaust system, but the test information was supplied by the system's manufacturer which makes the data suspect. Richard Holdener is quoted at the beginning of the book as saying, "I've always questioned the advertising claims in the performance magazines." Based on that, his use of data developed for advertising by the exhaust's maker seems strange.

While we liked the idea of testing so many different modifications, our biggest complaint about the book is the majority of the tests are done with different engines so the reader has no ability to compare similar modifications on the same engine.

In spite of some reservations I have about this book, Dyno-Proven GM LS1 Thru LS7 Performance Parts, it is is currently unique in the Gen 3/Gen 4 technical book market for its subject matter and how it's approached. As a result, I characterize it as a "mixed-bag"–great if you haven't read the stuff before and you're interested in modifying LS1/2/6 engines. Not so good if you read a lot of magazines, you're looking for information on the LS4 or LS7 engines or you want to compare effects of similar parts from different sources.

How to Build and Modify GM LS-Series Engines
by Joseph Potak
Publisher: Motorbooks 2009
Softcover
176 pages
ISBN-13: 978-0-7603-3543-7

In the late-'90s, when I began covering the LS1 engine and it's truck engine siblings for magazines, there were no good technical books, other than Factory Service Manuals, on these engines. What a difference a decade makes. Today, there are many books on the Gen 3/4 engines, most good and some bad.

This book, How to Build and Modify GM LS-Series Engines is one of the good ones...in spite of one of its little problems being the title itself. This book, by Texas Speed and Performance technician and ls1tech.com moderator, Joseph Potak, is really about how to properly assemble a high-performance street or racing Gen 3/4 engine. Content on modifications is pretty limited to engine hard parts and there's little or nothing on camshaft choices, headers, superchargers, nitrous oxide systems or other parts with which you'd modify an LS-series engine. This "problem" really isn't much of an issue–I look at it more as a typographical error in the title than anything else–because this book is a useful reference to anyone, especially DIY's, who are blueprinting and assembling a high-performance Gen 3/4 engine.

The book covers short block parts identification, machine work, short block assembly and upper end assembly and it does it with more detail than other books on the Gen 3s and 4s which I've reviewed. That is a good thing because the Gen 3/4 engine builders in the hobby are hungry for information. This book feeds that appetite.

On the modification front, there is useful information on aftermarket crankshafts, connecting rods, pistons and cylinder heads but, again, the information is limited and that limiting is a good thing. It allows the depth to which Potak goes in covering machine work and assembly.

Another aspect of this book which makes it a good read–or maybe I should say: a good look–is its photography. Imagery is important in a how-to book such as this. How to Build and Modify GM LS-Series Engines abounds with large photos which are well lit and show clear details of what's covered in the text.

The book does have a few quirks, such as slang terminology. Use of the hobby's general term "power adder" is common. They're not "power adders." They are "superchargers", "turbochargers" or "nitrous oxide injection systems". The strange phrase "oil journal clearance" is used for main an rod "bearing clearance"–what's an "oil journal, anyway? The word "larger" is used in discussions of camshaft profiles but more aggressive cams are not "larger". They may have longer durations and higher lifts but the cams are the same size.

The book also suffers a little because of its design. Apparently, to the book's Art Director, trendy looking pages trump the need to supply good content to readers. While the photos in this book are quite good and a cut above some books on the same subject from Motorbooks' competitors, many pages are designed with images on the left and, on the right, captions, set in teeny-tiny type, afloat on expansive white spaces. The captions are hard to read and the white space is a waste. Sheesh. Fill that space with more information on Gen 3/4 engines!

Executive summary: yeah, the book as a few design problems and a slightly misleading title but the meat and potatoes of How to Build and Modify GM LS-Series Engines is good stuff. This book now has a spot on my Gen 3/4 bookshelf.

Until recently, I hadn't had an impact wrench in my tool box since I was in my '20s, working in the automotive service trade. Once I left the trades and began to work on race cars and other project vehicles, there was no need to be in a hurry to beat the flat rate and I sort of developed this somewhat elitist attitude that really good mechanics were much more careful and, thus, were above using those brutish, noisy impact guns.

That was my thinking for many years, but in the last 12 months or so I've run across several jobs that had me rethinking the impact wrench issue. The first was replacement of the rear axle pinion seal on my '01 Camaro. I don't know how tight the pinion nut is because it's tightened until you achieve a specific pinion bearing preload measured by rotating the pinion with an inch-pound torque wrench, but the nut is takes a 1 1/4" socket and the GM J-tool needed to loosen it is a four-foot spanner wrench. That nut's gotta be majorly tight. The next job on the list after that was to get the heads off my 1971 Big-Block Coupe with the engine in the car. These heads have been on the motor for 15 years and were installed with ARP Head Bolts Pro Series bolts which are tightened to higher torque than stock bolts.

I'm not in my 20s any more. I was tired of fasteners which are really hard to break loose. I'm tired of being an elitist, no-impact-gun kind of guy. My solution...go down to Sears and get a Craftsman impact gun.

I selected one of the 1/2-inch drive, air, impact wrenches in the "Craftsman Professional" line, the model 199050, which is made for Craftsman by Ingersoll Rand, the renowned power tool maker. This tool generates 1250 impacts per minute and is capable of 400-500 ft/lb torque running forward and 500 ft/lb in reverse . It's designed for a maximum air pressure of 90-psi. A great feature of the Craftsman 199050 is that it's the lightest of all the company's 1/2-drive units at 4.5 lbs. because its housing is a composite material. Its hammer case and all the rotating and reciprocating parts are metallic.

I got my new impact back to the garage, installed a 1/4 NPT air fitting in the grip, squirted a few drops of Red Line Synthetic Air Tool oil in the air intake, connected the air line and pulled the trigger. Wow...the loud squeal of an impact gun, free-running at 9500 rpm brought back memories of my days in the service trade.

My first job with this new toy was that rear axle pinion seal. I marked the pinion threads, the nut and the pinion yoke. I snapped a Craftsman, 1/2-drive, 1 1/4-in. socket on the gun--you have to use a non-impact, thin wall, conventional (chrome finish), six-point socket for this because the thick wall impact sockets won't fit on the nut due to the closeness of the surrounding structure of the pinion yoke. I pulled the 199050's trigger and zz-rrrr-ip. That nut was off.

Hey, I'm liking this impact stuff.

A month or so later, I had the Big-Block in my '71 torn down to the point that I was ready to lift the cylinder heads. Since the bolts are ARPs with 12-point heads and Craftsman does not market 12-point impact sockets, I rang-up my Matco Tools guy and ordered a 1/2-inch, 1/2-drive, 12-point impact socket. When it arrived, using it along with using either a short- or medium-length Craftsman impact extension bar, I zipped those head bolts out in no time. The only bolts that are a little tough are the two rear bolts on the left head. Because of the proximity of the brake booster, you have to get the right combination of the socket, a 1/2-drive impact universal and an extension. Once you have that, the Craftsman 199050 spins those two out easily. Getting the bolts out may have been easy, but now, I had to lean over and lift those cast iron heads off the motor. Ugh!

I've been using the Craftsman impact for about two months. I like its lightweight compared to the impacts I used back in my days in the service trade but, I wish it was even lighter. Next, I like the ease with which the forward or reverse buttons on the back of the tool can be selected by simply pushing with your thumb. The large, power select dial is a neat feature for those who use mechanic's gloves when working on cars.

For serious DIY work or light-to-medium, service trade use, the Craftsman Professional model 199050 Impact Wrench seems a pretty darn good value and it works quite well. It available at your Sears store or at www.craftsman.com and its fully-guaranteed for two years.

The Craftsman Impact Wrench, along with a selection of Craftsman impact sockets. That type of socket is advised in almost all occasions when the impact gun is used because they are made of a harder grade of steel and, thus, have better durability when driven by an impact tool. Image: Author.

Be it a Camaro rear axle or a Corvette differential assembly, an impact wrench makes removal of the pinion nut much easier. Image: Author.

My late-April resolution, made at the C5/C6 Birthday Bash on '07, to "do better on car care" coupled with what I learned researching C-Magic Wax (www.cmagicwax.com), had me ordering one of the company's "World Class Corvette Detail Kits". After a week, FedEx Ground shows-up and a few minutes later, open on the work bench is this Kit with one bottle of each C-Magic product along with a couple of applicator pads and a micro-fiber towel.

"Uh-oh" I thought as my heart stuck in my throat, "This looks like work. What this 'shop' needs is a good buffer."

Actually, I'd been thinking about a buffer for a while. I'd polled a few people in my Corvette club who are hardcore waxers (they shall remain nameless) and use a power buffer for at least part of the waxing process and found most of them use a single-disc, random-orbital-buffer such as what Porter Cable (a big name in buffers I come to find), Waxmaster or Griot's Garage sell. It seems that single-disc, random-orbitals in the $75-$125 range dominate. I even tried one of them and while I very-much liked the labor-saving aspects of it, I hated the vibration and disliked the way these buffers, most of which are really industrial-style random-orbital sanders, de-contented to lower the cost to consumers then fitted with buffing heads, felt and handled. I kept on my buffer quest, but looking for more higher-end products that would vibrate less and last longer.

In talking with the C-Magic folks, I learned they recommend a dual-head, orbital buffer called a "Cyclo". Once again, I did some research. It's made by Cyclo Toolmakers in Colorado (www.cyclotoolmakers.com). The patented Cyclo was designed 54-years ago for polishing the bare aluminum and painted surfaces on large aircraft, particularly those owned by airlines. It gained widespread acceptance in the aerospace industry and later in the military and amongst professional car care specialists.

The Cyclo is a timeless piece of equipment which has changed little since it was introduced in 1953. Today, among its many high-profile users is the United States Air Force, specifically the 89th Air Lift Wing. Non-military types will know it better as the folks who fly and maintain Air Force One, the VC-25 (military version of the Boeing 747-200B) used by the President of the United States along with the aircraft used by the Vice President, the Secretary-of-State and the Air Force Chief of Staff. Needless to say, if you've ever seen Air Force One in-person, you've marveled at the aircraft's spotless appearance. How do they do that? Polishing with Cyclos. They have so many of them which are used constantly, that once every five years or so, the Air Force will ship pallets of them back to Cyclo Toolmakers for service. Cyclo "tunes them up" and ships them back to the USAF. There are Cyclos all over the world which have been in service 40 years or more.

The feature which makes a Cyclo unique is the overlapping, rotating motion of the two heads which mimics the two-handed, manual polishing/waxing technique old-school car care aficionados use when they hand-wax their cars. The Cyclo's buffing heads, which are run by a transmission geared to the device's electric motor, are dynamically balanced such that, when the unit is running and the heads are rotating, there is no vibration. The way this works is very similar to how balance shafts in large-displacement four-cylinder and V-6 engines damp vibration at idle and lower engine speeds.

This was a no-brainer.

I ordered a Cyclo.

A week or so later, FedEx Ground was back again with a box from Cyclo Toolmakers. In it was a gleaming, Cyclo Model 5 (PN 80-010), the 110-volt electric unit which features a 1/3-hp motor which turns its heads at about 3000 rpm. There are three other Cyclos, two for use with either U.S. or E.U. 230-volt power and a third which is air powered. All Cyclos share the same transmission and head assemblies. All that differs is how they are powered. My Model 5 was fitted with Cyclo's new, optional DoublePrecision, quick-connect adapters in place of the standard head assemblies. A Cyclo, at six pounds, weighs almost the same as the Porter Cable 6-in., single-head, random-orbital, at 5.75 lbs, but it's ergonomically designed for either one-hand or two-hand operation. I am by no means a muscular guy but I had no problem handling it, either one-handed or with both hands on either horizontal or vertical panels.

In fact, the unit's weight allows it to make your job easier on horizontal surfaces. Its six-pounds provides the right amount of pressure on the surface being polished or waxed. You don't have to push down. I just turn the Cyclo on and use my hands to guide it's course letting it's weight provide the pressure. Lastly, some might balk at the Cyclo's price, about 300 bucks, but consider this...I have three Vettes, for a total investment of about 100 grand. I think I can afford $300 for a tool which helps me keep them nice-looking. While the made-in-USA Cyclo is about twice the price of a good, single-head, random orbital, it does a better job, does it faster and will last a lifetime. Chinese-made, 6-in. orbital grinders fitted with buffing pads will last...what? About three years-maybe?

So far I've polished four vehicles with C-Magic World Class Wax and the Cyclo, two Vettes-a Dark Purple Metallic '95 ZR-1 and a LeMans Blue, '04 Commemorative Z06-a Blue '07 Chevy HHR and a White '01 Camaro. I apply the product with the Cyclo, one panel at a time, which is the best way to evenly spread the polish to all parts of the car. I wait until it hazes. Then, I sparingly spray C-Magic Detail Wax on, again, going panel-by-panel. Lastly, I wipe the haze away with micro-fiber towels. Yeah, this part you do by hand, but you apply no significant pressure nor do you hand buff anything. Just wipe enough to remove the haze. So easy even a five-year-old could do it. C-Magic Detail Wax is a sort of activator for the C-Magic World Class Wax. The polish can be used alone, but the two together ensure the best durability of the finish-figure six months before you have to redo it.

I tell you what, the three dark cars, especially the Purple ZR-1, had a shine that was deep and warm with clarity unlike that of the polish I'd been using before which, was either RainDance or Turtle Wax. I learned a key lesson: as is true with many Corvette related products, with car polish, you get what you pay for. If you buy an $8 tub of wax, you're going to get an $8 shine. If you buy a $20 dollar bottle of World-Class Wax, you're going to get an impressive finish that is equal to that of any other high-end polymer-based products and which exceeds the visual quality of high-end, carnuba-based wax products. In talking with the people tho make C-Magic I learned that on dark cars, multiple applications of C-Magic further improve the look, whereas multiple applications of any natural wax product eventually "yellow" the finish, so, I'm getting ready to do horizontal panels on the Z06 a second time.

The last thing I want to say about C-Magic products is they seem to be the only car polish products in the high-end of the market-amongst the Zanios, Zymols, Klassies Adam's and so forth-which are made by a company owned by Corvette people. When you talk to Kermit Dye, one of the owners of C-Magic, you soon learn that, yeah, he owns a company which makes car care products; but he's first and foremost a Corvette owner and enthusiast. I have to admit, that's part of the reason I gave the products a try. That, plus how my Corvettes look and that getting them to look that way-ok, I had help from the best buffer in the world, the Cyclo-has me firmly in the C-Magic camp.

The beauty of the Cyclo is no vibration and that, while it looks heavy, it's really not, weighing about the same as many single disc orbitals.

The Cyclo is built to last made of beefy alunimum castings, an HD electric motor and shafts riding on ball or roller-bearings.

The Review Author is sold on C-Magic Wax. His polished '04 Z06 is in the background.