Stock L92 engine in a car?

[Samckitt]

I have been talking with Travis (Daytonayellaz) about purchasing an L92 engine and want to get some more input from people here.

1. Is a stock L92 good for a car engine? Looks like that engine is stock in a truck/Suburban type vehicle.

2. Is there an affordable intake that works on it that looks better than the stock one? Seems like I hear the LS3 one or a FAST one will work.

3. Keep the stock cam or change? Keep or junk the VVT?

4. Keep or convert the electronic throttle to a cable type?

I'm sure I will think of more questions.

[Rhino]

1.) the L92 is a great engine. An aluminum block with a big enough bore to support a lot of the killer, high flow heads we've seen as of late.
2.) If you get a pull out from a truck, you'll probably want to switch to a car type intake, both the LS3 and Fast are great choices. This will necessitate moving to a car water pump and related accessories.
3.) It all depends on your HP needs. If ~400 is good enough, there's no huge need to change anything. The decision in keeping or junking VVT would then come down to what you plan on doing for a PCM and tune. VVT is still relatively new in the GM V8 world. Not a ton of PCM's outside of GM support it. I believe Mast may be the only one. If keeping with the GM controller this is a non-issue.
4.) I would personally stick with the electronic throttle body. I was late to accept the ETB, but now I honestly prefer it. Idle tuning seems much easier, and IMO there aren't many down sides to using it. The availability of changing to a cable TB would have to be based on your crankshaft reluctor tooth count and PCM. Using the stock truck PCM I beleive you would have to retain the electronic TB. The L92 comes stock with a 54x reluctor wheel. There were a few vans that used the 54x tooth and cable throttle body. I forget exactly what PCM they used.

[srh3trinity]

I have done a fair amount of research on the VVT engines and even bought some parts to go that direction. I was looking at an LY6, but the L92 is a little better choice if the money is right. The LS3 intake will work or the L76. You have to make sure you are getting an intake with the rectangular ports to match up with the heads. If you stay with the VVT and change the accessory drive, you will have to run a spacer as the VVT timing cover pushes the accessory drive out some. I have an aftermarket VVT cam and phaser if you are interested and go the L92 route. I am thinking about going with an LQ4/9 initially and then do an LY6 or L92 down the road. There are a few swaps on LS1tech with VVT engines.

[pedro]

I have a L92 from Frank in my camaro. He swapped out the VVT cam, added LS3 intake and autokraft oil pan.

Oil pan maybe an additional cost if you need to swap. The DBW required me to fabricate a bracket for the pedal which was harder than some other swaps I did with a cable. Looking at some of the dyno graphs for the VVT cam's the torque curves are pretty nice if you chose to go that direction.

Pete

[oestek]

We put a VVT L92 with a Mast controller and a 4L65e in a '66 GTO and the car is awesome. Makes power anywhere you mash the throttle... the VVT really makes it feel like a different engine when you hit the gas. With a stock L92 and Mast tune, it went 13.0s at 108, and gets like 25+ mpg on the highway. Great engine.

http://v8tvshow.com/content/blogcategory/74/118/

[Samckitt]

Is the MAST controller a totally different piece than OEM, or is it just tuned differently? Is it recommended over having the stock one tuned? Will the L92 with VVT work with a manual trans?

[The WidowMaker]

mast has their own ecm. call up horace and he will give you all the details.

[oestek]

Right, it's their own piece. The nice thing about the Mast unit is that you can tune it with a laptop, even the VVT. The interface is easy. It's also got some abilities to control other things that the factory ECM does not, like CAN gauges for one. It's cool, I'd use it again if the opportunity comes up.

[Samckitt]

Can the VVT be used with a Manual trans?

[Ron.in.SoCal]

No expert here Sam, but from my research yes it can. VVT will give you that 10 or 15 hp/tq bump throughout the low to mid RPM range, no matter what tranny you use. Remember, it was originally designed for trucks and heavy loads where extra power was needed without mashing the throttle so in a (lighter) muscle car you get a little extra bump around town and maybe a little better gas mileage...

How's VA treating you? Missed you in Indy a couple of weeks ago...

[Samckitt]

No expert here Sam, but from my research yes it can. VVT will give you that 10 or 15 hp/tq bump throughout the low to mid RPM range, no matter what tranny you use. Remember, it was originally designed for trucks and heavy loads where extra power was needed without mashing the throttle so in a (lighter) muscle car you get a little extra bump around town and maybe a little better gas mileage...

How's VA treating you? Missed you in Indy a couple of weeks ago...

I was bummed I didnt get to come over & meet you when you came to town. Was too busy packing/moving. VA is treating me ok, but my wife broke her ankle within 3 hours of pulling in the drive in VA. So not treating her that well. Personally I like Indiana better (except for the milder winter). But me being gone 5 days a week & traveling 8 hrs on Mondays & Fridays was starting to take a toll on me/wife/family.

[Ron.in.SoCal]

Sorry to hear about the wife, Scot! We'll meet up in the same town one of these days....

[Samckitt]

If she didn't want to help unload the 24' truck & 12' trailer she could have just told me instead of going to that extreme. Travis has offered to let me ride with him in his car (if drivable) from Indy to Detroit in the Hot Rod Power Tour next summer.

[Jims78elky]

I was bummed I didnt get to come over & meet you when you came to town. Was too busy packing/moving. VA is treating me ok, but my wife broke her ankle within 3 hours of pulling in the drive in VA. So not treating her that well. Personally I like Indiana better (except for the milder winter). But me being gone 5 days a week & traveling 8 hrs on Mondays & Fridays was starting to take a toll on me/wife/family.

Sorry to hear about the wife Scot,but Iam stoked that your going with a new engine set up! The L92 are great engines and make some good power! Hope you all had a good Thanksgiving!


Take care!


-Jim

[Samckitt]

Sorry to hear about the wife Scot,but Iam stoked that your going with a new engine set up! The L92 are great engines and make some good power! Hope you all had a good Thanksgiving!


Take care!


-Jim

I'm still in the planning stage of it, haven't bought anything for it yet.

Thanksgiving was busy, drive to Indiana, have Thanksgiving with family, go to Noblesville to pack up more crap, then drive back 14 hours.

[Samckitt]

Where is the fuel regulator on the L92? Up by the engine like on my LT1, or at the tank? Do I use a fuel return line back to the tank or just a single feed to the motor? If a single to the motor, how would I setup the fuel pump?

[pedro]

I am pretty sure the L92 intake is returnless (only a single line). If so use a corvette fuel pressure regulator which has three ports (inlet from the pump, return to the tank, outlet to motor). I got mine from S&P along with the fuel line kit for my Camaro. The FPR is mounted right next to the tank, two braided lines from the tank and one hard line up to the motor.

Pete

[GoldHawg]

I have done a fair amount of research on the VVT engines and even bought some parts to go that direction. I was looking at an LY6, but the L92 is a little better choice if the money is right. The LS3 intake will work or the L76. You have to make sure you are getting an intake with the rectangular ports to match up with the heads. If you stay with the VVT and change the accessory drive, you will have to run a spacer as the VVT timing cover pushes the accessory drive out some. I have an aftermarket VVT cam and phaser if you are interested and go the L92 route. I am thinking about going with an LQ4/9 initially and then do an LY6 or L92 down the road. There are a few swaps on LS1tech with VVT engines.

If you buy a crate engine w/o accessories and go with the
http://paceperformance.com/i-5135244...7-engines.html
accessory drive, does this one require a spacer? Does someone offer that if so? thx!

[Samckitt]

On this fuel filter/regulator combo, what is the electical connector for?

[Tucks69]

Looks like a ground. The filter is isolated from the chassis through the rubber bracket. Don,t want sparks around gas!