Carbureted LS Intake Conversion Kit
If you haven’t heard of the LS series of engines yet, you are a few years behind (you might be interested in our guid: What is an LS Swap?. In short, they are the modern SBC with a huge aftermarket following and are found in numerous GM cars and trucks. Aside from being found in many OE applications, they are also finding home in thousands of hot rod projects across the country and have become the go-to engine when looking for performance and fuel-efficient power on a budget.
With that being said, some of us are a little taken back by the LS engine. On the surface, there is a lot more to these setups because of the modern fuel injection system, the rat nest of wiring, and a computer that is needed to control everything. It can be a lot to process and for most of us, somewhat unnecessary for, say, just the average DIY car guy working on an old classic at home. Luckily, thanks to a number of reputable aftermarket manufacturers there is a nice middle-ground for those not wanting to mess with the complexity of the OEM fuel injection.
Topping off your LS with a carb could not be any simpler with the help from this Kit from Edelbrock. They have put together an awesome carb style intake manifold; complete with an MSD ignition control box and associated wiring harness. If you have ever installed an ignition box and intake manifold on an old small block Chevy – the process here is literally no different.
The provided intake manifold will fit any Gen III cathedral port headed engines. For example, this would bolt right onto any LS1, LS6 or the 4.8/5.3/6.0L truck motors. The intake has the traditional 4150 style flange to work with virtually any carburetor choice you may need. The ignition control box is a simple plug and play style that retains the factory coil system to fire the plugs and even offers 6 different timing settings to help further dial in your setup. This awesome kit also helps pin down some of the minor details as well; such as providing a special throttle and transmission bracket for proper cable management up top.
As with most anything, there are some minor details we need to clear up as well. This kit is built more so to work with older GM automatic transmissions such as the 700R4 and Turbo 350 style of transmissions. On one hand, that makes swapping this into an old muscle car that already has that transmission a breeze and one less headache for you to worry about. On the other hand though, if you were wanting to upgrade your transmission to the newer electronic overdrive transmission of today, such as the 4l60e and 4l80e commonly found behind these LS powerplants, you're going to need a few extra things to make that swap happen. To be able to run one of these electronics transmissions you will need a few additional things to make it all operate properly. Something like the TCI EZ Overdrive Transmission Controller will take care of controlling the electronic transmission.
An added benefit of running such a controller allows for simple setup as well as the ability to cycle through different transmission tunes, so you could have run your street setup and then switch over to a performance tune to change how the transmission will perform. Another thing you are going to need is a remote mount throttle position sensor. The TCI Remote TPS will do just the trick here and make sure your install goes smooth if choosing the newer, electronic style transmissions. Though these parts do present an added cost, it is a decision that may be worth it depending on what you are primarily going to be doing with your newly carbureted LS swap project.
As you can see, making the swap over to LS power can be done rather easily thanks to a plethora of aftermarket goodies such as those offered by Edelbrock and TCI, as well as many other well-known names in the industry. If considering a carbureted LS power plant, the most important thing is to have a good idea of what your goals are for the vehicle as well as what your budget can handle. It would be awesome to simply just go out and buy the best LS crate motor money can buy -- however for most of us, that just simply is not an option. We have to get creative and really think things through before spending our hard-earned cash.
