LS swap fundamentals
Engine selection, accessory drives, fuel system, and the wiring decisions that bite a first-time LS builder.
Choosing the right LS for your chassis and goals
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Trusted on the bench
Working-shop tech and first-time builders on what the track delivered against the actual job on the floor — accessory drives, cold-start faults, factory-diagram isolation, and the harness schematics that hit the bench rail.
Mid-swap in my garage with an LS3 going into an NB Miata and everything stalled on the accessory drive. The belt-routing module and the engine-mount clearance walk-through unstuck me in one evening — I had the FAD mocked up on the floor by midnight. The torque-spec quiz caught two things I had wrong about the oil-pan bolts.
Bought this the week before my first LQ4 / 4L80E swap into a squarebody. The fuel-system module is the one that saved me — I was about to plumb a return line where I needed returnless PCM-control. The wiring-pinout PDF is now laminated and clipped to my bench rail.
I have watched half a dozen LS swap playlists on YouTube and still walked away confused on PCM choice. The standalone-vs-factory-body module finally made it click — I understood why my donor harness would not talk to the eRod PCM I bought on a whim. Saved me a weekend of dead ends.
Solid coverage of the mechanical side. The accessory-drive diagram and the radiator sizing walk-through are exactly what I needed. Knocked one star because I wanted more on intercooler plumbing for a turbo LS — maybe a future module. The track certificate counts toward the library credential.
Finished the full track over two weekends and the install-day quiz is gold. I had the LS1 out of the donor truck tagged, on the engine stand, and the first key-on primed within an hour of completing module six. The harness pinout kept me from reversing the injector connector. Real bench work, not theory.