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? for those with LS1 swaps with A/C

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Old 10-05-2014, 10:19 AM
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? for those with LS1 swaps with A/C

I seem to recall that the truck coils and coil brackets are a no-go if you want to use a/c and have the 3rd gen air box on the firewall. The conundrum I am in is that I have brand new truck coils on my car that are ACDelco and so they were a pretty penny.

If I were to pick up a set of Fbody coil brackets, or even just the passenger side since that's the side that hits the box, would the truck coils mount to the Fbody bracket? And would that give me enough room for the a/c box without hitting anything?
Old 10-05-2014, 01:14 PM
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Re: ? for those with LS1 swaps with A/C

LS1 brackets are the problem. Truck brackets are what you need. Truck brackets place the coils higher up the valve cover for more clearance. There are several styles of truck brackets and some have bolt pattern to accept LS1 coils. If you get the right style of bracket then you can re-use your coils.

You'll also need longer spark plug wires for truck.
Old 10-05-2014, 02:46 PM
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Re: ? for those with LS1 swaps with A/C

Well that's curious.... I have truck coils and brackets and it seems that it's going to touch when I have it all installed.
Old 10-05-2014, 03:15 PM
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Re: ? for those with LS1 swaps with A/C

You could always use your coils and just build some relocation brackets to hid them out of the way. I make these when I do a swap. I don't like looking at the coils.
Attached Thumbnails ? for those with LS1 swaps with A/C-p5190032.jpg   ? for those with LS1 swaps with A/C-p5190034.jpg   ? for those with LS1 swaps with A/C-p5190036.jpg  
Old 10-05-2014, 04:07 PM
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Re: ? for those with LS1 swaps with A/C

Originally Posted by BlueZee28
Well that's curious.... I have truck coils and brackets and it seems that it's going to touch when I have it all installed.
It's going to be extremely close. I can't even fish a 14ga wire through the gap with coils from a 2011 6.2L.

Do yourself a favor and remove the stud near the last coil or you'll put a gash in the firewall cover. Trust me... I know from experience.
Old 10-05-2014, 04:15 PM
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Re: ? for those with LS1 swaps with A/C

Oh, and have fun trying to slide that thing in there with the engine in place. I've done it a few times and you have to find the perfect angle and then it will slide in place. You'll either get stuck on the engine or stuck on the cowl overhang until you get it right. Don't force it. It will eventually slide in as a compete assembled unit.
Old 10-05-2014, 05:31 PM
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Re: ? for those with LS1 swaps with A/C

I got the lower part of the box in yesterday before realizing the side by the blower motor wasn't even touching the firewall because I have the engine harness ran down in the corner under the box. I gotta pull the harness back through so I can 're route it over the firewall cover.

If it is the truck coils that fit I may end up just slotting the holes where they mount and sliding it up a little bit. Might even put new plugs in before I am done just since it will be more difficult later on.
Old 10-05-2014, 05:56 PM
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Re: ? for those with LS1 swaps with A/C

Are you able to slide the condenser in the case while the case is on the firewall? I couldn't because of the cowl overhang. I had to assemble the whole unit and put it in as one piece.
Old 10-05-2014, 08:41 PM
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Re: ? for those with LS1 swaps with A/C

Originally Posted by 83Z28/L69
You could always use your coils and just build some relocation brackets to hid them out of the way. I make these when I do a swap. I don't like looking at the coils.
Where do you hide your coils?
Old 10-05-2014, 09:35 PM
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Re: ? for those with LS1 swaps with A/C

Originally Posted by QwkTrip
Are you able to slide the condenser in the case while the case is on the firewall? I couldn't because of the cowl overhang. I had to assemble the whole unit and put it in as one piece.
Crap well I don't have a condensor to try it with yet. If I have to put it in as a unit that's going to suck.
Old 10-05-2014, 10:11 PM
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Re: ? for those with LS1 swaps with A/C

Try the LSA/LS9 or holley valve covers. Mine clear the box with decent room
Old 10-05-2014, 10:50 PM
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Re: ? for those with LS1 swaps with A/C

Do those have a similar pvc setup as the truck valve covers?
Old 10-06-2014, 01:01 AM
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Re: ? for those with LS1 swaps with A/C

Originally Posted by MoJoe
Where do you hide your coils?
Don't know yet on a 3rd Gen. I'm just starting the research part of a LSX swap into 3G. I hope to find out over the winter.
Old 10-06-2014, 02:47 AM
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Re: ? for those with LS1 swaps with A/C

Stock coils here no issues but very tight space .
Old 10-06-2014, 04:24 AM
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Re: ? for those with LS1 swaps with A/C

Originally Posted by BlueZee28
I got the lower part of the box in yesterday before realizing the side by the blower motor wasn't even touching the firewall because I have the engine harness ran down in the corner under the box. I gotta pull the harness back through so I can 're route it over the firewall cover.

If it is the truck coils that fit I may end up just slotting the holes where they mount and sliding it up a little bit. Might even put new plugs in before I am done just since it will be more difficult later on.
Im using the truck coils and made some fairly simple brackets out of alu to make sure that back one cleared the ac box. It also IMO look way better then the stock brackets and I could still use the LS1 msd wires I already had. A friend of yours Glenn Coates helped me cut them out.
Old 10-06-2014, 12:40 PM
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Re: ? for those with LS1 swaps with A/C

Hmm I wonder if Glen has the template for those. I'll have to send him a message on Facebook. Thanks!
Old 10-06-2014, 09:36 PM
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Re: ? for those with LS1 swaps with A/C

Originally Posted by BlueZee28
Do those have a similar pvc setup as the truck valve covers?
Just ports, need to use an inline PCV off a minivan
Old 10-07-2014, 07:35 AM
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Re: ? for those with LS1 swaps with A/C

Check out post #38 in my build thread. https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/ltx-...-vert-ls1.html

I had the square truck coils and the rear coil was making full contact the AC box. So much so that it actually broke the coil when I put the engine in. I don't think I could've taken enough off the AC box to get that coil to work with the stock mounting position. I ended up ordering a new coil and modifying the bracket to rotate the coil about 30 degrees to get it to clear. I had no issues installing the coil and bracket with the AC box still installed.
Old 10-08-2014, 08:22 AM
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Re: ? for those with LS1 swaps with A/C

i've got the truck heat sinks on mine, and there is plenty of clearance.
Old 10-11-2014, 04:13 PM
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Re: ? for those with LS1 swaps with A/C

Well it appears that even with the truck brackets and coils I am going to have to move the bracket up about an inch and a half. I'm going to work on making some type of bracket where I can slide the coil bracket up on it this weekend. Bummer...

(the coil bracket wasn't bolted down in these pictures, as you will see in the 2nd one, I have it up about where it needs to be to clear the heater box.


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Old 10-12-2014, 08:30 AM
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Re: ? for those with LS1 swaps with A/C

I saw a really nice set of valve covers and coil brackets on a 5th gen at the LSX shootout event in Indy that could possibly work on a 3rdgen. The coils sit on a rail and they can can slide and tilt any way needed for clearance. Not a cheap solution but looked very nice. Scoggin Dickey had several in their display for for different types of coils.

I got lucky in that my LS1 coils cleared my AC box with no issues.
Attached Thumbnails ? for those with LS1 swaps with A/C-coil.jpg  
Old 10-12-2014, 08:33 AM
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Re: ? for those with LS1 swaps with A/C

Wow that looks awesome. Probably going to be out of my budget though. I'm going to just make a few little metal straps that I can drill two holes in and use to move the bracket up about an inch and a half.
Old 10-13-2014, 01:45 PM
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Re: ? for those with LS1 swaps with A/C

So the issue is the style of truck coils and brackets I have. Mine came off a 1999 or 2000 6.0 truck. Luckily my brother had a new set of truck coils off a 2008 that fit perfectly. In the second picture the coils on the left/front are the older style that hit the ac box.


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Old 10-13-2014, 11:05 PM
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Re: ? for those with LS1 swaps with A/C

The newer ones are the style I have too.
Old 10-14-2014, 09:16 AM
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Re: ? for those with LS1 swaps with A/C

The newer round ones are called LS7 coils commonly. LS3 coils are just a flatter version of those for even more clearance. All sets were mixed and matched on trucks of all years
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