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Instead of using a pair of boring OE rocker covers, we opted for a pair of Moroso welded aluminum cuties. These beautifully tig-welded covers accept the OE type formed gasket seal (each cover features a CNCed groove on the mating surface).
Each cover is secured to the head using OE-type mounting bolts and sealing grommets. One of the covers features a handy threaded oil fill cap with a knurled lid and sealing O-ring, so you can place the fill port at either the right front or left rear. I placed ours at the right front, adjacent to the dipstick.
The Moroso aluminum covers are available with or without coil pack mounting bungs. We chose the version with bungs to allow coil pack mounting in the OE position. If you want to remotely mount the coil packs, select the cover version without the bungs.
In OE trim, the coil packs (which mount to brackets that attach to the covers) are always in the way with regard to valve cover service. Moroso designed a very cool hinged coil pack bracket that allows you to swing the entire bank of coils out of the way, allowing easy access to the valve cover bolts. Due to the sliding-pin hinge design, with the upper coil bracket hinged open, you can also easily slide the coil bracket rearward about a half-inch and remove the entire coil assembly (with wires disconnected, naturally).
The valve covers we chose are listed as P/N 68355 and the hinged coil brackets are P/N 72396. The brackets are CNC machined from billet aluminum and are treated to satin black anodizing (very attractive and pro-looking). All mounting hardware is stainless steel and is thoughtfully included to assemble and install these brackets (the kit even includes socket head cap screws to mount the coils to the upper brackets), so you won’t need to hunt down any additional fasteners.
By the way, the hardware kit includes both 1/4 x 20 and 6mm x 1.0 stainless button-head bolts. Don’t get these mixed up. If you rush without paying attention (or not reading the instructions), you can cross-thread.
The four 1/4 x 20 button heads thread into the lower coil brackets (two per lower bracket, installed from the bracket underside, so that the threads point upwards to serve as studs). Once these 1/4 x 20 studs are installed, a 0.425″ tall black anodized aluminum spacer drops over each stud to provide parallel spacing between the lower and upper brackets. When the upper bracket is laid in position, these studs will pass through attaching holes in the upper brackets. The upper bracket is then secured with washers and nyloc nuts. The eight 6mmx1.0 button heads are used to attach the lower coil brackets to the valve covers (four per side). Each cover’s four bracket attachment threads are 6mm x 1.0 in order to accommodate the use of OE valve covers, so this bracket kit works with either OE or Moroso covers.
Install the female hinges and the 1/4 x 20 button heads to the lower bracket and install the lower bracket to the valve cover with four 6mm x 1.0 button heads. Then install the male-pin hinges to the upper bracket. Once the coil packs are installed to the upper bracket, slip the hinges together, drop the top bracket over the lower bracket and secure with the nyloc nuts. It’s easy, clean and hassle-free.
This is a very well-thought-out design and beats the heck out of the OE set-up.
Since all of the fasteners are stainless, you won’t feel the urge to replace cheesy hardware store junk with the good stuff, ‘cause it’s already included. It’s obvious that these brackets were designed by seasoned race-prep folks who knew what they were doing. I definitely recommend buying these brackets.
Note: If you opt to set up your LS engine with a carb and distributor and no computer control, you won’t need the eight individual coil packs. The coil packs are necessary with either an injected setup or with a carb setup that uses a timing control module.
INTAKE AND IGNITION SETUPS
I’ll cover the intake setups in the next issue. We didn’t have room here for this discussion, plus we’re still waiting on a long-overdue GM part. I plan to show three different systems-a fuel injected setup using a Professional Products cast aluminum intake manifold, along with MSD coil packs; a carbureted setup using an Edelbrock Victor Jr. intake manifold and Edelbrock four-barrel carb, coupled with an MSD timing control module and MSD coil packs; and a setup that features the Victor Jr. intake manifold and carb, along with a Performance Distributors’ Ford smallblock distributor and no coilpacks. GM performance Parts offers a special distributor adapter that replaces the original timing cover and allows mounting a front-mount Ford distributor. The kit also includes a bolt-on cam-to-distributor gear drive stub. I’ll cover all three of these setups in the next article installment. I’ll also show the mounting of the ATI Super Damper hub adapter and damper at this time.
OUR LS2 PROJECT PARTS LIST (to date)
PART……………SOURCE……………PART NUMBER
Block (6.0L LS2)……………GM (SDPC)……………12568950
Block completion kit……………GM (SDPC)……………KITLS2CK-1
Rear engine cover……………GM (SDPC)……………12615666
Camshaft retainer plate……………GM (SDPC)……………12589016
Crankshaft (forged 4.000″)……………Lunati……………J0711ER
Crankshaft 24-tooth reluctor wheel……………GM (1997-2005)……………12559353
(Crankshaft reluctor wheel GM 58-tooth [2006 and newer] 12586768)
Conn. rods (H-beam 6.125″)……………Lunati……………6125H3
Camshaft (hyd. roller)……………Crane……………144HR00162
Lifters……………Crane……………144536-16
Pushrods……………Trick Flow……………TFS-21407500
Rocker arms (1.7 rollers)……………Harland Sharp……………SLS17
Cylinder heads……………Trick Flow……………TFS-3060T001-C02
Damper/crank pulley……………ATI Super Damper kit……………917286
LS crank pin drill fixture……………ATI……………918993
Oil pump……………Melling……………10296
Timing chain setup……………SDPC……………SD7245
Oil dipstick tube……………GM……………1257-0787
Oil dipstick……………GM……………12570788
Oil pump pickup……………Moroso……………24050
Oil pan windage tray……………Moroso……………22941
Oil pan……………Moroso……………20141
Main cap stud kit……………ARP……………234-5608
Cyl. head stud kit……………ARP……………234-4317
Front cover fasteners……………ARP……………434-1502
Rear cover fasteners……………ARP……………434-1504
Valley cover fasteners……………ARP……………434-8002
Camshaft retainer plate bolts……………ARP……………134-1002
Cam sprocket bolts……………ARP……………134-1003
Carburetor studs……………ARP……………400-2401
Water pump bolts……………ARP……………434-3202
Exhaust header studs……………ARP……………434-1301
Crank snout/damper bolt……………ARP……………234-2503
Main bearings……………MAHLE Clevite……………MS2199HK
Rod bearings……………MAHLE Clevite……………CB663HNK
Pistons (forged side-relief)……………JE……………243016
Piston rings……………JE……………J60008-4000-5
Oil ring support rails……………JE……………RA4000-183
Wrist pin wire locks……………JE……………927-073-MW
Wrist pins……………JE……………927-2250-15-51C
Water pump……………Edelbrock……………8896
Water pump pulley……………Edelbrock……………8898
Cylinder head gaskets……………MAHLE Victor……………54332
Engine gasket set……………MAHLE Victor……………CS5975
Spark plugs……………NGK……………4177
Fuel injection manifold kit………..Professional Products (Typhoon)………..52063
Throttle body……………Professional Products 96mm
Fuel injectors……………Bosch……………0280 156 127
Injector adapter kit……………Katech (Scoggin Dickey)……………KATA4096
Carburetor intake manifold……………Edelbrock Victor Jr…………….28097
Carburetor……………Edelbrock Performer 800cfm……………1412
Distributor (for carb setup)……………Performance Distributors……………31820
Spark plug wires for distributor……………Performance Distributors……………C9076
Billet wire looms……………Performance Distributors……………9100
LS Coil pack kit……………MSD……………82458
Timing control module……………MSD……………6010
(module for 24-tooth reluctor)
Timing control harness……………MSD……………60101
Valve covers……………Moroso……………68355
Coil pack hinge brackets……………Moroso……………72396
Spark plug wires for coil packs……………Moroso Ultra 40……………73436
Oil pressure sensor……………GM……………12616646
Water temp sensor……………GM……………15326388
Crankshaft position sensor……………GM……………12560228
Knock sensor……………Standard Motor Products……………KS211
Valve cover bolts and grommets……………GM……………12577215
(Note: We used Victor’s valve cover grommets from our Victor gasket set.)
Cyl head coolant crossover tube……………GM……………1260-2548
Cyl head rear steam covers……………GM……………12602540
Water plug for RH cyl head……………12mmx1.5×15-20 mm bolt with Teflon and crush washer
(This plug is not available separately from GM; only with new cyl head)
Tags: ATI, COIL PACKS, EDELBROCK, ENGINE ASSEMBLY, GM, IGNITION, INTAKE, INTAKE MANIFOLD, LS, LS2, MOROSO, MSD, PROJECT ENGINE, ROCKER COVER, ROCKERS, VALVE COVER
