Week To Wicked: Installing the 6.2L LS3 Engine and T56 Transmission

HOT ROD’s Duralast Week To Wicked 1967 Nova Presented by Classic Performance Products

The heart of any hot rod project is the engine and transmission. In the case of the Week To Wicked 1967 Nova, power is being provided by a remanufactured aluminum-block 6.2L LS3 engine from AutoZone. By now, you may have read Steven Rupp’s story about the details of that engine. The long-blocks are rated at 430 horsepower, but HOT ROD’s field trip to the Westech Performance Group dyno showed 490 horsepower at 6,500 rpm. A 4L60E or 4L80E would have been a suitable transmission decision, but given the hot rod nature of the Nova, a manual trans seemed more fitting. The choice was a Tremec T56 six-speed.

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The Nova is owned by Classic Performance Products. Company president Jim Ries had always planned to pack it with an LS and manual transmission. CPP has created a lot of components for this application with the intention of making these types of swaps as easy as possible for every level of hot rodder—especially the home builder. Week To Wicked provided the perfect opportunity for CPP to show off some of these parts.

In addition to providing the Nova, CPP showed up at the HOT ROD tech center with the following products:

  • LS Adjustable Fit Rite engine mounts
  • LS Adjustable Fit Rite trans crossmember
  • 4-inch LS air intake kit
  • LS/LT swap air intake kit 90-degree pipe 4-inch filter
  • LS headers
  • Fuel line kit with FiTech fuel filter regulator
  • Black finish aluminum gas tank

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The LS3 is fed by a FiTech Fuel Injection Ultimate LS kit for LS3/L92. CPP carries FiTech products and integrates their injection systems into its own LS systems to provide customers with a single package. The guys from FiTech were at Week To Wicked to install the system on the LS3, and we’ll tell you all about it in our next report.

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One of CPP’s contributions to making an LS3 swap easier is its Fit Rite line of engine mounts and transmission mounts. Like most great ideas, the Fit Rite mounts are a pretty simple product that remedies a bunch of potential problems. The slotted hole design allows builders to slide the engine forward and back within 3 or 4 inches of range. The convenience was obvious during the installation of the wiring harness and headers. Being able to nudge the LS3 forward enough to reach otherwise impossible areas—and move it back again precisely afterwards—saved a lot of time, especially valuable when building a Week To Wicked car where every hour counts.

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Aside from convenience considerations, the Fit Rite mounts remedied some critical issues, as well, specifically parts interfering with each other. There are a number of familiar situations that might make it necessary to relocate the engine forward or backward—adding an aftermarket radiator or a pair of electric fans, a lower mounted A/C compressor or other accessories (such as from a truck engine) that could get in the way of engine mounts, large air intake systems (as on the Nova), and headers interfering with the steering shaft, to name a few.

In the case of our Week To Wicked Nova, the issue was found at the firewall. As the guys from CPP pointed out, a Chevy small-block engine block is the same as an LS, but the LS heads are in a different location. The valve cover on our engine was competing for the same space as the wiper motor and the firewall. Pulling the engine an inch forward from stock solved the problem a lot more easily than reshaping the firewall. Probably the biggest advantage of the Fit Rite adjust mounts is that we could make these movements without wrestling the LS3 out of the car and without deviating from the correct engine and transmission centerline.

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See all 36 photos

The Fit Rite adjustable tubular transmission crossmember works similar to the adjustable engine mounts so that after the transmission is installed, the engine and trans can be moved forward and back as a single unit.

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The LS headers are also from CPP. Jin Ries said that the company also offers an exhaust kit that includes manifolds and head pipe or regular headers, as well as iron exhaust manifold kits for various popular Chevy applications

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On the CPP Holley mid-mount accessory drive system, the water pump itself has all the bracketry for A/C, alternator, and power steering. If the water pump goes out, it’s a simple matter of pulling six bolts to access it.

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See all 36 photos

The FiTech harness is designed with distinct connector plugs to help make installation error-proof.

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The fuses and relays are now mounted in a bracket bolted to the back of the cylinder head near the firewall. A custom bracket was fabricated on site to hold the FiTech ECU.

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The CPP Universal LS Air Intake Kit comes with tubing, clamps, and cone filter. A 120-degree tube kit is also available in addition to the 90-degree kit used on the Nova. A mounting bracket holds the tube to the cylinder head.

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See all 36 photos

The black aluminum gas tank from CPP provided for the Nova comes baffled and EFI compatible and is available as a complete EFI fuel tank install kit containing a 340 liters-per-hour in-tank fuel pump, rubber line sending unit, fuel filter regulator, sending unit, rubber lines, and fittings.

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