corey331
Well-known member
I'm thinking a YETI on one side and two bottles of laughing gas on the other side!!!!
-
Welcome to the Checkmate Community Forums forums.
» Interact with over 10,000 Checkmate Fanatics from around the world!
You are currently viewing our boards as a guest which gives you limited access to view most discussions, articles and access to our other FREE features.
By joining our free community you will be able to:
» Post topics and messages
» Post and view photos
» Communicate privately with other members
» Access our extensive gallery of old Checkmate brochures located in our Media Gallery
» Browse the various pictures in our Checkmate photo gallery
Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free so please, join our community today!
If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact support by clicking here or by using the"contact us" link at the bottom of the page.
Convincor LS Swap Project Thread
- Thread starter corey331
- Start date
I'm thinking a YETI on one side and two bottles of laughing gas on the other side!!!!
corey331
Well-known member
Yep, those fitting from Summit worked out on the pressure side. I just bought a stock merc fitting for $7 for the return. Then I went to my local Parker store and had the high pressure hose made for $58.
corey331
Well-known member
Don't at weight for ballast just add an extension box
That would be ideal, but weight is a helluva lot cheaper for right now!!
corey331
Well-known member
UPDATE: It's been a busy week
Put the headers on so I could start doing some plumbing and mounting
Here you can see the Moroso adapters I am running that convert the LS water pump to a BBC style allowing me to run the Hardin BBC crossover. Since the t-stat on an LS motor is located in the circulating pump, I had to use a remote thermostat housing which I mounted on the back of my back seat. This allowed me to make sure I had equal length lines feeding it ensuring I had equal water pressure to both sides of the motor. The black 3/8" hose you see on the starboard side is coming off the steam crossover out of the heads. I drilled and tapped the bottom of the housing, and put in a barbed fitting that feeds into.
Here I built a bracket that mounts to the floor for my oil filters. Once that was mounted, I could plumb it in. I had a custom oil pan built by KEVKO Racing pans that holds 10 quarts. When they built it I had them go ahead and weld in -AN fittings for a remote oil filter which made plumbing a breeze. Also you can see that I did my absolute best to hide any and all wiring. In this pic, the ignition and sensors are completely wired. The only thing that can be seen is the brain for the Daytona Sensors ignition which I mounted on the transom next to the port exhaust exit.
Also had to figure out what to do with everything that was mounted to the stock exhaust since I'm now running headers. I fabbed up a bracket to move the shifter bracket to the starboard side. I also built a bracket to mount the drive fluid reservoir to the transom, but forgot to snap a pic of that.
At this point I am waiting on my new gauges so I can get those all wired in, then it won't be long till I can dip her into my little local lake and give it a shakedown. Shouldn't be long now!!!
Put the headers on so I could start doing some plumbing and mounting
Here you can see the Moroso adapters I am running that convert the LS water pump to a BBC style allowing me to run the Hardin BBC crossover. Since the t-stat on an LS motor is located in the circulating pump, I had to use a remote thermostat housing which I mounted on the back of my back seat. This allowed me to make sure I had equal length lines feeding it ensuring I had equal water pressure to both sides of the motor. The black 3/8" hose you see on the starboard side is coming off the steam crossover out of the heads. I drilled and tapped the bottom of the housing, and put in a barbed fitting that feeds into.
Here I built a bracket that mounts to the floor for my oil filters. Once that was mounted, I could plumb it in. I had a custom oil pan built by KEVKO Racing pans that holds 10 quarts. When they built it I had them go ahead and weld in -AN fittings for a remote oil filter which made plumbing a breeze. Also you can see that I did my absolute best to hide any and all wiring. In this pic, the ignition and sensors are completely wired. The only thing that can be seen is the brain for the Daytona Sensors ignition which I mounted on the transom next to the port exhaust exit.
Also had to figure out what to do with everything that was mounted to the stock exhaust since I'm now running headers. I fabbed up a bracket to move the shifter bracket to the starboard side. I also built a bracket to mount the drive fluid reservoir to the transom, but forgot to snap a pic of that.
At this point I am waiting on my new gauges so I can get those all wired in, then it won't be long till I can dip her into my little local lake and give it a shakedown. Shouldn't be long now!!!
DropTop5.0
Well-known member
I love this thread. Thanks for sharing the build.
Problem Child
Well-known member
I love this thread. Thanks for sharing the build.
X2. He has done a nice job for sure !!
corey331
Well-known member
You should have heard the silence on the other end of the phone line when I asked Joe from Lightning if that was a color option!!
senator-holland
Well-known member
I missed one thing corey; what did you do with your drive? Dont know what you have/had.
corey331
Well-known member
I am still running the Bravo 1. I figure I'll run it until it blows, then upgrade. But I really don't think I'll be pushing to Bravo too hard, so as long as I'm careful, it should be OK.
Another thing that I'm not sure if I ever mentioned in here. A stock BBC bellhousing will bolt right to the LS motor. Also, my stock BBC coupler bolted right to a stock 6-speed LS flywheel (I used a flywheel out of a 6.0 powered GTO). The only difference is, the LS is metric so the bolts are 10mm x 1.5 instead of 3/8 thread.
Last edited:
Instigator
Well-known member
Awesome stuff Corey.
Am also a huge LS/boat fan.
Your dyno results are killer!
Especially the torque
Am also a huge LS/boat fan.
Your dyno results are killer!
Especially the torque
corey331
Well-known member
Awesome stuff Corey.
Am also a huge LS/boat fan.
Your dyno results are killer!
Especially the torque
Thanks man!!
Yeah, the dyno numbers blew my expectations out of the water!
It was my wifes birthday this weekend, so I didn't get much done. Going to finish up the wiring this week. My gauges should be here Tuesday, so my wife has offered her little hands to get behind the dash and help me with those. Once that's done, its time to fire her up!!!
Instigator
Well-known member
What RPM did it make the numbers at?
You should get another 1000 Rs of rev range over a big block too, correct?
corey331
Well-known member
Without having the dyno sheet in front of me, if I remember right it made peak power right at 6000, but didn't die off much all the way up to 6500. So I set the rev limiter at 6500 and I'll prop it to run right around 6300. That's 1500 rpm more than the 4800rpm my old 454 was limited to. I know the motor sounded pretty damn wicked on the dyno at that rpm so I can only imagine what it's going to sound like flying across the water through the headers!! The number that I was happiest with though was the torque. It hit 500lb-ft by 3500 rpm and held it over 500lb-ft all the way to 5900. In my mind, that's perfect for what kind of boating I do. I figure, if I'm easy cruising down the lake at 3500 and one of the hundred of Baja's at Cumberland comes up next to me feeling frisky, I'm coming right into the sweet spot of power so I can smack the throttle, and God willing, leave him far behind me!! And the best part will come later when I run into him at the dock and show him that he got his feelings hurt by a small block!!
Instigator
Well-known member
Without having the dyno sheet in front of me, if I remember right it made peak power right at 6000, but didn't die off much all the way up to 6500. So I set the rev limiter at 6500 and I'll prop it to run right around 6300. That's 1500 rpm more than the 4800rpm my old 454 was limited to. I know the motor sounded pretty damn wicked on the dyno at that rpm so I can only imagine what it's going to sound like flying across the water through the headers!! The number that I was happiest with though was the torque. It hit 500lb-ft by 3500 rpm and held it over 500lb-ft all the way to 5900. In my mind, that's perfect for what kind of boating I do. I figure, if I'm easy cruising down the lake at 3500 and one of the hundred of Baja's at Cumberland comes up next to me feeling frisky, I'm coming right into the sweet spot of power so I can smack the throttle, and God willing, leave him far behind me!! And the best part will come later when I run into him at the dock and show him that he got his feelings hurt by a small block!!
Agree to everything you wrote.
I remember yrs ago being in the God of fast Checkmates, Hard Kunkles shop and he was showing me his test mules on engine stands.
One was actually a big block w/near identical #s to your motor.
He made the point at how much torque it made and that's what pushes the boat.
We laughed about all the hot rod car guys building boat motors that were slower than their stockers.
Huge ports, tons of valve over lap in cam that didn't start making torque until 4500.
You should have a really nice PC when your done.
I'd like to do a 30' Velocity w/tein LSs.
And yeah, your boat will sound evil!
corey331
Well-known member
UPDATE:
Well, the motor is in, wired and completely plumbed. However.... Mother nature is being a vindictive bitch!!! I have been ready to fire it up for a week and a half but with nightly temps dropping into the 20's (hell today's high temp is 35) I haven't fired it yet because I don't want to go through the hassle of re-winterizing again. So, I have been waiting (not so patiently) for the weather to break. Looks like next week will be when I finally hear it in the boat.
So, I have been taking care of a few little projects on the boat to update it a little. from the factory there was a stereo remote above the ignition. Well, when I did my stereo upgrade a couple of years ago, I couldn't use it anymore, but being that it was cut into the dash, I just left it in place. Well this year I had a switch panel made by Dana Marine to fill the hole. I went with them because they offered a color called WineBerry, which is a bad ass metallic pink!!! Got it all wired in and it looks great!! Now I just need to update the factory switch panels to match.
Next on my list was to replace all the gauges. That wasn't very fun mostly because Checkmate didn't leave much room behind the dash to work. But I got it all done and they turned out great IMO. I used Autometer Marine Pro Comp gauges. they are silver face with a chrome lip. I then went back to Dana Marine for matching WineBerry bezels. I know, something has to be wrong in my head with how much I love my pink boat!!! I bought a tach with an hour meter built in, so I was able to free up a space in the dash for a water pressure gauge without having to cut a new hole. The only thing is, my GPS speedo is on back order and won't be here till next Wednesday. But its all wired and ready to put in as soon as it gets here. I think the gauges made a huge difference in making the boat look more modern.
The last thing I did, which was the biggest pain in the ass out of anything I have ever done on this boat, was to replace the helm. I have always had a little bit of play in the wheel but could never get the helm out because the steering wheel was so seized on the tilt steering mechanism that I could not get it off. I had literally been trying for two years to get it off because I had bought an updated steering wheel for the boat. Well, last week, I said screw it, I want the damn wheel off!!! So I sacrificed my tilt steering mechanism and finally got it off. I could not believe how seized onto the shaft it was. We finally got a puller that would fit the hub and started cranking. I cranked on it with the biggest wrench I had and pulled as hard as I could, it didn't budge at first, but after about 30 seconds with that pressure on it, it finally came loose with a very loud BANG!! This shows how much pressure I had to put on the shaft to get it off.
Getting the helm out from behind the dash proved to be a huge challenge as well. I wrestled with it for two hours, and it finally came out. This was my reaction when that job was finally done!!
But, it was all worth while because with the new helm and tilt steering mechanism installed, I got rid of almost all the play in the wheel. Of course I get to do it all over again next year when I upgrade to hydraulic steering, but at least this year will be a lot better.
So now, just waiting for this crazy weather to break. Hopefully later this week I'll have some video of her running to share!!!
Well, the motor is in, wired and completely plumbed. However.... Mother nature is being a vindictive bitch!!! I have been ready to fire it up for a week and a half but with nightly temps dropping into the 20's (hell today's high temp is 35) I haven't fired it yet because I don't want to go through the hassle of re-winterizing again. So, I have been waiting (not so patiently) for the weather to break. Looks like next week will be when I finally hear it in the boat.
So, I have been taking care of a few little projects on the boat to update it a little. from the factory there was a stereo remote above the ignition. Well, when I did my stereo upgrade a couple of years ago, I couldn't use it anymore, but being that it was cut into the dash, I just left it in place. Well this year I had a switch panel made by Dana Marine to fill the hole. I went with them because they offered a color called WineBerry, which is a bad ass metallic pink!!! Got it all wired in and it looks great!! Now I just need to update the factory switch panels to match.
Next on my list was to replace all the gauges. That wasn't very fun mostly because Checkmate didn't leave much room behind the dash to work. But I got it all done and they turned out great IMO. I used Autometer Marine Pro Comp gauges. they are silver face with a chrome lip. I then went back to Dana Marine for matching WineBerry bezels. I know, something has to be wrong in my head with how much I love my pink boat!!! I bought a tach with an hour meter built in, so I was able to free up a space in the dash for a water pressure gauge without having to cut a new hole. The only thing is, my GPS speedo is on back order and won't be here till next Wednesday. But its all wired and ready to put in as soon as it gets here. I think the gauges made a huge difference in making the boat look more modern.
The last thing I did, which was the biggest pain in the ass out of anything I have ever done on this boat, was to replace the helm. I have always had a little bit of play in the wheel but could never get the helm out because the steering wheel was so seized on the tilt steering mechanism that I could not get it off. I had literally been trying for two years to get it off because I had bought an updated steering wheel for the boat. Well, last week, I said screw it, I want the damn wheel off!!! So I sacrificed my tilt steering mechanism and finally got it off. I could not believe how seized onto the shaft it was. We finally got a puller that would fit the hub and started cranking. I cranked on it with the biggest wrench I had and pulled as hard as I could, it didn't budge at first, but after about 30 seconds with that pressure on it, it finally came loose with a very loud BANG!! This shows how much pressure I had to put on the shaft to get it off.
Getting the helm out from behind the dash proved to be a huge challenge as well. I wrestled with it for two hours, and it finally came out. This was my reaction when that job was finally done!!
But, it was all worth while because with the new helm and tilt steering mechanism installed, I got rid of almost all the play in the wheel. Of course I get to do it all over again next year when I upgrade to hydraulic steering, but at least this year will be a lot better.
So now, just waiting for this crazy weather to break. Hopefully later this week I'll have some video of her running to share!!!