The Most Cost Effective Choice For Replacement LS-1 Ignition Coils

The choices for replacement ignition coils on the LS-1 motor get expensive real fast.  You have to wonder if the extra  money for the brand names are really worth it.  We did a fair amount of research, and settled on PerTronix, for the next set on our GT-2  race car.  We are very familiar with the brand, and the specs looked good.  This is pretty much a replacement for the GM truck coils, that went on the performance LS-1 motors, in the late 1990's.  The headers on our motor run up past the valve covers, and put a lot of heat out, right by the coils.  Plus they sit right on the valve covers anyway, which is a pretty hot area, as well.

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ARP Dampner Bolt For The LS-1 ASA Motor

This is the ARP harmonic balancer bolt to use, when replacing the one on your LS-1 ASA race motor.  

ARP Balancer Bolt Kits Feature Heavy duty balancer bolts that are rated to 200,000 PSI. Choose from bolts that accept a traditional 12-point socket or a 1/2" square drive, eliminating the need for a socket. Sold complete with large diameter, 1/4" thick washer.

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ASA LS1 Race Car Won't Start Is Sometimes The ECU

When the gremlins come to call on race day, they love to find places to hide, in your LS1 electronics system.   The last two times out, we have been "pestered" by the little buggers, that move around like cock roaches, in the wiring system.  Six laps into the most recent SCCA Majors race, the car just decided to come to a dead stop, going around turn number  two, at Gingerman Raceway.  After considering everything, we plugged our code reader into the car, when back at the shop.  Our crew chief, son, and full-time bread slicer assembler, "GT" had a great idea.  The kid is sharp, and simply decided to erase all existing error codes, in the GM factory ECU unit.  The car that would not go anywhere, quickly fired riight back up again, after the weekend was done.
Since we had already seem some burned wiring, and also smoked a brand new "pay it off monthly" racing battery, it stared to seem that we had a problem coming from only one place.
The alternator was removed, and tested for output.  Our local electrical shop rebuilt it, and put in a new regulator, for a mere $85.00.  The unit is back in the car, and we are pretty sure, that this was the issue causing the (most recent) problems that we faced.  The moral of the story, always look for clues, that will lead you back to the root of the problem.  Stay "tuned", for futher developments.
Or stop by at the track if you are there.  You can also visit us at our web garage.  We can easily be found at:

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ASA LS1 Race Car Won't Start Is Not Always The ECU

We recently drove up to the grid and parked, to go out for the first race of the new SCCA year.  At two minutes, they blew the whistle, and the same car that we just drove up to our spot, would not start.  No way, no how.  The tendency is to blame the ECU right away, especially with these cars.  But the folks up a Schwanke say they rarely if ever see one go bad.  At lease not with out a good reason (attaching a welder ground for instance)  It's real simple, you have to have spark, compression, and gas.  In our case, the fuel pump was not priming the system, and there was no go juice, up at the inspection port we installed, on the engine fuel rail.  After tracing the  dual fuel pump circuit back, we found a slightly unexpected burnt (to a chrisp) four prong wire connector, which kind of ruined the day, and the weekend.  Allstar makes a replacement OEM style four prong unit, PN # ALL76269, rated at 20 amps.  Our very small packet arrived in a very large box, with a couple of air bags, to reduce the chance of damage (?). 

At any rate, we were glad to pay the $13.50 in shipping for this $3.75 shipment, to get after fixing the problem.  Make sure you order extra individual male and female connectors, because there is a reason they sell them seperately.  We ended up building a whole new harness, on the switch side of the system.  There was very little extra wire to work with anyway, so we made sure it will be easier to deal with, in the future.  The LS-1 burped to life at the frst spin of the Tilton, and we are back in business.  See the seperate blog, about the time the pump connection vibrated loose.  These cars are fun, cheap, but somedays, an electrical challenge.

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Gear Headz Products GT-2 Camaro Race Car At Grattan Raceway

SCCA Camaro GT-2 GTA LS 1 Motor Will Not Start

We recently ran into an electrical issue with our Lingenfelter preped LS-1 engine, that would come and go at random.  The engine would start to miss, then quit completely at the track.  On another occasion at the races, the engine ran, then died when we pulled into the pits for a flat tire, and would not refire.  Later back at the shop, it started with no problem.  We ended up tracing and checking all the grounds, and found a loose connection, at the positive side of the battery terminal.  The lock nut holding the cable had vibrated loose.  It was covered with  a plastic terminal cover, and could not be seen until we removed the Optima AGM design battery to check it's status.  The cable was still connected, but with no positive force.  Always check the basic battery and ground connections with these cars.  There is a ground on the back of the right side cylinder head.  There are also a series of fuses in the electrical system.  Our car has an eight fuse box, located by the driver.  Very close to the OBD 2 port.   Make sure the battery is on a trickle charger all the time, and stays fully charged, when the car is not in use.  For a battery charger, we prefer the C TEK micro processor controled unit, shown below.   It is compact, and simple to use,  with a easy to read level of charge indicator.

http://gearheadzproducts.com/ctekbatterychargermus4.3.aspx