LE5 build what do i need to know??

[hammy221]

:ghug: iam planning on building my solstice le5 and so far haven't found anything really on tear down and assembly of the LE5. what i did find was an supercharged 2.0 ECOTEC build guild but iam not sure how different the LE5 is. the only thing i really know that is different is the VVT on the LE5. my main concern is setting the cam timing on the LE5 not knowing if it is much different then an none VVT DOHC engine. so far iam going with carrillo rods and pistons they offer but unsure the C/R iam going with yet. iam planning on keeping my DDM supercharger setup or going to a better version of S/C from them when it comes out. bottom line i guess iam unsure of what else i may need and what is worth doing and what is not for example porting the head balancing the crank getting rid of the counter balance shafts etc.. i also plan to run a 35-50 HP Shot of NOS. any help is greatly appreciated ... thanks for your help.. :drive:

this is my source i found on building a ECOTEC its the 300HP ECOTEC parts 1-4 GM Performance Division :: Performance Pulse :: Performance Articles

[zzzybil]

so keep good track !........for us !!
should be a good thread

[ELJonesy]

having built/rebuilt an l61 and an le5 I can offer a bit of insight into the differences between the obvious bore/stroke and lack of vvt on the l61.

the l61 only has one cam pickup, therefore the heads cannot be swapped without modification. the LE5 has an oil cooler on the back of the motor, L61 does not. the le5 also has larger valves I believe. L61 has an SAI system, there are extra holes to force air into the head and down the exhaust via the top of the exhaust manifold, the LE5 lacks this.

other than that, the motors are identical as far as I could tell. bearings, main bolts, head bolts, valve springs and retainers, etc etc etc.


the LE5 has very thin cylinder sleeves. the reason the L61, LNF, and LSJ blocks are able to hold so much power is nice thick sleeves and a shorter stroke putting less stress on the crank.


we will see how much abuse our 2.4L crankshafts will take when mine and the HRC car are completed.

[hammy221]

thanks for the insight. iam looking to do about 400 crank with a supercharger myself. everyone on here is doing it with turbo's so i wanna be different and do it with a S/C iam thinking should be interesting..

[Tony@ASAPGrfx]

Originally Posted by hammy221 thanks for the insight. iam looking to do about 400 crank with a supercharger myself. everyone on here is doing it with turbo's so i wanna be different and do it with a S/C iam thinking should be interesting..

Hammy, I ran about 440 at the crank on the stock bottom end. The only thing my motor had was valve springs and guides to handle the increased boost pressures. You could run 400BHP (350WHP) with not much problem on the stock bottom end. My car failure was not a result of power levels, but a fueling problem that caused it to lean out and burn a piston. The crank, bearings, rods, etc. looked brand new after 30,000 miles of hard driving and racing. It shows the LE5 motor can take the abuse. It's really all about the tuning and fueling system once you go away from the stock setup and no matter how well you build it. You can still burn it up if you lean it out.

Keep an eye on my build progress. Contact me if you have any questions.

Tony

[ELJonesy]

Originally Posted by hammy221 thanks for the insight. iam looking to do about 400 crank with a supercharger myself. everyone on here is doing it with turbo's so i wanna be different and do it with a S/C iam thinking should be interesting..

theres a reason everyone goes turbo.