Chevy LS6 cooling and heating hoses part 1

It is so cold at the moment that I have spent nearly two days working out where the hoses and vacuum tubes go and which take off pipes on the LS6 engine need blocking off in my Cobra. Well it is better than going out in to the garage and is so much warmer!

Here is how I will connect up the numerous hoses and vacuum tubes to my LS6. 

Heater

There are the following connections:

• 2 take-offs to the engine block on the lower offside
• 2 take-offs to the heater on the nearside inner wing

The take offs to the heater outlets on the engine at the offside are connected using hoses running around the front of engine (under the upper brace bar/cross member) and back along the chassis rail at the nearside to the heater outlets.

I have used GD's stainless steel heater pipes to add a bit of bling! Only the front is shown in the photo below. There is another pair of pipes that fit to the nearside of the chassis.

Front stainless steel heater pipes fixed to the upper brace bar

Cooling

A short hose connects the upper outlet from the engine to the long side of the header tank. The longer hose connects the header tank to the top of the radiator. 

Another short section of hose connects the lower coolant outlet to the long stainless steel pipe. NOTE: Check that there is a thermostat in the housing, I didn't have one! Re-seal using Hylomar blue sealant if you don't want any leaks - even with the rubber seal in place! At the other end the 90 degree hose connects this pipe to the lower connection on the radiator.

Cooling hoses and header tank

The header tank is fixed to the top brace bar with button head bolts, although the hose helps hold this in place. The bracket goes around the bar. Here I used rivnuts.

Rivnuts inserted in the upper brace bar

Vacuum

Looking from the offside, there are the following connections:

• 1 take off from mid left of plenum
• 1 take off from top right of throttle
• 1 take off from lower right (underneath front) of the throttle 

  

  Throttle body from offside

Block off the mid left take-off from the plastic plenum.

Block off the top right outlet from the throttle.

The connection to the lower right of the throttle (virtually underneath the throttle pot) is not used - no need to block this off.

Looking from the nearside there are the following connections:

• 1 take off from mid right of the plenum
• 1 take off from under the left of the throttle - simply connects to other side of the throttle
• 1 take off pipe from the head (with a cross link pipe between the two heads)

Throttle body from nearside

Link the bottom right pipe from the cylinder head (with the cross link) to the lower take-off on the header tank.

Connect a hose from the higher header tank connection down to the lower part of the chassis. Clip this to the chassis.

The mid left breather on the throttle is not used. Block off this stub from the plenum.

The lower left take-off is not used. No need to block off as it just connects to the other side.

There are 2 take-offs from the rocker covers (1 on each)

Offside rocker cover

Nearside rocker cover

The offside rocker cover is connected to the air intake and a pipe also goes around the back of the engine to the nearside rocker cover vent.

There is 1 take off at the rear of the plenum which is blocked off.

Rear take off from plenum

Air intake

The long straight section of the air intake is fitted towards the engine – vacuum take off to the offside and the air sensor to the nearside. The air sensor came from Canems. This needs drilling out for a grommet. The sensor is simply pushed through this grommet (there is already an undersized hole here).

Hole in the air intake for the sensor on the near side

The stainless steel air intake outlet is connected to the offside rocker cover pipe vent at the front. Here a tee piece is inserted to take the vacuum pipe around the back of the engine to the nearside rocker cover vent (at the rear of the engine).

Fuel rail

The screw end of the fuel rail is covered with a dust cap. This acts as a fuel bleed.

Threaded end of fuel rail on nearside