We are bringing sexy back

As LS engine swaps continue to dominate almost all areas of hot rodding, Pro Touring, and more, one of the more creative and fast-evolving trends is dressing modern engines with accessories and components that give them a vintage appearance. A few vintage-appearing accessories have been offered for the past few years, but momentum with the trend has accelerated so quickly lately that we felt it was worth examining and outlining the options. Thanks to retailers such as Speedway Motors and manufacturers including Lokar—with its LS Classic Series range of dress-up components—disguising an LS is easier than ever and can be uncannily authentic-appearing. That can include everything from valve covers and air cleaners designed to look like those from vintage Chevy small- and big-block engines to kits to hide or disguise the ignition coils while emulating the appearance of a plug linked to a convincing-looking “distributor.” There’s even an intake manifold that mimics the style of the original Rochester system on early “Fuelie” Corvettes. It’s all very clever and comparatively affordable. When the engine is painted classic Chevy orange, the results can make an LS challenging to identify at a glance. Most of the components for these transformations, including the valve covers and coil relocation kits, are available from Speedway Motors. Taking it even further, Speedway offers the LS Classic Series crate engines from Lokar. These are based on Chevrolet Performance LS3 crate engines and are dressed—including Chevy Orange paint if desired—to look like vintage Fuelie, 409, big-, and small-block engines. More on them in a moment. Need-to-Know Details for Building a Retro LS Engine A convincing retro appearance is all about replacing or disguising the factory EFI system and the individual ignition coils. The most straightforward and dramatic conversion is swapping the original intake manifold with its plastic plenum and front-facing throttle body for a carburetor-style version with the throttle body mounted atop it. Topped off with a vintage-style air cleaner, including those used with cowl-induction hoods, you’ve got a pretty convincing retro appearance. It can be taken to the next level by relocating the ignition coils from the valve covers and replacing them with retro replicas. Let’s start with the intakes and throttle bodies. There are plenty of carburetor-style intakes offered from Speedway, including Holley kits (PNs 9100368 and 9100369) for LS1 and LS3 heads, respectively, which have the bosses for fuel injectors and include the fuel rails. There’s also the Edelbrock Super Victor intake (PN 32528875) for LS7 heads. In fact, there are many other options from Holley and Edelbrock that accommodate cathedral- and rectangular-port LS heads, but the LS Classic Series produced by Lokar and offered through Speedway is designed for a retro appearance and includes replica air cleaners. Most are designed to use the injectors and drive-by-wire throttle bodies found on LS3 and other Gen IV–type LS engines, but there are kits for use with earlier cathedral-port heads, too. They include classic small- and big-block four-barrel-style systems, and the look of the big-block Tri-power setup used on legendary 427/435 Corvette engines, such as the L71 and L89. Several versions of the original Rochester mechanical injection systems used from 1957-65 exist.