Okay, update time! I've managed to buy myself a lower intake manifold piece from the U.S. allowing me to adapt the LLT intake runner heads with the rectangular ports of the LFX manifold. The composite manifold from the LFX is about 7kg lighter, does not heat soak compared to the cast iron LLT manifold and
may improve performance - more on this later. As far as i know, i'm the second person to give this a shot, the first is a supercharged LLT camaro in the US.
Installation was relatively straight forward but the 6 bolts that hold down the manifold had be about 10mm longer, my catch can hose had to be replaced with a longer line and the evap solenoid needed to be plumbed in with a fitting.
Here's what the engine bay looked like beforehand
Made a few little modifications to the LFX manifold to give it a bit more flow. I cut off the grid up top, filled in the dip with plastic weld and sanded it all smooth.
Gridless
Dried up plastic weld
New piece over the stock LLT gasket and MACE 12mm insulator
A nice match between the LLT gasket and my new piece
Looks like the spark plugs and coils can be swapped with ease now
Bonus shot of my MAF and Vmax CNC ported throttle body
Almost there...
And finally, the finished product
While the engine bay has lost some sex appeal, the pick up in down low-mid range torque was huge. Shifting through gears feels much better, there's no slight hesitation or dead spot once you hit next gear. I've found power to be stronger right through to redline and the car pulls effortlessly through corners with the extra bump in torque. The loss of weight up top was also a huge bonus and on day one it was 35 degrees out and the car pulled as if it was a modest mid 20.
I did run into a couple of oddities. First, the car would surge while cruising but after a few hundred kms, that has since stopped - my best guess is the computer relearned. My strut bar can no longer clear the manifold, but i hardly think it was doing anything in the first place.
Oh and the week before that i gave the car a detail, here's a before and after shot. ignore the filthy wheels please :surprise: