I have been taking the valve covers off quite frequently to adjust the solid lifters, replace broken valve springs/seals, etc, and I've been really lamenting the way I attached the coils to the bolts since it adds a fair amount of tedium to the effort. So... When I was in my little shop/shed, I noticed that my wifes ex-fiance had left a aluminum ladder extension. Hmm.. thought I. That looks like some good metal stock to fab some new brackets. To my surprise, the inner channel was 'just' the right width to hold that two-holed metal coil around the outside of the LS1 coils. I took off all the ign coils and placed them in the channel, measured and then cut the channel. I then drilled some holes for retention bolts and a ground stud. Because the drivers side is so unobstructed, it looks different than the passenger side. Here's the passenger side bracket.





Update: Here is the Aluminum channel source. Apparently it's for leveling a ladder when the ladder has to be positioned on an uneven surface. Looks like it's about $28 at ACE Hardware.
http://www.acehardwareoutlet.com/(lt...px?SKU=1269539




This design allows me to
a. Keep all the coils together in one assembly
b. Remove the assembly by removing one Nut.
c. Solidly ground the coils to the engine via the common ground stud.

After removing the one nut, the assembly swings our of the way so I can get to the normal valve cover bolts.

 

cool, good thinking

 

well thats nifty...

i wanna see it on the car

 

Now that you have helped me with the mounting part I need some more info

I will Pm with my other questions.

 

Sorry! I just now went to look at my emails, etc. It's too dark now(8:12pm NY) but I'll get some pic's tomorrow of both the drivers side and passenger side in place. I've been driving the car around and everything is working great.

 

I just recieved my LTCC, anyone have pics of where they mounted the main box and how the harness is routed in the engine compartment? Any help is appreciated.

 

I can hear this conversation now between father and son:
Dammit!! Who shorted my ladder!
Hey son, nice coil brackets
Wait a second here, that's part of my ladder.
YOU LITTLE BASTARD!!!!



There is going to be a rash of shorter ladders soon to come

 

What springs are you using to be going through them like you are?

 

That's the great thing. The channel in the aluminum is 'just' wide enough to let the Coils sit in there as you see in the pictures. The two bolts you see going thru the sides? They pull the sides of the aluminum together as you tighten them and they trap the coils in place. They won't come out, believe me. I've tried to pull them out with my hands.

 

Hahaha.. .this thing I found. It was brand new in a box, about 2' long with those rubber 'feet' on either end. It also had a couple of T-clamps on it, I suppose to bind it to the 'real' ladder. I just took off the T-clamps and cut off the rubber ends. I wish I'd taken pictures of it before hand. I just didn't know if this would work when I first started out and it's turned out better than I could have hoped. Like I mentioned earlier, the drivers side looks different. It has two coils on the left and two on the right with the space for a nut inbetween the pairs. The passenger side, complicated by the oil fill tube in front and the crankcase vent towards the back, required all four coils to be side by side. Come to think of it, if I were going for symmetry, I could easily have done the drivers side the same as the passenger side.

 

I think he ment what valve springs are you using to have to change them out so much.

 

exactly.

 

<dave bitchslaps himself> Sorry. I purchased my solid roller cam/springs/titanium retainers used from some fellow in Austin, TX. He'd in turn bought them from some other guy, but never installed the cam in his own car prior to selling it to me. The springs were the right size and dimension (1.550" OD, dual spring w/damper coil) for my cam, according to the guy that was installing the springs. I don't know what brand of springs they were but they didn't last long before four of them broke and in the process took out some valve seals(hammering them with the broken coils of the inner spring). The engine was running really rough and when cranking the car to start, you could tell the starter was having an easier time cranking on some cylinders than others because the starting gear whine had an odd cadence to it. When pulling off the valve covers, I saw cylinder #1 had a very obvious break in the outter coils on the Intake valve. I ordered some new K1100 springs and installed them all around rather than just the broken ones so the spring rate would be symmetrical. While I was at it, I replaced all the valve seals. Other than that, I've just been taking the valve covers off to verify lash (CamMotions Low lash cam set to .010 hot)

 

Ahh ok, I remember you posting this before. Glad you haev everything sorted out.

 

Update: Here is the Aluminum channel source. Apparently it's for leveling a ladder when the ladder has to be positioned on an uneven surface. Looks like it's about $28 at ACE Hardware.
http://www.acehardwareoutlet.com/(lt...px?SKU=1269539