1994 Pontiac Trans Am Pulley & Blaster Coil Install - When LT1s Attack: Part II

At this point, we placed a call over to Full Throttle Speed and Bailey Engineering to obtain an LTCC module and harness. The LT1 Coil per Cylinder Converter uses LS1 individual coils to generate spark to the plugs instead of the Opti (for direct ignition). Only the optical eye of the Optispark distributor is used, relieving stress from the cap and rotor-reducing the incidence of failure. This $400 piece of machinery provides infinitely greater rpm potential, and in addition, the module has a built-in adjustable rev limiter, two-step, and timing retard for boost/nitrous.

Though this kit had never been tested with aftermarket coils, I decided to exchange my single MSD Blaster Coil for a set of the MSC Blaster Coils (P/N 82458) rather than scour the salvage yards for a set of used stock LS1 coils. The advantage to using these coils was that they deliver not only a higher voltage spark, but in a much quicker fashion. In fact these coils were designed to deliver multiple sparks.

At the time of the install it was believed there were no mounting kits on the market for this swap(later we found out otherwise), but we did come across the Thunder Racing LS1 Coil Relocation Kit made for LS1 cars looking to unburden the valve covers for easier valvetrain access. Knowing the different orientation of various hoses and wires, not to mention the dimensions of the intake manifolds, there was a good chance some modification would be required. At the very least, for $199 we would have a head start on fabricating the brackets, not to mention a set of Universal Cut-to-Fit Taylor wires included in the kit. Since Bailey Engineering recommended staying away from low resistance wires, as they tend to cause misfires with this kit, we substituted for Spiro-Pros (PN 73051) instead of the ThunderVolts that normally come with the kit. The Opti End Terminal kit (PN 04-46052), which Thunder told us is also used on the LS1s, was also needed for the straight plug into the coils. In the picture, you'll also notice a couple of packets of wire separators that Thunder was nice enough to provide.

For this part of the install, your author left the comfortable surroundings of Ron's Custom Auto-where tools, lighting and heat were bountiful-for a driveway in the backyard of his home where all three of the aforementioned resources were greatly missed. Nonetheless, frozen hands removed the MSD Blaster coil and bracket from the driver side cylinder head in the wee hours of the morning.

The Opti harness was unplugged from the main engine/computer harness (pigtail) located on the passenger side next to the throttle body and intake. Bailey Engineering recommends inspecting this harness as heat and corrosion tend to take their toll on the connector pins.

The stock 10-amp (red) ignition fuse was replaced by a 20-amp fuse as directed by the LTCC instructions.

After laying out the LTCC harness across the top of the motor and mocking up its location, the harness plugs inline at the junction of the 4 Pin Opti-Pigtail-which we just disconnected.

Next, the white, yellow, and two pink wires coming from the LTCC module need to be cut and stripped once the appropriate length is established based on the module's mounting location. The original plan was to place it behind the driver side strut tower and hood strut underneath the cowl, mirroring the PCM on the opposite side. Later, it was decided the underside of the cowl might be better as the cowl was a safer surface to drill into.

The two pink wires need to be soldered or mated with plastic connectors to the pink (power) wire that used to feed the coil. The yellow wire also needs to be spliced into the factory 12-volt (coil) power source for the module's 2-Step Trigger Input. If you don't plan to use this function, go ahead and leave this step out. The white wire from the LTCC module needs to be clipped to the white EST (spark signal) that previously went to the old coil via a four-prong plug. The directions are a bit confusing on this part, possibly due to differences on varying LT1 applications. An easy way to differentiate which wire is the power wire is that it sits by its lonesome connected to a plastic plug connected to the front of the coil. There is another plastic plug right next to this one, but is has two or three other wires feeding it. The proper way to tell would be to test the wire using a voltage meter-it should be 12 volts with the key on.