LS3 West Coast Cylinder Heads Swap - Head Games

Tanner and Bettini use a 10mm wrench to remove the fuel rails as a rag soaks up any excess fuel in the line.

An 8mm socket unbolts the LS3 intake manifold.

It is not entirely necessary to remove the water pump, but Redline finds it easier and faster--there are six 10mm bolts. The alternator/power steering bracket also needs to be removed via its 15mm bolts, which is a time-consuming process due to the bolts' location.

The headers are unbolted at the collector and removed from the bottom.

The valve covers and rocker arms are removed with an 8mm socket,...

...before starting on the 15 and 10mm head bolts...

...(and 15mm ground wire bolt on back of the head).

Notice how even the wear is on the pistons as well as how clean they are. Howard says this is indicative of how well designed the combustion chamber is on the LS3 heads, and of course the relative youth of the motor. It also proves a good indicator as to how the tune is calibrated since "piston wash" shows that the mixture is doing its job.

Any remaining coolant is sucked out of the block, being extra thorough in the head bolt holes, so as to prevent cracking the block when torquing on the heads.