At station seven the LS7 starts to get all its external parts. First the valve covers are installed along with the steam vent tube and blockoffs. Then the LS7 specific composite intake manifold, they call it an Integrated Air Fuel Module (IAFM), is installed. The intake comes from the supplier with the injectors, fuel rail and throttle body already installed. Next up the motor gets its coil packs, water pump, temperature sensor and plug. The LS7 is checked to make sure the friction washer is installed, remember that the balancer is not keyed, and then the harmonic balancer is pushed onto the crank using 3000-lbs of hydraulic pressure. | 
Station eight has us installing the LS7 specific exhaust manifolds. It is also where we installed the block-mounted knock sensors and the colder running LS7 plugs. A temporary blue cap is put on the valve cover where you would normally put oil in a LS2 engine. Later, once the engine is filled with oil the first time at the run in center, the blue cap will replaced with a locking plug. After this, oil for the LS7 can only be added to the dry sumps oil tank. Each station has visual-aid sheets, like the one above, to be used for reference by the assembler. The sheet also gives information on what to check on each part and anything else needed to insure a proper build. | 
At station nine the engine is finished off with the addition of the evaporator solenoid. To make sure the engine is sealed up tight all the openings are sealed up and the engine is pressurized. Two-psi of air pressure is put in the oil and combustion areas while 20 psi is put into the water system. This pressure must be held by the motor for given amount of time. If there is a leak it is tracked down and fixed. This ensures that the motor will not have a leaky exhaust manifold or worse. Once it passes this test the plug wires, evaporator lines and the cam sensor are attached. Herce you see our assembled LS7 engine complete with the green lifting brakets. |
To show the pride of ownership that the master assemblers have, a "built by" plaque is attached to every LS7 produced. If you see this particular name on your motor you might want to visit your dealers service center as soon as possible. All the assemblers I met were true "car guys" that are very passionate about what they do. Many of them had pictures with them of the cool rides they work on at home. | 
The last station is number 11. This is where the motor is ran for 30-40 seconds using natural gas and then a computer tells the operator where to place small weights on the flywheel and/or the harmonic balance. After this balancing operation the LS7 is sent over to Johnson and Murphy in Taylor, Michigan, where it is ran for 20 minutes. They run the LS7 for 10 minutes unloaded and 10 minutes loaded. It is here that horsepower, torque, oil pressure, fuel pressure and all functions are rechecked. This is done with the same ECM that will be in the car and is done to every single LS7 produced. | 
Sure they are empty now but sometime in April they will start filling up with thousands of horsepower worth of LS7 motors. Most of these LS7 will be sent to Bowling Green, Kentucky. The rest will find their way to GM performance Parts where you will be able to buy one of these exotic engines for your very own g-Machine project. |