There’s no question that GM’s LS has earned a place in the world of high performance V8 engines. If you haven’t built one already, chances are you will sooner or later. When you do, you’ll need some tools that are specific to the LS engine. Let’s take a look.

Harmonic Balancer Tools
One of the features of the LS is the serpentine belt drive, which is integrated with the harmonic balancer. By doing so the engineers eliminated the traditional three-bolt flange used to attach a harmonic balancer puller. This means you’ll need a specific tool designed to both remove and replace the LS balancer. Some tools are just pullers while others are only installers. It might be less expensive to purchase two separate tools rather than one that does both jobs.

While installing an LS balancer is relatively straightforward, removing a stock balancer requires a tool with jaws that can fit behind the flat portions of the balancer’s three legs. Most of these tools utilize three adjustable jaws that allow you to remove the balancer.

Main Cap Removal Tool
Another feature of the LS is its deep-skirt block with cross-bolted main caps. The caps fit very firmly in the crankcase and can be a challenge to remove. Summit Racing came up with a very nice main cap installer/removal tool. It uses horizontal pins that fit under the main caps and use simple leverage to quickly lift even the most stubborn main caps. It’s now part of our LS engine tool collection.

Torque Angle Gauge
Like most modern engines, the LS has fasteners with a torque angle specification in addition to a basic torque setting. For example, the inner and outer main cap bolts on Gen III LS engines require the use of a torque angle gauge to tighten them to spec. The reasoning behind this is that the angle setting is a little more accurate way to set torque rather than simple torque specs where friction can create variables.

We found a tool made by OTC that uses a simple dial angle gauge that fits between a 1/2-inch drive breaker bar and the socket. As an example of how it works, the spec for the inner LS main cap bolt is an initial torque of 15 ft.-lbs., then using the torque angle gauge to turn the bolt an additional 80 degrees.

Cam Bearing Installation Tool

A dedicated cam bearing installation tool may seem like a luxury since most machine shops can do this after they clean your block. While that certainly reduces your work load, most shops charge around $60 to install the five cam bearings. Summit Racing’s LS cam bearing installation tool costs slightly less than double that. If you plan on building more than two LS engines in the future, this tool will quickly pay for itself and save you a bunch of money.

The Summit Racing™ Cam Bearing Alignment Tool works in conjunction with their bearing installation tool. It bolts to the front of the block and extends 16 inches out from the number one cam bearing journal. The alignment tool holds the bearing installation tool perfectly in-line to insure the front cam bearing goes in dead straight. Obviously you can’t use this tool with the engine mounted in the vehicle.

Front and Rear Cover and Seal Installation Tools

Another feature unique to the LS is that the front and rear covers do not use an alignment pin to position them on the engine. GM’s original tools for this process are both very expensive and, frankly, clunky. A far simpler procedure is to use a timing cover alignment tool that fits over the front and rear crank journals to align the seals. This prevents leaks at the front damper seal and rear main seal.

Keep in mind there’s another step that requires the flat portions of the front and rear covers to align with the oil pan. Summit Racing makes a tool that simulates front oil pan flange to accomplish this. It is designed for use with Summit Racing’s alignment tools.

Lifter Retaining Tool

Changing the camshaft is one of the most popular tricks for making horsepower with the LS. GM was more than considerate when they designed the plastic lifter holders to retain the lifters in the “up” or fully retracted position. That allows you to change the cam without having to pull the heads to remove the lifters. Unfortunately, high-mileage LS engines tend to have brittle holders that can allow a lifter to drop after the cam is removed.

Not to worry—Summit Racing has Powerhouse Products Lifter Retaining Rods to resolve the issue. The 5/16-inch aluminum dowels slip in through the adjacent oil galleys to retain the lifters while the cam is removed and replaced.

Crank Turning Socket and Cam Degree Kit

Degreeing the camshaft on an LS engine is a must to extract maximum performance. You can use a normal degree wheel and dial indicator to do this, but you will need an LS-specific crankshaft turning socket. It is possible to use an old harmonic balancer bolt to do this, but keep in mind that the bolt can come loose when turning the engine backwards. Our experience is that a crank turning socket does a better job and also securely mounts the degree wheel to the engine.

COMP Cams makes an LS-specific cam degree kit with an aluminum mount for the dial indicator. This is nice for all-aluminum LS engines where a magnetic base will not work without some kind of custom steel mounting plate.

Trunnion Upgrade Tool

The LS engine uses an excellent 1.7:1 roller trunnion rocker arm, but after 100,000 or more miles the trunnion needle bearings can be suspect. Several companies offer a trunnion upgrade kit but regardless of which one we choose, we always use Trick Flow’s Trunnion Upgrade Tool to do the conversion. The main reason for this is the tool uses a pair of magnets that hold the base in the vise, which makes it much easier to perform the bearing conversion. This would be one of the first tools we’d recommend to buy if you plan on building LS engines.

Valve Spring Compressors

Changing valve springs is another job that goes more smoothly with the right tool. Trick Flow makes a slick tool that bolts to the cylinder head and simultaneously compresses both intake and exhaust valve springs. This makes changing springs with the heads on or off the engine much easier and quicker. There are specific compressors for cathedral port and rectangle port heads because the valve spacing is different.

Pre-Lubers

The LS and other modern engines like the Ford Modular and the Gen III Hemi have oil pumps that run off the crankshaft, making it impossible to spin the oil pump independently from the crank. This demands a different way to pressure pre-lube new or freshly rebuilt engines.

Once again, Summit Racing makes a tool to handle that. The Summit Racing Pre-Luber Tank holds 2.5 gallons (10 quarts) of oil and uses shop air to quickly push the oil into the engine to pressure-lube the main bearing, rod bearings, and other components.

These are just a few of the LS-specific engine building tools we have found to be especially useful. Check out the tool list and you’ll find even more. If you’re into LS power, you might want to collect them all.

LS Engine Building Tools
SME-K-906008 Summit Racing™ Harmonic Balancer Puller and Installer Kit
SUM-900135 Summit Racing™ Harmonic Balancer Installation Tool
SUM-900339  Summit Racing™ Main Cap Removal Tool
OTC-4554 OTC Tools Torque Angle Gauge
SUM-900131 Summit Racing™ Cam Bearing Installation Tool
SUM-900105 Summit Racing™ Camshaft Bearing Bore Alignment Tool            
SUM-900338 Summit Racing™ Pro LS Front Timing Cover Alignment Tool                             
SUM-900334 Summit Racing™ Pro LS Front Timing Cover Alignment Tool,
Simulates Oil Pan Flange
SUM-900335 Summit Racing™ Pro LS Rear Cover Alignment Tool                                  
POW-101046 Powerhouse Products LS Lifter Holding Tool              
SUM-900191 Summit Racing™ Piston Stop                                                                
CCA-4942 COMP Cams Camshaft Degree Kit      
SUM-904914 Summit Racing™ Crankshaft Socket                               
TFS-30700500-IK Trick Flow Rocker Trunnion Installation Kit
TFS-90306  Trick Flow Valve Spring Compressor, Cathedral Port Heads                     
TFS-90307 Trick Flow Valve Spring Compressor, Rectangular Port Heads           

SUM-901164-KIT Summit Racing Engine Preluber Kit
SUM-900133  Summit Racing™ Camshaft Installation Handle
SUM-900332-1 Summit Racing™ Flywheel Holding Tool

Summit Racing™ Main Cap Removal Tool
LS cross-bolted main caps fit tightly in the block and are often difficult to remove, especially on iron blocks. This Summit Racing™ Main Cap Removal Tool makes the job quick and easy. (Image/Jeff Smith)
OTC Tools Torque Angle Gauge
Main cap bolts, head bolts, and connecting rod bolts all have a torque angle spec, which requires a torque angle gauge like this one from OTC. The tool is simple to use, but make sure the small bar is firmly located against a solid point on the block so it doesn’t move when the angle input is started. (Image/Jeff Smith)
Summit Racing™ Cam Bearing Installation Tool
This Summit Racing™ Cam Bearing Installation tool is just for LS engines. The driver locates on the inside diameter of the cam bearings which is 55mm. This offers an advantage over universal cam bearing drivers that must expand to fit different size bearings. Since it’s LS-specific, this tool won’t work on other engines like a small- or big-block Chevy. (Image/Jeff Smith)
Summit Racing™ Cam Bearing Alignment Tool
The Summit Racing™ Cam Bearing Alignment Tool works in conjunction with the bearing installation tool. It bolts to the front of the block and extends 16 inches out from the number one cam bearing journal. The alignment tool holds the bearing installation tool perfectly in-line to insure the front cam bearing goes in dead straight. (Image/Summit Racing)
Summit Racing™ Harmonic Balancer Puller and Installer Kit Summit Racing™ Harmonic Balancer Puller and Installer Kit
When we started building LS engines, specialized tools to align the front cover seal were expensive. So we made our own. We cut the hub out of an old LS truck balancer and honed the inside diameter until it easily slipped over the crank snout. With the hub in place, this aligned the cover so you can tighten the cover bolts. Summit Racing offers an inexpensive tool (left) if you don’t want to make one. (Image/Jeff Smith)
Summit Racing™ Pro LS Rear Cover Alignment Tool
The LS engine does not use dowel pins to locate the rear cover on the block. This Summit Racing™ Pro LS Rear Cover Alignment Tool aligns the rear main seal in the rear cover over the crankshaft. There is a rubber O-ring on the inside the tool that fits over the crank flange that centers the cover to the crank. (Image/Jeff Smith)
COMP Cams Camshaft Degree Kit
COMP Cams makes a cam degreeing kit for LS engines that positions the dial indicator on the engine with an aluminum stand, making it ideal for engines with aluminum blocks. The kit has an LS-specific crank nut to mount the degree wheel on the balancer. (Image/Jeff Smith)
Summit Racing™ Crankshaft Socket
LS engines require a specific crank-turning tool like this Summit Racing™ Crankshaft Socket that locates on the oil pump drive. A tool like this is essential for degreeing a camshaft because the process requires turning the engine backward. Using a harmonic balancer bolt is often clumsy. If it loosens when turning the engine backwards, the degree wheel will move and you must start all over. (Image/Jeff Smith)
Summit Racing™ Piston Stop
Summit Racing offers this universal piston stop that is useful for degreeing a cam when the cylinder heads are off the engine. A few years ago we needed to degree an LS engine and did not have one of these tools, so we built one using a length of rectangular tubing drilled for the LS head bolt pattern and a center bolt that acts as the piston stop. (Image/Jeff Smith)
Powerhouse Products LS Lifter Holding Tool
When performing a cam swap on a used LS engine, there’s a good chance the lifter holders have become brittle and cause a lifter to drop. That means disassembling the engine to retrieve the lifter. To prevent this, Summit Racing offers a Powerhouse tool similar to this one. It has 5/16-inch aluminum dowels that slip in through the adjacent oil galley holes in the block. With the cam in place and all the lifters in the up position, the dowels will trap the lifters so you can remove and replace the cam. (Image/Jeff Smith)
Trick Flow Valve Spring Compressor
If you need to swap valve springs, this Trick Flow Valve Spring Compressor will make the job really easy. The base bolts to the head using two rocker arm bolt holes and positions the plate over the intake and exhaust valve retainers. Tightening the center bolt compresses the springs enough to allow removal of the locks. The compressor can be used with the heads either on or off the engine. There are separate versions for cathedral and rectangle port heads because of their different valve spacing. (Image/Jeff Smith)
Summit Racing™ Engine Preluber
This Summit Racing™ Engine Preluber can hold up to 2.5 gallons of oil. The fitting plugs into the LS engine’s main oil gallery and will pre-lube the mains, rods, and lifters with oil prior to starting that brand new engine. It can also be used on other modern engines like the Ford Coyote or Mopar Gen III Hemi. (Image/Jeff Smith)
Summit Racing™ Flexplate Holding Tool
There are many times when it’s beneficial to lock the crank in place. The easiest way to do this is with a flexplate holding tool like this one made by Summit Racing. It fits in place of the starter motor. (Image/Jeff Smith)
Summit Racing™ Camshaft Installation Handle
Another handy tool is the Summit Racing™ Camshaft Installation Handle. It gives you a solid grip to install or remove the camshaft without nicking a cam bearing or cam lobe. The handle can also be used on Gen I small block Chevy and 90-degree V6. (Image/Summit Racing)
Keywords
Chevy LS , engine build tools
Share this Article
Author: Jeff Smith

Jeff Smith has had a passion for cars since he began working at his grandfather's gas station at the age 10. After graduating from Iowa State University with a journalism degree in 1978, he combined his two passions: cars and writing. Smith began writing for Car Craft magazine in 1979 and became editor in 1984. In 1987, he assumed the role of editor for Hot Rod magazine before returning to his first love of writing technical stories. Since 2003, Jeff has held various positions at Car Craft (including editor), has written books on small block Chevy performance, and even cultivated an impressive collection of 1965 and 1966 Chevelles. Now he serves as a regular contributor to OnAllCylinders.