LIVERNOIS MOTORSPORTS: LS DISPLACEMENT ON DEMAND DELETE KIT

Junkyard engine swaps are nothing new, especially when you’re talking about the venerable LS motor. If you’re lucky, you might still be able to find a 5.7 or 6.0 liter from an Older Avalanche, Escalade, or GM truck, laying around. However, if you do, there’s a bit of an Achilles heel that can come with those. 

While they are a great bang-for-your-buck powerplant, many of these motors were equipped with a feature called, Displacement On Demand (DOD), or Active Fuel Management (AFM). To put it simply, it was a feature that allowed GM to combat the pressure the government was putting on them to be more “eco-friendly.” 

Displacement On Demand essentially allows the motors to operate more efficiently by using oil pressure to collapse these kind-of “spring-loaded” lifters, closing specific valves, and sealing certain combustion chambers. This allows the V8 motor to run on 6 or 4 cylinders depending on the load that is placed upon it– saving fuel. 

While this design is efficient and works well for a work-truck application, a hot rod doesn’t run on 4 cylinders, despite what some will tell you. This is Street Muscle Magazine, after all. As such, we’ve found a kit from our friends at Livernois that deletes this feature on select LS engines, allowing you to get the most out of your engine swap. (Part #: LPP802105) 

Note the o-rings on the valley cover, where the oil feed towers are blocked off.

More than just allowing your LS to fire on all cylinders constantly, the DOD Delete kit takes care of another pesky problem that can arise from the stock system. Oil feed towers under the stock valley cover send signals to shut off fuel injectors and ignition coils– they’re magnets for engine sludge and build-up if your junkyard motor has been neglected. This can cause all sorts of problems for your project.

In order to combat this, the kit from Livernois comes with an LS3 valley cover that blocks those oil towers. It also includes new head gaskets, lifters, lifter buckets, and stock head bolts. 

While many kits like this one require you to re-flash the stock ECU from the LS, Livernois takes the guesswork out of it by including one of their MyCalibrator tuners. The tuner made by AIW, stores a stock tune, but you can order a custom tune.

The kit includes a tuner loaded for a stock cam, but if you wish to upgrade, Livernois can help with that too.

According to Livernois’ website, you can expect to see gains of horsepower and torque, and increased throttle response that can likely be attributed to the new air/fuel adjustments. Available for 87, 89, 91, and 93 octane, the tuner also features transmission modifications with different shift points, revised rev limiter, and revised top speed limiter. 

For the really savvy, yet budget minded builder, they might pair this kit with a cam from a similar year Camaro, Corvette, or GTO to really open up their junkyard build. 

To find out more about what Livernois has to offer for your ride, check out Livernoismotorsports.com

 

About the author

Vinny Costa

Fast cars, motorcycles, and loud music are what get Vinny’s blood pumping. Catch him behind the wheel of his ’68 Firebird. Chances are, Black Sabbath will be playing in the background.
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