[Aussie Mike]

No offence taken Rick and in fact I agree that the stock LS1 isn't pretty. However once you peel back the plastic covers, get rid of the coils on the rockers cover and re-arange some of the plumbing there is actually a very nice looking engine under there.

It usually gives people a bit of a surprise when they look under the hood and can't quite work out what it is.

My motor started as a stock LS1 crate motor from the US Camaro/Firebird. Basically the same as the Holden LS1 but with a different sump design. There are plenty of suppliers out there with new crate engines at great prices. I'm sure some of the guys that have bought recently will chime in.

The electronics are actually pretty straight forward when you get into them. An internal combustion engine requires the same things whether it's a modern EFI engine or an older carburetored donk. The systems to control air and fuel delivery and ignition timing are just a bit more sophisticated with more accurate control in the modern engine. If you understand all the principles of an older carburettored engine then it's fairly easy to translate that into the new engines systems.

This might be a good topic for a seperate thread. An explanation of what each of the systems in an EFI engine does and how it compares to the older technology.