LS Intake Upgrade On Project Rocky

Chris Hamilton . December 15, 2025 . c10 . CHRIS HAMILTON

Save ArticleLogin to save it

Modernizing Our Classic Engine Bay

The engine bay of Project Rocky was originally designed to have a classic look while sporting modern power. The 5.3L LS engine from Summit Racing had a cool look to it with an old-school-looking air cleaner and remote-mounted coil packs. The thought was that when the hood opened, people would be impressed that it’s actually an LS while looking like a small-block. We found out, however, that when we popped the hood at truck shows, most people were less than impressed and just kept walking. A clean carbureted engine is not what we have installed, that’s what it looks like from 15 feet away. Nowadays, a clean look doesn’t create a wow factor. With all the time and effort we have in this build, we want jaws to drop at any angle, so it’s time to make it look as modern as it truly is.

The way we decided to make this happen is to once again turn to our friends at Summit Racing. They have a complete sheetmetal-style intake package specifically for this engine setup. Adding one item to our cart makes things easy, which we love. In this grouping comes a Summit Racing branded cathedral-style intake manifold, the intake rubber gaskets, new fuel rails, and the fuel hose to connect the rails with the fittings already installed. We added a new valley plate and a set of valve covers to this group, as our old setup had the oil fill in the valley plate. Finally, to ensure we don’t have any loose hardware down the line, we added a set of ARP bolts to the cart.

One of the best parts of this conversion is that we could knock it out in a single day without having to update the tune. We also don’t need to drain any fluids or break out the jack stands. Follow along as we make an impactful update to our 1979 Chevy C10, and let us know whether you liked the old look or the new look better!

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter