Before you begin your engine project, you need to know exactly what you have—and when it comes to General Motors’ 3rd and 4th generation LS small blocks, that may not be an easy question to answer. How Do I Know Which LS Engine I Have? There are more than 40 variations, including the LS-based Vortec truck engines.
[Editor’s Note: This LS1 engine upgrade guide is the first in a series of LS engine upgrade guides assembled by a team of LS experts at Summit Racing. The LS1 engine is a Gen III 5.7L aluminum-block V8 car engine that first appeared in the 1997 Chevrolet Corvette. The LS6—introduced for the 2001 Chevy Corvette Z06—is
Mechanically similar, General Motors’ LS and LS-based Vortec engines wound up on almost every branch of the GM family tree: Chevy, Pontiac, GMC, Cadillac, Buick—heck, even Saab, Hummer, and Isuzu got some LS love. Since LS and Vortec engines are so common, they’ve become the go-to performance and swap engines of the modern era. These motors
Junkyard-sourcing a specific LS engine? If you’ve already got the LS or LS-based Vortec engine picked out for your project, this guide will tell you which vehicles came from the factory with it. It’s also a handy resource to have should you need to grab a specialized bracket or engine-specific parts from that same car,
(Updated 10/09/2018) [Editor’s Note: You can find a comprehensive list of every LS and Vortec engine spec guide and upgrade guide we’ve published to date by scrolling to the bottom of this article.] … Chevrolet introduced the automotive world to the LS engine with the launch of the LS1 in the 1997 Corvette C5. It
Think all fasteners are created equal? Of course not. If you’re an engine builder, you know the importance of using good-quality fasteners. And you’re probably also familiar with the torque-to-yield, or TTY, fasteners that have become more common on today’s engines. There’s a big difference between these fasteners and traditional bolts that make torque-to-yield the factory choice
It’s a fact: GM LS engines consume excessive amounts of oil. Supercharged or turbocharged engines, as well as engines regularly run to the rpm limit, use even more. One reason for this high oil consumption is oil volatility. The harder you run your engine, the hotter the oil gets, causing some of it to evaporate. The
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