LS Disappointment?

[CaliWagon83]

Since I live in the “People’s Republic” an LS turbo is not an option for me. If my car were one year older, it might be an option (see other thread in the forum).

At any rate, the appeal of the LS for me (specifically the LS3) is about the same or better fuel economy as I’m getting now, but with roughly quadruple the power. I acknowledge the low-end torque is a little disappointing, especially considering the displacement. The soft low-end is especially noticeable in the trucks, and to me, especially the Gen IV engines. No engine is going to be perfect.

 

[bob64]

Both the Camaro an Cutlass are dam cold blooded, Camaro 185-195 and Cutlass 190-205, that's idle to working them temp, no air! But l have high-flow pumps and over-kill rads.

To be honest l don't even watch the temp on the LS engines. Just drive them but l find that they do have electrical issues, simple stuff but still.

If this hobby was cheap l'd have atleast one of everything!!!

 

[Clone TIE Pilot]

LS shares the same problem Buick V6s have with forced induction, not enough head bolts to safely clamp the heads down with high boost. Normal production LS only have 8 bolt heads. It is why GM and aftetmarket offer performance LS blocks with 18 head bolts. Really, if you to make ultra high HP numbers reliable, you probably are going to need a stronger aftermarket block, regardless of engine platform, plus reinforcing the body and frame to withstand the stress and upgrading the brakes.

Read about those chinese turbos, they are ticking time bombs. Basically, factories in China are jacks of all trades, masters of none. They switch from manufacturing one product to another completely unreleated product. One Chinese factory switched from fireworks to generic meds, same owners and line workers. A few factories decide to build cheap turbos, reverse engineer a name brand turbo with zero expertise or experience, and build them with whatever they have on hand. Reliablity and cheap no name junk from China don't mix.

For BBs running hot, I would check for vacuum leaks, carb tune, base ignition timing, and timing advance curve.

 

[olds307 and 403]

Mine sure isn't disappointing. It's honestly too much for the street most of the time.
Dyno said it makes 463hp, 540tq at the wheels. 614hp, 690tq flywheel. This is a conservative tune on 91 octane pump gas, stock cam, heads, pistons, etc. $180 eBay Chinese turbo, flipped truck manifolds. I've turned it up since then and it's north of 700 flywheel.

No disappointments here. It really has to be experienced to be appreciated.

Holy sh*t, do you have a cement mixer sucking up that power? That seems like a lot of parasitic loss. I personally like the Olds V8 sound, a few in this thread obviously don't, to each their own. The LS is king these days, as long as you don't put them up against a Hemi.

 

[87National]

Read about those chinese turbos, they are ticking time bombs...........Reliablity and cheap no name junk from China don't mix.

That may have been a valid statement 10-15 years ago....... but nowadays a Chinese turbo from a reputable vendor (like VS Racing) has a very low failure rate.

 

[fleming442]

l find that they do have electrical issues, simple stuff but still.

This needs some explanation; how does an engine have electrical issues?

 

[87National]

LS alone are cool no doubt(Got 3) there cheap, good turbos aren't cheap!

I guess it depends on your definition of cheap. One of the more popular turbos recently had been the VS Racing 7875 with billet compressor wheel. At $550 and capable of up to around 750whp.....I'd consider that a lot of bang for the buck.

 

[69hurstolds]

99% of LS engine swap performance problems are usually in the tune. Most of the time, people buy good parts for their swap, so it's not normally installation errors making the car run shitty.

JMO. Go big or go home. I wouldn't even attempt an LS swap with anything less than a 6.2. This 5.3 truck motor crap isn't worth it. There's no replacement for displacement, and this holds true even with LS style engines. 6.2s aren't much more $ than a 5.3. And in the long run, NONE of the LS conversions come cheap. I'm not against anyone doing an LS swap. I don't condone it, but I don't poo poo it either. It's a great engine to start with and very good base for reliable power. Much better than the dinosaur engines of the past. I just feel they're better in a Chevy because they were originally designed for a Chevy. Your car, your money. But don't expect me ever to come look at it if you ever want to sell it.

With that said, I hope every last one of y'all put an LS engine in your G-body's so my POS's will be highly desired because they're "stock". Weak *ss engine, but worth high friggin' dollars without sinking a dime into any conversion. 🙂

If I had a Supreme or Salon I was trying to save, I might be more inclined to hot rod it. Can't ever envision me hacking up a Hurst/Olds, or GN, or 442, or even a Monte SS on purpose. I'd probably be more inclined to put a 455 in it though rather than an LS. But that's just me.

 

[motorheadmike]

Mike,you're my outlier in this thread (and bob64 is it?). Taking the time to do the research and learn how to tune set you guys apart from the crowd. I'm sure there are others, but you two are first to mind....
There's guys like my buddy with the ZR1 that rely on others for the tuning, and it costs big bucks if you can't to it yourself.
My point was more about combination and how easily you can screw the pooch and end up with a fancy, polished turd. FFS, there are plenty of proven combos out there, why do what you "think" will be good? Go to the track, and talk to someone running impressive numbers.

The funny thing is I spent a damn near equivalent amount of time (relative to my age now vs then) building, modifying, and tuning the 650 Holley double-pumper on my old Vortec headed 355, as I have learning about EFI. There are just as many under-performing carb-based combos on a variety of engines as there are poorly built/tuned LS engines. It takes time and practice and mistakes and dedication and perseverance to make anything in life work well. Many people just cannot be bothered or may be too delusional/ignorant to know the difference - much of Western life is the equivalent of a ready-to-eat Hungryman dinner.

Purely from an engineering perspective the LS is a wonderful tool, but so is a hammer. When left in incapable hands both will result in some serious disappointment and sore thumbs.

 

[79longroof]

I can understand the animosity towards them. I'm usually one of those individuals who hates riding the bandwagon.
But with this platform, it just seemed silly to use that mindset.
I took a $125 5.3 with a bent rod, replaced the bent rod with a used one off Ebay. Slapped an ugly hotside together using pre bent pieces, a hacksaw and a flux core welder. Attached that to a $300 Chinese turbo. Put a good cam and springs in the engine and left everything else alone (internally that is)
Decapped the stock injectors, put a $100 Wally in the tank. Reworked the stock harness and put an express van 80e behind it.
I bought HPtuners and watched videos on how to tune. I started with a base tune that was quickly modified by myself to make it work for my combo.
Through trial and error of making pulls on backroads, I finally dynoed it and it put down 538 to the wheels on 93 pump and 15 degrees of timing.
It's only been 11.28 @ 125 in the 1/4 so far, and most of that is my fault for not being a very good driver.

I guess what I'm getting at is, I got to make my first car go near 10s and put down over 500hp for a fraction of what it would have cost me to built a good BBC or even an older gen SBC.
I learned how to fabricate and tune an EFI car in process too! That's why I dont have a problem riding the LS bandwagon. Because I finally got to make my dreams of making that old girl fast. And didnt have to be rich to do it.