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The differance between the LS1,LS2,LS6 and LS7

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Waterthunder

Waterthunder

Well-known member
Their all based on the gen III design. Some people will try and tell you a new design motor has come out but their all gen III and G.M. hit a home run with this motor so I think they will use this design until they quit producing V/8's. Anyway look at it this way the LS1's and LS6's are 350's or a 5.7L and a LS2 is a 364 6.0L and a LS7 the million dollar motor is a 427 7.0L. The LS1 is their standard motor and head the LS6 is the same motor but with a bigger cam and is the ZO6 Vette motor which has the best head accept for the LS7. So picture all the LS motors like the old Small Block Chevy's their all the same design but you had a 262,265,283,302,307,327,350 and the 400. And to be truthful the 350 LS1 out performs an old design 400 hands down on an airboat I have ran many of each and you can't compare an LS1 to an old 400. If you look at the design of an LS1 you'd think GM designed exclusively for an airboat.
 
Thunder, do the LS engines all use what GM calls their 6-bolt main bearing design? My GMC has that in a little 4.8 liter Vortec (294 cu. in.).

Olf
 
All the LS series engines utilize the six bolt main design. Also for those on a shoe string budget or have access to one cheap the iron LS1 motors are lighter then the conventional iron SBC somewhere in the ball park of 60Lbs lighter plus their heads are superior along with other things. I will state stay away from any LS1 aluminum block that was cast before 1999 they are a thinner casting and shouldn't be bored.
 
From what WaterThunder told me yes they do the LS 6 he just built for me does I was just pointing that out to a friend of mine yesterday when he came over to see the up grades I did to my boat
 
Waterthunder

I have a stupid ?,,, Do the LS motors come with alum heads or do you have to custom order them that way.And do you know the horsepower difference between a regular 350 and a LS1 ??
 
So a person could buy a late model iron LS-1 from a wreck, bolt on a gearbox, easily drop over a hundred pounds compared to an early SB and belt drive, and make better horsepower.

Sounds like a great little budget setup to me.
 
A 5.7 iron LS1 with a gearbox will smoke a conventional 5.7 SBC with a belt drive. The 5.7 LS1's bore and stroke geometry make it superior to the conventional 5.7. Most all of the LS1's that come in cars and trucks come with aluminum heads. There are at least 5 distinct design advantages a LS1 has over a conventional Small block and all of them are crucial in an airboat application and would cost thousands of dollars to convert to in a conventional small block.
 
Thunder, are the front motor mounts any different between the iron LS-1 and the Gen. III small block?
 
I don't think they make an Iron LS 1 from what I understand from WhaterThunder the whole LS line of engines are all Aluminum engines and he told me when he built my LS 6 that it was almost 200 lbs liter than my ZZ4 and it had aluminum heads and intake I know when we were puting my new engine in at Diamondback there was some there that were skeptical of how lite it was so myself with with another guy that worked there picked the motor up with the drive system attached by the headers and walked it accross the floor to the back of my boat with out to much truble,
 
Ok My bad they do make a Iron LS 1 but every thing I saw at WaterThunders shop was all Aluminum
 
When I took it on the river the other day I got it up on a plane and started watching my speed as i backed off the throttel and I was able to maintain a plane at 15 mph I thought that was real good for a 14 ft boat
and you can really tell it when running a dry or loading it on a trailer and with going from a belt drive to the gear drive I lost another 100 lbs a total of 300 lbs.
 
Waterthunder.....I'm not doubting that your LS-1 based engines are strong, I am curious of what kind of torque numbers you are producing and what kind of torque curve you have throughout the whole powerband.
 
If you take any G.M. conventional small block crate motor then compare it to any G.M. LS1 motor you will see even in stock form the LS1 has the broadest and flattest torque curve. Stock LS1's generate at least 360Ft Lbs of torque at 3,000RPM all the way to 6,500RPM no conventional 23 degree small block from GM will do that. These motors have a superior valve angle 15deg compared to the conventional 23deg which any hot rodd'er spends thousand of dollars to convert to a 18deg much less a 15 degree. The combustion chambers are better with a more aggressive quench and the cam blanks allow for a more aggressive lobe pattern all of which are a substantial improvement over the conventional SBC that was designed in 1954.Plus the exhaust ports are spread out so you can increase the heat in the center combustion chambers and not worry about blowing a head gasket or burning an exhaust valve.
 
What we need to do is plan a ride of folks who have WaterThunder Performance LS series engines and those who want, or are thinking about getting one. That way everyone can see what they look like, how they sound, and how they perform. I'm telling yall seeing is believing, but riding in one will convince you.
 
with a ls1 what would be involved in swapping the motor in with the fuel injection system? someone told me the new camero and vettes have body sensors (not sure how much truth there is to that) that affect the computer.
 
I'm sure you could run whatever fuel delivery system you wanted. I believe Dave said in an another post he could get more power out of carburated LS1. I have a carburator on mine. Runs like a champ.
 
David, I got into a big argument over this subject of carb versus fuel injection. I said that you said you can get more horse power out a carb engine that a fuel inj. Is that because there is limited way to increase performance on a fuel inj. engine or what? Please explain. Also I was told all the pro drag cars are fuel inj. is that true?

Geoff
 
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