I wrote an essay for a college course comparing these two engines and giving examples of why I feel the LS based engines are superior to the SBC. Now I do not consider myself an expert, and would like to hear others opinions.

Some may find this interesting and some may find this useless, but I figured might as well try to contribute to the board in any way I can.

Document is attached.

on page three you used the word suck instead of such i do believe hah but good paper

In stock form I agree. In modified form all bets are off!

yeah once you look past the "oh stock LS parts are so much better" (they are newer, that's expected) they both have their up's and downs.

also not mentioned very ofter, is the SBC's 5 heads bolts per cylinder VS the 4 for LS. although LSx can have 6 bolts per cylinder, that gets pricy fast.

though mod for mod..

on another note, dont LS blocks have 6 bolt mains?




and then there is the fuel economy

Yea I'm pretty sure all of the LS have 6 bolt mains.

Does extra head bolt per cylinder make a difference? What would happen, bolts stretch or even break?

What are some negative aspects of LS engines besides obviously cost? I know that the aluminum blocks aren't as strong as the same iron ones.

the looks of them

and they sound nice, but they dont have that Small block/Big Block sound

i believe a majority of ls motors have 4 head bolts per cylinder. i know the LSX block and maybe the higher performance stock motors have 6 head bolts per cylinder but certainly not all of them. When you start getting into really high HP build (forced induction especially) the 4 bolts are not enough to keep the heads from lifting

And when they lift does it just blow the headgasket and lose compression or worse?

What are some negative aspects of LS engines besides obviously cost? I know that the aluminum blocks aren't as strong as the same iron ones.[/quote]

The only thing I dont like about an LS engine is there is no one to tune it close to me, When you do mods to it it needs to be retuned and that gets pricey if you can find someone close to do it. The LS is a great motor but an ugly one. my 2 cents.

Mark.