I was having an issue with my car that took a while to solve, so I thought I would write up my experience to maybe help someone in the future who has the same problem.

Here was the problem with my ls1:
While driving “normally”, the car drove great. However when driven under hard conditions, such as quick take offs or high speeds the car would start spitting (several quick low-volume backfires).

I assumed this was a fuel delivery or ignition problem. I started my journey by changing the fuel filter. Though I didn’t truly believe this was the problem, I knew that it couldn’t hurt and was cheap/easy. While my idle improved drastically, it didn’t help the problem (as expected). I then checked the spark plug wires for current, which they had plenty of.
I checked to the computer to see if it was throwing codes, and one cylinder had thousands of recorded misfires. By this analysis, it seemed clear that one of three things were acting improperly: Spark plug, fuel injector, or I bent a pushrod. At the time, I was leaning toward fuel injector or bent pushrod, because that would explain why the car runs good under normal conditions. Despite not beliving it was the true problem, I had extra spark plugs on hand, so I changed them out and though they didn’t have the appearance of having anything “wrong” with them, the problem was solved.

So in short, if you ever have a problem with backfiring (major or minor) when you “gun it”, check spark plugs.