The guy that is rebuilding my LT1 said that the LS1 was a little cheaper to get big HP. He said the LS1 is less complex. Any thoughts here on your experiences? I'm not complaining, just curious how different the results are.
Thanks.

 

LS1 mods are more expensive, but have bigger gains in horsepower. As far as basic bolt-ons, you'll get better gains with an LS1, but as far as money and engine building go, you can't beat an LT1. The price of heavy enging building for these engines are unbeatable.

 

The lt1's are great mod platforms, the LS1's respond quite well to mods, but thier aftermarket is still expensive, hopefully it will go down soon and i'll throw an ls1 in another thirdgen .

 

I agree with your builder. The stock head castings of an LS1 can potentialy flow a good chunk over 300. LT1 castings on the other hand will be truly MAXED out at ~280.

So generaly, if your goal is at and above say 440-450rwhp (N/A of course! ), if you have an LS1, you wont have to go spend the extra 1000 bucks overall to get brand new aftermarket castings, just the money to have them ported.

 

The head design on the LSx is far superior to the gen I and II designs. The block is lighter but the bottom end is stiffer. Overall, a far superior design - which is not a surprise since the basic architecture of the LT1 derives from the gen I design of 1955 (if I remember right). If I were buying a 4th gen at this point in time I'd have to strongly consider an LS1.The biggest drawback is if you are in an area that has, or is likely to get, "enhanced" emissions testing. This will make it very difficult for modded OBD-II cars to pass. I am sure there will be ways to do it, but it is a potential problem that I'd prefer to avoid.

As far as "complexity", I am not sure what that means. Both motors are similar in overall architecture, so how is one "simpler" than the other?

Rich Krause

 

Srry but the new Lt 1 has nothing to do with the old except name. It was controversial for GM to name the block the same. The casting is totaly different due to the reverse flow cooling. Also most people who say"oh, Id go Ls1" arent taking into consideration that you can buy an Lt1 car for about 5 to 8 grand less. Sink 5 grand into an Lt1, heads, cam, stall, N2O and your deep 11s.

 

there are MANY more differences between the old LS6 and new LS6 than the new LT1 vs. the old LT1. You can also say that there are more differences between the LS series and the (modern) LT series than the LTs compared to the conventional sbc.

I think what Rich was saying was in the aim of speeking generaly about how the LSs are superior to the LTs in terms of "big HP" (thread starter's words)and its ease for acheiving it.