LS engine info

**molobo** · 10-14-2008, 08:56 PM

Hi. New member here, I am transplanting an f body 99 ls1 from a ws6 into a 78 corvette... The motor has 120,000 miles on it and it seemed to run OK before I pulled it out of the donor car.

My question is, what should I do to the engine before I install it in the vette besides timing set, & front and rear seals that I plan on doing next week?
Any suggestions? Valve stem seals? Rings? Front and rear seals? Oil pump? Water pump? Bearings?
I’m just am not that familiar with the LS1 yet to know the life expectancy of all the parts..

Trying to do this as inexpensive as possible without kicking myself later..

What is the life expectation of the LS1??

**Wesman** · 10-15-2008, 03:17 PM

Originally Posted by molobo

Hi new member here, I am transplanting an f body 99 ls1 from a ws6 into a 78 corvette... The motor has 120,000 miles on it and it seemed to run ok before I pulled it out of the donor car.

My question is what should I do to the engine before I install it in the vette besides timing set and front and rear seals that I plan on doing next week?
Any suggestions? Valve stem seals? Rings? Front and rear seals? Oil pump? Water pump? Bearings?
I’m just am not that familiar with the LS1 yet to know the life expectancy of all the parts..

Trying to do this as inexpensive as possible without kicking myself later..

What is the life expectation of the LS1??

Life expectancy is well over 200K miles if the motor is well cared for. Meaning not abused,, oil changed regularly with quality oil, and proper service intervals. So it all depends on how the person who had it before you treated it. There are guys on here with damn near 200K that are matching 1/4 mile times that newer, low mileage LS1's are running, these motors are very well designed and run strong for a very long time.

If they took excellent care of it and used quality synthetic oil changed every 3K, you can expect to see engine internals and bearings that look like new. I would pull the pan and check the rod bearings first, if they look excellent then I'd say the mains are probably good as well. Oil pump should be changed as good practice, as well as the waterpump, timing chain, front cover gasket and seal, rear cover gasket and seal, and oil pan gasket. Its much easier to service these things while the motor is out of the car than to have something go bad after its in the car and running. You might want to do head gaskets too for extra insurance, just in case the motor was overheated at some point.

Its hard to know what you're getting when you get a pull out, my friend just picked up a 94 5.0 out of a Mustang for his F-150, and the motor supposedly was "like new", with only 42K miles on it. Upon pulling it apart to change the gaskets, we also checked the bearings, and sure enough they were all either completely wiped out, scored badly, or worn right down to the copper. Not only that, but the cam bearings were spun as well, ruining the journal and rendering the entire motor nothing more than a hunk of scrap metal.

**molobo** · 10-15-2008, 07:00 PM

Thanks Wesman;

That helps me in setting my goals. You make a good point in pulling the rod bearing caps.
As far as the oil pump, timing chain, front and rear seals plus other misc. gaskets I am going to sit down and start ordering....

Mo

**BANDITO** · 10-28-2008, 01:08 PM

Doesn't the ls6 block have better cooling capabilities? I'm wondering how many times you can rebuild an ls1 before it gets weak i wanna fix mine and put a head and cam package.

**SS Performance** · 11-15-2008, 04:09 PM

I am thinking about building a full tilt drag race engine based on the LS.

Which production blocks are best?

Wieght is an issue so I was leaning toward the aluminum LS2 or L98.

Any help would be appreciated.

**Badd98CamaroSS** · 01-03-2009, 03:33 PM

I'm proud to have the tile of LS1 asshole...and my baby loves "horsemeat" :-)

**BKHgto04** · 01-04-2009, 01:10 PM

Did I read that right,that a LS4 has the LS6 heads?

**slims00ls1z28** · 01-17-2009, 12:16 PM

Originally Posted by SS Performance

I am thinking about building a full tilt drag race engine based on the LS.

Which production blocks are best?

Wieght is an issue so I was leaning toward the aluminum LS2 or L98.

Any help would be appreciated.

If weight is an issue and money is not go warhawk blocks, otherwise go for the larger bore LS3 or L92 (which are both 6.2L) or lastly for strength stick with a steel or LSX block steel blocks are stronger. All the aluminum blocks are basically the same save for displacement,whether or not it has VVT, and DoD. Likewise for the steels the only real difference is bores. L92is aluminum L98 is steel BTW.

Originally Posted by BANDITO

Doesn't the ls6 block have better cooling capabilities? I'm wondering how many times you can rebuild an ls1 before it gets weak i wanna fix mine and put a head and cam package.

Depends on condition of liners. You can only get a cleaning hone out of them probably once. You can't really overbore it safely not even once. If there is deep scoring it is toast, the cost to reliner it is about 3 times the cost of a brand new one from GM. And no the LS6 had windows cast in for better crankcase ventilation/breathing, that's about it not cooling.

Originally Posted by BKHgto04

Did I read that right,that a LS4 has the LS6 heads?

Yes

A few later additions are the following

LY6- 2007 - 6.0 101.6 x 92 mm- Iron block. Basically same as the LQ4 but with variable Valve timing. 360 HP 380 TQ
2007-present Chevrolet Silverado HD/2007-present GMC Sierra HD/2007-present Chevrolet Suburban 3/4 ton/2007-present GMC Yukon XL 3/4 ton

There is now a truck specific L76 (don't know why but its called the vortec 6000) to replace all LQ9's in 07 up Silverado/Avalanche/Suburban/Sierra/Yukon XL

L99-Aluminum-6.2L- 103mm (4.06) x 92mm (3.62) Basically a LS3 with DoD/VVT 400 HP-395 TQ
It will be available in the 10 Camaro with automatic trans only and 09 Holden Commodore/Statesman/Caprice

The L92/L99/LS3/LS7 heads are all identical save for the LS7 which takes the L92 head to the CNC shop for magic.

**SS Performance** · 02-07-2009, 07:18 PM

Does anyone have the casting numbers for the various blocks?

Or any other identifying information.

If I pick something up I would like to verify what I'm getting.

**Munz8** · 02-15-2009, 07:09 AM

LS1- 1997 -5.7 99 x 92 mm- Aluminum Block-305-350 hp 335-365 tq
97-04 vettes/ 97 up Fbodies/04 GTO/ Holden Cars- Statesman
Caprice/Monaro/ and all special vehicles

thanx

**sirzones** · 09-20-2009, 12:52 PM

Originally Posted by 67CamaroRSSS

Very good and concise. 1 item though: Shouldn't the LS1 be 98-up F-body instead of 97-up?

If this is correct (I believe so) and it gets fixed then a mod can delete my post.

LS1 came out in 97 in the vettes, then f-body in 98

**BANDITO** · 09-21-2009, 05:45 PM

Originally Posted by Wesman

The complete LS6 (Z06 engine) was never installed in an F-body from the factory. However, there was a shortage of LS1 blocks in the 2001-2002 model years, so the LS6 block was substituted in its place. It offers no real advantages over the LS1, it won't make any more power or anything, its just that its the LS6 casting.

There are no Mustang Cobras in the 2005+ Mustang body style. There is the GT500 (has Cobra badges), but that would have whooped you very, very badly, so I seriously doubt you raced one of those.

I was surprised by one at a Red light I got him on take off for a while they don't hook very well factory... I would guess but he got me after a while all i have is hypertech(sucks) programmer, 3.73 gears, headers on stock exhaust and 3000 stall...maybe it was the driver.

**01formalinabq** · 09-26-2010, 10:52 PM

Originally Posted by Wesman

Life expectancy is well over 200K miles if the motor is well cared for. Meaning not abused,, oil changed regularly with quality oil, and proper service intervals. So it all depends on how the person who had it before you treated it. There are guys on here with damn near 200K that are matching 1/4 mile times that newer, low mileage LS1's are running, these motors are very well designed and run strong for a very long time.

If they took excellent care of it and used quality synthetic oil changed every 3K, you can expect to see engine internals and bearings that look like new. I would pull the pan and check the rod bearings first, if they look excellent then I'd say the mains are probably good as well. Oil pump should be changed as good practice, as well as the waterpump, timing chain, front cover gasket and seal, rear cover gasket and seal, and oil pan gasket. Its much easier to service these things while the motor is out of the car than to have something go bad after its in the car and running. You might want to do head gaskets too for extra insurance, just in case the motor was overheated at some point.

Its hard to know what you're getting when you get a pull out, my friend just picked up a 94 5.0 out of a Mustang for his F-150, and the motor supposedly was "like new", with only 42K miles on it. Upon pulling it apart to change the gaskets, we also checked the bearings, and sure enough they were all either completely wiped out, scored badly, or worn right down to the copper. Not only that, but the cam bearings were spun as well, ruining the journal and rendering the entire motor nothing more than a hunk of scrap metal.

i was able to get 160,000miles on my ls1. that was after i over heated 12 time in az in summer . water pump was on last leg and was broke . that was at 130,000 it still drive great would have been OK but it weaken my oil ring on a piston now i am rebuilding my ls1. but it will be bigger and stronger and much faster then before . but they are not cheap to rebuild .they are great engine last long time. i drive it 100 to 200 5 day a week for work. i do not change the oil at 3k but at 5 k.only because i would be changing oil ever month . but i run r. purple.

**01formalinabq** · 09-26-2010, 11:12 PM

OK it has been 13 years since i had to have a motor rebuilt . if the block has to be machined can it be machined 10 to 30 over with out relining them. or do they have to be relined . i need to know mine is about to go in to the machine shop. thank for the help. this has been the hardest rebuild

**L5.3S** · 10-27-2010, 01:31 PM

Originally Posted by Wesman

The complete LS6 (Z06 engine) was never installed in an F-body from the factory. However, there was a shortage of LS1 blocks in the 2001-2002 model years, so the LS6 block was substituted in its place. It offers no real advantages over the LS1, it won't make any more power or anything, its just that its the LS6 casting.

There are no Mustang Cobras in the 2005+ Mustang body style. There is the GT500 (has Cobra badges), but that would have whooped you very, very badly, so I seriously doubt you raced one of those.

There actually as a Shelby Cobra that was not a GT500 and still carried the Cobra logo and the racing stripes and had the side stripe but did not have the blower or the GT500 badging. A lot of people didnt recognize these as cobras or shelbys but they were in fact both.

**2000dreambird** · 11-02-2010, 01:21 AM

Ok I know this isn't the thread for it but you seem like you might have my answer. I raced a BMW m3 smoked him but I really pushed my motor,came home to a top end knocking noise. My push rods are straight, valves+springs look fine rockers are fine,no metal on my oil or drain plug magnet. WHAT THE HELL DID I DO??