Arun

Active Member
Dec 16, 2012
140
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Waterloo
VetteCoins
605
Car
2002 Z06
I don't get impressed very often-but over the weekend I sure was so I just had to share.

Ever since GM switched over to the square port head to the cathedral port head there had been alot of rumblings as to what the hell were they thinking.

Big giant slow moving 260cc runners versus the fast moving 200cc runners-are going to hurt torque and low speed power-boy GM knew exactly what they were doing.

Last week I had the opportunity to dyno 3 cars-a stock C6 LS3 with headers, a 2010 Camaro where we installed headers and one of our custom cams and a 2010 C6 where installed a ECS 1500 kit, meth, Bosch 1000cc injectors and ECS stage 1 fuel system-this car already had a cam and headers.

The results were very impressive-the C6 with just headers belted out 394 rwhp-no stat, no cold air-and it made an equal amount of torque to boot. You honestly have to drive the car to appreciate how smooth and how torquey these LS3's feel.

The 2010 Camaro basically has the same engine as the C6-so we bolted on some headers a CAI and of our blower cams-you might as why a blower cam-reason being this car has future plans of a supercharger. Using 394 rwhp as our baseline our cam was worth 58 rwhp and 23 rwtq-with no sacrifice in power down low.

So we are now at 452 rwhp-coming from the cathedral port world it would take alot more than just a cam to get there with a LS1/6 or 2-and when you did get there the car would be nasty-this is were the LS3 shines-it drives like butter-very little to no bucking or surging-you can lug it down to 1300 rpm and cruise if you wanted you.

Next up was the C6 from Montreal we finsihed up before the weekend. Can you believe at just 12 psi this car made 744 rwhp and 624 rwtq-and the scary thing is I could of gotten more out of. In fact when we made 733 rwhp we were all estatic-but I as always wanted safe so I added more fuel and pulled out some timing and it gave us even more power.

That is now a gain of 292 rwhp over the 452 rwhp or a gain of 350 rwhp over the baseline of 394 rwhp-that's a crazy 29 horsepower per pound of boost.

So for all you C6 owners with a LS3-your lucky, and you C6 owners with LS2's are pretty lucky as well-because the LS3 heads bolt right up.

I am real excited about these new motors-so much so that my new combo for this season is a 364 with LSA/3 heads-but I'll be throwing 25+ lbs of boost to them:D.

Here are the dyno numbers.

 
Great write up Arun. It's always good to hear feedback from a performance standpoint from someone like yourself. I guess the engineers at GM really knew what they were doing. Now I'm curious to see what the new LT1 is going to be capable of.

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There are some plastic coil covers that sort of look like old Chevy valve covers but I doubt that they would fool the Nostalgia guys for more than a second. Some of the engines I know of may be old on the outside but are pretty up to date on the inside. In the pictures, I've never seen an LS engine in any of the cars. They are pretty old school.....at least on the outside.
 
LS3 heads won't bolt up to an LS1 by any chance? :D

That is a great breakdown of the LS3 Arun. Maybe an LS3 swap into a C5 would be a wise investment if someone were to find one for a good price? The only complication I've heard of would be the crank sensor? Nothing you guys can't handle though, I'm sure!
 
LS3 heads won't bolt up to an LS1 by any chance? :D

That is a great breakdown of the LS3 Arun. Maybe an LS3 swap into a C5 would be a wise investment if someone were to find one for a good price? The only complication I've heard of would be the crank sensor? Nothing you guys can't handle though, I'm sure!

Chevy was supposed to release a small bore LS3 head-not sure if ever came about.

However LS3 heads can be bolted on to any LS2 block. Considering you can buy a set CNC ported for around $1100 and add some valve springs for $300 you have a bad ass set of heads for $1400. Add a cam and you have 440-460 rwhp pretty easy.

GMPP does make a 370 cube LS3 motor for a very attractive price as well.

Swapping a LS3 into a LS is no problem-LPE makes a 24X to 52X converter box that takes care of the crank signal.

This makes for a really nice alternative to rebuilding a tired LS1.
 
I lived the musclecar era and, from my experience, the top engines of the day ended where the LS engines take over. In the quarter mile our 2005 would beat pretty well any car that I have ever owned except the 427 Chevelle. With an LS3 I wouldn't be putting any bets on the winner. Add to that the fact that we are getting just about 2 1/2 times the gas mileage on the highway and it is obvious that GM has learned a lot in the last fifty years and they should have. I drove a friend's 2008 Corvette a couple of years ago so I knew pretty well what I wanted and we haven't been disappointed.
 
I lived the musclecar era and, from my experience, the top engines of the day ended where the LS engines take over. In the quarter mile our 2005 would beat pretty well any car that I have ever owned except the 427 Chevelle. With an LS3 I wouldn't be putting any bets on the winner. Add to that the fact that we are getting just about 2 1/2 times the gas mileage on the highway and it is obvious that GM has learned a lot in the last fifty years and they should have. I drove a friend's 2008 Corvette a couple of years ago so I knew pretty well what I wanted and we haven't been disappointed.

Keith-I love to hear from folks like yourself who have seen both sides of the coin! Myself I grew up reading about the mighty muscle cars in magazines and donut shops but my little 5 litre was more than most could handle back in the mid 90s'-mind you I ran as fast as 10.4's on the stock short and mid 9's with a forged 302.

But what about these legendary 454ss in the Chevelle or the 350 LT1 and then the Unicorn of the all-the all aluminum 427 in the Vette?

What impresses me the most are the cars that race in nostalgia racing-I have always wanted to go watch those races and cruise the pits to pic up there secets-those guys are damn smart!!!!!!
 
Friends run on the ONDR nostalgia race circuit. Spanky Goodin has the red wheel standing Thames and it is a street car. Roger Tapson has the Falcon wagon with the vertical blue and white stripes. Photo Page There are several others around the Peterborough area having a blast with these cars, like the white Willys sedan delivery with the yellow/orange flames and the purple Studebaker. I was at an ONDR meet at Shannonville a few years ago and it was great watching the old stuff run. Some are pretty quick too.
It is hard to compare the new to the old. Our COPO Chevelle, from the factory, had severely retarded timing and a lean carb to meet the emissions standards of the day. Getting the jetting and timing right and adding headers turned dogs into beasts but most guys weren't aware of it and lived with what they had. The timing light, carb gaskets and distributor parts were my best friends back then. I guess you guys do basically the same thing except through the computer.
If you are around the shop Saturday, perhaps we can chat. :driving:
 
keith, did you know that woody winslow got his coupe "venom" into the 7's last season ? i hope on monday that some of the ondr boys will be in bridgenorth. i'd like to run with a carbed 6.0/364 if it's legal. i think i could put together a reliable,strong 10 sec car going that route. nostalgia racing is a hoot and ideal for me because i don't think i could do the competitive stuff i did 40 years ago.
 
Even those like me who's cars dyno at 368/381 with LT headers, ported intake, 160 stat and a performance tune? :D

Rob we just installed a set of LG's, Vararam and a 160 stat on a 2010 GS yesterday and after tuning it made 388 rwhp and 390+ torque.

6 speeds are typically 10 rwhp higher-some these LS3's are super sensitive to knock and some are not. That's something I don't like fighting like others tuners do.

Every car is different and that's why even if the car is getting the same mods each car is tuned and road tested by me-before it leaves the shop-we don't "can" tunes because of the variances.
 
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