I have friends who put LS1 into everything. One guy I know put LS1 in his Miata in exchange for his turboed engine. Another one put it on 350Z, and many others have put it in RX7s.

What is it that makes our beloved LS1 so popular. I am a newb when it comes to LS1 since I was heavily involved with LT1 a few years ago.

What do you guys think?

 

Cuz it's a badass American V8 that responds well to mods, is compact, and (relatively) easy to work on.

 

Ahh, I see. I know the LT1 was a great engine, and I also know the LS1 is a better engine. It was just surprising to see so many import enthusiast realized this.

 

When you can stick a camshaft, valve springs, push rods and a set of headers on a motor and make the power these engines make....who can hate on that?

 

It is a all alluminum V8 and can make HP very easy w/ simple bolt-on's.

 

The Ls1 is basically a de-tuned race engine. Think about it, the ls1 came out in the fbodys in 1998 its 12 years later and new cars are still striving to keep up with the performance of the ls1 motor. With the exception of the 2011 mustang GT, the LS1 has been able to beat every new GT while being stock. Even with just a little bit of work we can beat the brand new GT. As far as the import guys go, they realize that most times their cars are lighter than ours, so if they have the same power plant as we do, the results are just insane.

 

This. Plus I have seen a few vids on youtube of stock/light bolt on ls1s taking stock 5.0s.

 

You are right, just went and watched some of them. It looks like the beating is going to continue. The only thing the new mustangs have going for them is looks and all of the extra interior stuff, but in reality who needs all that crap anyway? Ill stick with my ls1.

 

Cause it was GMs pride and joy when it came out... All new aluminum engine, lots of power, very efficient, responded extremely well to mods. Pretty much set the bar for affordable mass production V8 engines. I absolutely love my LS1. I don't want to jinx myself, but it's nearly bullet proof. I drive the **** out of that thing every day and it just keeps going with no hesitation. Only V8 I would rather have is the LS3 or LS7, both of which spawned from the LS1.

 

Simply put, it's a well-built performance motor that responds extremely well to mods at a fraction of the cost of some of its competitors. For the sake of comparison, try to compare a head/cam swap on an LSx motor to a head/cam swap on the Ford 281 modular motor -- the performance gains, costs of the upgrades and the labor it takes for the install are night and day differences.

The bottom end will easily handle in excess of 500 rhwp and there's plenty of affordable ways to get to that point with mods so it just makes sense.

 

Power to weight, size and cost.
The LS1 is physically smaller and lighter than most V6s on the market, while also being cheaper, more fuel efficient and making more power/torque at every RPM.
https://ls1tech.com/forums/13401768-post55.html
So why spend the money to mod an engine that will be less reliable, make less power/torque and get worse gas mileage when you can swap a different one in, gain power, reliability and lose weight in the process?

 

light, small, and big power easy...not to mention the stock pcm and harness are baby work to make stand alone so swapping them into things and keeping fuel injection is cake

and out of the above examples you gave I would say none of those 3 hold a candle to it

 

 

I couldn't say it better myself. The LS1 is the most versatile motor. It's a beast in it's stock form from the the factory. It's basic technology is dated but "if it aint broke dont fix it" is what I say.

 

350hp bone stock. 400hp with LT's/CB/Lid. Shall I say more..

 

Lightweight... alot of those swaps end up being lighter than their smaller import counterparts.

 

don't forget about excellent gas mileage! Even when my old SS was cammed and had every mod i still got 24-25 mpg on the highway with a nice mid sized cam!

 

These guys said it all, powerful for its weight, easy to mod, cheap to maintain, reliable and ultimately has a very small form factor. Looking at the VQ35HR in my roommates 350z, it amazes me they even fit it in a car. Its physically the size of a BBC and makes 300hp and like 240lb-ft of torque. Plus its got huge DOHC heads that make it top heavy.

 

SWEET!!

Makes me love my new (to me) car ever more.

 

I like how the LS1 Z's call it a 570Z

http://www.superstreetonline.com/fea.../photo_08.html