Why is 7 always the problem?
Making sure the fuel system is in top condition & the cooling system is too is always worth while maintenance. For road course, upgrading the cooling system couldn't hurt.
GM redesigned it for more midrange torque and I swapped because it supposedly helped with the "lean in #7" thing according some bs thread i read on performance trucks. i've actually never hurt an LS, I am really conservative with my tuning, especially under boost.
NNBS truck intake
OBS truck intake
so if it its not the steam ports, and not the intake, then its either the way coolant passes through the block or ????
i know less now than I did before
GM redesigned it for more midrange torque and I swapped because it supposedly helped with the "lean in #7" thing according some bs thread i read on performance trucks. i've actually never hurt an LS, I am really conservative with my tuning, especially under boost.
NNBS truck intake
OBS truck intake
so if it its not the steam ports, and not the intake, then its either the way coolant passes through the block or ????
i know less now than I did before

Warren Johnson used to shut the water pump off after the burnout and stage/launch the car with the engine in the 180-185 degree range. He believed that no coolant circulation around any of the cylinders for 6.5 seconds and the engine made its most amount of power at 192 degrees
Last edited by A.R. Shale Targa; Jan 11, 2017 at 11:46 AM.
MY report is ALSO correct, the back cylinders get a cooler water temp report.
I DO NOT "guess", as we know the heads are the same with EACH head having a sensor location, thus an EASY test.
I have done so MANY times due to my "Buggy" customer requests, "use the rear temp sensor location".
This is about a twenty degree LOWER read.
There may be SOME here that understand Water Flow through the engine block, most of the water that flows through the block EXITS the rear of the block, the REAR cylinders, into the REAR of the heads FIRST.
The engine coolant is then HEATED by the cylinder head as it moves to the front.
I do not argue that head, particular cylinder, temperatures effect detonation, they DUE.
I have modified cooling systems into "reverse cooling" , head first, as was done by my friend John Drake, the builder of the most successful racing engine TO THIS DAY.
The answer, a "fix", could be SO SIMPLE.
Lets spend some time on the ability to modify the head gasket to provide MORE water flow to #7.
A new location, a thermocouple probe location, could be created for #7.
My first guess would be to block off the water flow to #8, to lower that flow amount ?
If I had this engine on my test bench, my ECU could "read" #7 cylinder's crankshaft acceleration and compare it to the other cylinders.
My ECU-882C can provide a specific spark timing for EACH cylinder.
Lance
The Best V8 Stories One Small Block at Time
If I understood correctly. Water moves Front of block to back of block, then moves UP to the REAR cylinder heads then toward the front. The cylinder head will have MORE heat than the engine block so the REAR of the cylinders get better cooling than the front.
Given the rear of the cylinder head is cooled first explains why GM was able to change the steam vents for the LS6 intake. The water isn't hot enough yet to need the the LS1 intake style stream vents at the back of the engine, so they could be eliminated/reduced for the LS6 intake.
His data based on racing supports the rear cylinders run cooler.
This implies it is not a cooling issue in the cylinder head or block.
Looks more like a timing advance & tune issue based on the information provided.
He also said with this ECM system and 58x crank relucator, none of his customers had had the #7 issue. Being able to adjust timing uniquely tailored to each specific cylinder sounds very interesting.
So he is saying the rear cylinders run cooler, thus are over-feuled and don't have optimum spark advance--so a rich mixture in the rear cylinders and too much advance, or inaccurate advance due to a reluctor wheel with less resolution, is the problem? .
I had always thought:
richer mixtures burn cooler than leaner, thus are safer.
less advance is safer than more advanced.
Or did I just miss something re: what he said?
steam vents have nothing to do with the failure of #7
If I understood correctly. Water moves Front of block to back of block, then moves UP to the REAR cylinder heads then toward the front. The cylinder head will have MORE heat than the engine block so the REAR of the cylinders get better cooling than the front.
Given the rear of the cylinder head is cooled first explains why GM was able to change the steam vents for the LS6 intake. The water isn't hot enough yet to need the the LS1 intake style stream vents at the back of the engine, so they could be eliminated/reduced for the LS6 intake.
His data based on racing supports the rear cylinders run cooler.
This implies it is not a cooling issue in the cylinder head or block.
Looks more like a timing advance & tune issue based on the information provided.
He also said with this ECM system and 58x crank relucator, none of his customers had had the #7 issue. Being able to adjust timing uniquely tailored to each specific cylinder sounds very interesting.
And not sure where that guy got his information about his rear cylinders running cooler. Either he's an idiot, or, well, I don't know what else he could possibly be.








