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Educate Me on LS Engines

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  • Educate Me on LS Engines

    So.....there is a long discussion on why Ford can't build an LS engine over in General Discussion.
    I don't know anything about LS engines other than they are computer controlled, use a computer controlled tranny and are basically plug and play.
    What is their real advantage?
    I asked the question, "why would Ford want to build an LS?", but got no response.
    Please fill me in.
    Ed, Mary, & 'Earl'
    HRPT LongHaulers, 08, 09, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19.


    Inside every old person is a young person wondering, "what the hell happened?"

    The man at the top of the mountain didn't fall there. -Vince Lombardi

  • #2
    Strength
    Ability to fit in tight engine bays
    remarkable power potential out of very pedestrian parts
    cheap
    you can buy parts for them at 7-11
    GM tends towards torque - and that leaves space on the table for hp. Torque sells cars because it's not how fast you go, it's how fast you think you're going..... OHC motors are blindingly fast, but who drives at 5000 rpm all day?

    Ford needs a motor with torque
    Ford needs a motor that fits in tight engine bays
    Ford needs a cheaper to produce motor

    Ford will never have the one thing that GM has in spades.... interchangeability. At the moment, I'm considering replacing the Vortec 350 (gen 1) in my FJ40 for a 6.0 LS motor.... it is nearly a bolt-and-play affair. Buy a motor Ford built in the 60s and bolt it to an overdrive transmission..... the 350 in my FJ40 was designed and built before GM ever considered partnering with Aisin to build a transmission.... and yet it bolts up.... even uses the same spline output shaft and the fine spline input.
    Last edited by SuperBuickGuy; August 15, 2019, 09:09 PM.
    Doing it all wrong since 1966

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    • #3
      to add, they've been made in displacements from the factory ranging from 4.8L, all the way up to 7.0L, with aftermarket parts getting even larger. on top of that, out of the box they're just good engines.
      "I am not what you so glibly call to be a civilized man. I have broken with society for reasons which I alone am able to appreciate. I am therefore not subject to it's stupid laws, and I ask you to never allude to them in my presence again."

      1985 Pontiac Fiero, 3.5 V6 turbo, 5 speed
      1988 Suburban, 350 TBI 700r4, 4x4
      2006 2500 HD 6.0 4x4

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      • #4
        LS addressed some issues.. and some of my opinions suck.
        i like the old SBC oil pump, but not the balance of flow .. The LS fixes that balance, but the pump is as silly as a subaru to me.


        with fluid balance mentioned, the air fuel does something a bit better too.
        on the dual banked 96+ SBC (mpfi - four o2 sensors) there is no difference over to the LS. they even used the same ECM and marketed it to be impossible to plug in later.
        I am in no hurry to give up my old iron GM routine.
        my truck came with a 305 and 5 speed manual.. it still goes by the tortured automatics that poor generation was given.


        delivered to a mill today, LVL beams. Very rough road.
        Click image for larger version  Name:	DSC01904w.jpg Views:	1 Size:	92.9 KB ID:	1249801


        this is my miles with a welded fame of course.

        not many know to compare the past to what is today.

        I look forward to the LS, but am in no hurry.

        My truck is a truck.
        Last edited by Barry Donovan; August 15, 2019, 09:49 PM.
        Previously boxer3main
        the death rate and fairy tales cannot kill the nature left behind.

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        • #5
          my 2006 2500HD has an LQ4 6.0, the only think I have touched on the truck outside of normal maintenance (spark plugs once and oil changes) was the passenger side exhaust manifold which had developed a crack. I've driven it across the country, towing my Fiero on a U haul trailer, and beaten the hell out of it off road and in the snow, it's currently approaching 180K, and I wouldn't hesitate to take it anywhere, after replacing the ball joints in the front suspension. the old GEN 1 engines aren't bad, and I honestly think my TBI suburban might have slightly more low end grunt than the LS, but everywhere else the LS mops the floor with it.
          "I am not what you so glibly call to be a civilized man. I have broken with society for reasons which I alone am able to appreciate. I am therefore not subject to it's stupid laws, and I ask you to never allude to them in my presence again."

          1985 Pontiac Fiero, 3.5 V6 turbo, 5 speed
          1988 Suburban, 350 TBI 700r4, 4x4
          2006 2500 HD 6.0 4x4

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          • #6
            Thanks.
            Ed, Mary, & 'Earl'
            HRPT LongHaulers, 08, 09, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19.


            Inside every old person is a young person wondering, "what the hell happened?"

            The man at the top of the mountain didn't fall there. -Vince Lombardi

            Comment


            • #7
              I think the reason they are popular is the combination of horsepower and fuel economy. A guy once told me its just a next generation small block. My only response, was, well, its a small block where they decided to put the exhaust ports in the right place. To me its like big block heads on a small block.

              I am pretty sure we will get there eventually, with the fourth leaky head gasket, head studs on an engine with 6000 miles on it, getting 6 mpg, the time is coming to find a wreck with an LS.

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              • #8
                One of the main performance advantages of the LS engine is the tall narrow intake ports. By making the intakes ports tall and narrow they have a straighter shot to the combustion chamber around the intake valves. You can't port a regular SBC head enough to make them flow like the LS head but some of the AFR heads come pretty close.

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                • #9
                  Originally posted by dieselhead View Post
                  One of the main performance advantages of the LS engine is the tall narrow intake ports. By making the intakes ports tall and narrow they have a straighter shot to the combustion chamber around the intake valves. You can't port a regular SBC head enough to make them flow like the LS head but some of the AFR heads come pretty close.
                  Right, but its also the travel, both intakes together and two exhaust ports together. They are a straighter line because the middle cylinders are not going out to the ends. But spraying the fuel down at the valve is something injection people have been trying to do forever.

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                  • #10
                    I also think ease of programming/reprogramming has to be taken into account. All of the other benefits don't mean anything if your only option is a standalone computer system. The factory system is pretty robust, has a lot of room to make adjustments, or add boost with factory components.

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                    • #11
                      All I know - after swapping the one in my Grandson's Trailblazer SS 3 times before we got a good one: PRIME THE OILING SYSTEM before startup! You'll need a pressurized system to do that (I started with an old pressure cooker). They aren't like the old engines were you could spin them up with a shaft and drill motor or even pull the plugs and spin them with the starter - they just won't live if you do that.

                      That's all I know on the subject.

                      Dan

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                      • #12
                        Originally posted by DanStokes View Post
                        All I know - after swapping the one in my Grandson's Trailblazer SS 3 times before we got a good one: PRIME THE OILING SYSTEM before startup! You'll need a pressurized system to do that (I started with an old pressure cooker). They aren't like the old engines were you could spin them up with a shaft and drill motor or even pull the plugs and spin them with the starter - they just won't live if you do that.

                        That's all I know on the subject.

                        Dan
                        Not to mention, if you do not install the stupid thing with feeler gauges, you do not get consistent pressure. Worst case though, is you pull the relay from the fuel pump so you can spin the motor before starting.
                        Last edited by anotheridiot; September 1, 2019, 08:30 AM.

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