You gotta love a short stroke high rpm engine combo. I mean who doesn’t like the sound of a V8 engine at 8,000 rpm? Ford, Chevrolet, Mopar, they are all awesome up there. But GM’s LS engines all have a relatively long stroke in comparison to their size, especially when you compare them to the Gen 1 Small Block Chevrolet strokes. For example, the 4.8L (293 cubic inches) has a 3.268 inch stroke in comparison to the 3 inch stroke in a 283 cubic inch Gen 1 Small Block. A 5.3 (325), 5.7 (346), 6.0 (364) and 6.2L (376) LS all share the same 3.622 inch stroke when a 350 cubic Gen 1 Small block only had 3.48 inches of stroke. So making a high winding short stroke LS engine, without a custom crankshaft, means using a short stroke 4.8L crank inside a big bore block. We love the idea, and know several folks who have done it with lots of success. But does this make the LS a high winding screamer?

In this video, Richard Holdener takes an LS3 block, with it’s big bore, and shoves the little stroke 4.8L crank in it with the right rods and pistons to build this fun little combo and then shows just what kind of power it really makes. But does the stroke really matter? Is that what determines the rpm potential of the engine? Or does the short stroke do something else to make this combo great? There is more to this one that meets the eye. Watch and learn.