We compare the advantages and disadvantages of both the LS and the big block Chevrolet in building a street truck. Costs are considered and availability to parts.
@@ngauruhoezodiac3143aluminium head bigblock don't weigh much more than a SBC. And the power they make more than pulls the weight. Bigblocks have always been king shit on the street since they were invented. They originally were designed to take no prisoners in NASCAR racing. So they were a racing engine first, pass car engine later. Then big trucks got them. Notice they didn't put LS engines in 18,000lb RVs, but they did get bigblocks. Ain't no comparison to those who think logical.
I’m 60 years old and I have 5 big blocks and one LS. I agree with this video. My 84 model is very reliable. Sounds great too. Just something about that rumble.
I just bought a 79 Square Body project truck. It's pretty complete body wise, but in the engine bay sits a 454 in front of a TH400 and that's it. It didn't come with a single drive bracket. The truck came with a 350 and had AC and PS. If I track down all the small block brackets, do they fit, or should I be looking for BB brackets that weren't designed for this truck? Thanks for a great video.
I'm just a home wrencher, I have a 350, 454 and 494 in my toy shed. I pay zero to professionals. I like it because I can do everything myself and make silly power
The LS only shines in stock form with a single turbo, making 600hp up to maybe 1000hp on a stock engine, once you have to modify the engine to handle more power the LS no longer has any advantage, the truth is that any high hp engine now days is aftermarket block and heads, with all aftermarket internal parts, so at what point does the stock or lightly modified engine hold up to, but once fully modified it comes down to personally what you like, not what makes more power
I agree but once it is all aftermarket is it a Chevy. Ford or Chrysler??? The basic design is there but nothing is from the factory. Thanks for watching!
Yep, basically if you have a big block build it or if you have a LS build it. But hard to beat a LS when it comes to size they fit in everything haha. And hard to beat LS efi, from what I've heard EFI systems for old school motors takes a lot of work to make run right. Have 2 friends that tried it but ended just throwing a carb back on.
@@henrywal an 5.3L with opened up ring gap, open the second ring more than the first, maybe as much as double, I heard a guy say he does.125 and sees no ill effect, he said you will notice when you get peak power it doesn't fall off as if when you have extra gap on the second, otherwise good head gaskets and maybe a camshaft and valve spring for more RPM, and let it rip, bone stockish with a GT45 TURBO from ebay, enjoy
Went looking for the follow up and could not find it. I assume the truck that was having all the problems es one of the trucks you were r referring to here.
Man I agree with you, I personally am a diehard big block guy, I love the LS too, but my #1 pick would be a big block built with some modern tech like EFI, electronic fuel pump, and especially for mopars a superior oil pump. But to get LS reliability out of a big block is not that hard and man are they fun to drive!
I'm not sure why big block = 454. I'm running a 632 from Blueprint. You can certainly get the 815+ hp out of a suoercharged LS, but probably not on pump gas, and reliability will come into question. If you have to run methanol to turn up the boost, it really reaks havoc on all the parts. Sound was covered here, but the 632 is generally much deeper and more distinctive than an LS.
There is no replacement for displacement! I have both. I have an ls3. Tuned and cammed up. I also have a zz502. The Ls3 doesn't have the torque of the zz502. On the street torque is KING!
Except your comparing a passenger car LS to a Crate GM performance motor. Very very apples to oranges. The 502 is purpose built, at least compare it to a LSX.
Sbc 400 dynoed at 633 hp. All new parts and modern machineing. From carb to oil pan 12k... cant build LS for that price. Super fun and you cant get the deep healthy sound out of ls like a gen 1 motor
@@ryangulley2051 wrong. same price. Wanna talk to professional drag racers, circle track racers etc about why they should switch to a shitty ls platform that blows heads and breaks valvetrain components and leaks everywhere.. go ahead
Honestly it depends, if your towing ,drag racing and don't care about mileage ,big block... If it's your daily or summer vehicle and need to get good mileage, ls is more efficient
Old school engine with efi technology is what I'm talking about 💪🏾💪🏾💪🏾💪🏾the ls is fine but them old engines will run nice with efi its basically the same set up I'm running holley sniper efi on my old school small block and the cold starts are no problem..
I think it depends on what you're trying to achieve with your build. If you're looking for day in day out low end power and high torque figures for use in a pickup truck application a big block will be better hands down. If you like the ability of tune on the fly, more drivability and value mpg to some extent (not that anyone really builds for that) LS I suspect will be a better route to go.
I have an LS7 and it is dependable, torquey, and VERY easy to work on and its a BIG BLOCK. Reliability is the biggest factor. I also have an LS6 Z06 and welp-she needs special oil, zinc, etc lol
You ignored the big blocks with fuel injection like the gen 6 vortec 454 .Is this because it’s not worth using (intact)?That is it must be converted to old school carb and after market intake manifold etc to get any performance out of it.Ei it’s not going to get any decent gas mileage no matter which route you take(unlike an LS with factory fi that gets great mpg).
Had my local shop install a new factory Chevy 454HO with Edelbrock Pro Flow 4 on a 1989 3/4 ton Suburban and I absolutely love it ! My rig has a TH400 , 4.56 gears and 37 inch tires, Posi 14 bolt rear end and Eaton electric locker on the front. Made the decision to pour the money into an old school rig as I will never spend 90k on a new truck. I also highly recommend cross over steering on the Square Body's.
To each their own but I'd rather run a clapped-out 305sbc than lower myself to playing follow the loser and run a ls anything.. just my personal opinion and experience.
@@TheOddRodGarage I agree but I'm so sick and tired of hearing people say "LS Swap It" instead of rebuilding the current engine. I made that mistake in my 72 GMC Sierra, absolute nightmare and didn't run near as well as the original 350. It's not a plug and play swap like everyone thinks, not cheap either!
@@rogerlbl7316me too. couldn't agree more. LS is the biggest peice of shit platform ive ever seen. They break valvetrain components like crazy, leak everywhere and have less cylinder head clamping force. Im so sick of everyone doing monkey see monkey do going with an overrated engine platform. They all say LS have good gas mileage. pshh not really. Also with today's affordable aluminum cylinder heads, sbc can make an easy 500 hp
LS fanboys made me hate LS engines. Or maybe it's just LS fanboys I hate. LS is just another engine. Pretty disposable too, like everything else built in the past 20+yrs. They are the everybody gets a trophy engine for people that can't build engines. Just add eBay turbo and pull the pin on that fuckin grenade. Waste of time.
The power and torque curves aren't even close. It's more important for the newer engines to have a good set up, if the setup isn't right the newer engines are dogs. I've always said the best LS mods are gearing and converter.
Actually due to the design flaw of the LS engine where it has inadequate head bolt clamping force caused by inadequate deck thickness.... sbc and bbc hold better
@@shootermcgavin2819yep, I'll take a bigblock over a LS everytime. I have some pretty stout NA SBCs tucked away too. I've built around 20 LS engines, I wasent impressed and the parts were expensive as hell. But wasent my shit, so I didn't have to pay for them. People like to be trendy. Fuckin sheep....
He might be right about once the computer going out out , your doom on the side of the road . That is rarely tho ,. When do you see a corvette or and LS car on the side . Besides with a Flat tire. What I do see is when I go to hot rod car shows or meets... I might see a few on the side of the road with their big blocks . Either over heating in a summer day or they will always bring fiddling with the carb . . I like both . Big Block and LS. But I’m going to LS this time . Power , and reliability. Probably after 5-10 years I would want a BiG Block . lol 😂
Gee, putting a big block in a compact truck...and there are fitment issues. NOT the fault of the headers or the big block. Put them both in a Suburban or Silverado....
We did put an LS into the Mazda but we also did an LS and a big block in two different 1965 C10's. That's a full size truck. I am just comparing those two builds. I know that when you put V8's into mini cars that it's always going tp be tight. We are going to put an LS into a 1959 Subaru 360 too. Thanks for watching!
Just to throw a screw ball will have to say at 50 years old now the bbf stroker 557 I have will kill any non power adder LS or non tall deck bbc. It dyno'd at 847 hp on e85 NA with dominator carb and is the factory block at 11.25:1 compression. Today the amount of cheap overseas parts for bbc has made it the best choice for king torque and hp compared to back in the day when aluminum heads were rare and thousands of dollars. If you comparison is just 454 vs 5.3LS then that is a no brainer. LS all have high flowing aluminum factory heads for cheap and GM only made aluminum winters bbc heads that were a fortune too but the "Rec" port bbc heads outflow any factory LS heads. I am a big block guy as can tell but my point is about how big can you stroke it? LS is severely limited and GM and Ford not so much. The other problem to me is if you upgrade your LS means back to the computer programming game and my engine runs strong on a carb I can change jets with a screwdriver and wrench for free. The old saying no replacement for displacement holds strong to this day.
Iam running a383 stroker Ina 82 monte 342 rear 400 turbo built fitech fuel injection its all torque bring on your store bought engine I making over 600rwh 575 torque
That's awesome that you forged your own pistons and cast your own block and heads. Wait....... did those come from a factory? Never mind. P.S. I love small block and big block Chevy engines..... but each have their advantages.
Im gonna throw a truck norris in my suburban and after 07 rods with a little port job. That's my 01 suburban. However my 84 k5 is getting it 400 i found from a friend at work. His brother stuck it in a vett a racing it on 8th mile for a while before letting depression win. Well it's just a block my angle plug cast heads got stolen and sold off years ago. My other 84 chevy sports a tall deck 427 and my sons 1984 GMC 4X4 has a solid cam 383. My sons truck left a V8 factory raptor by two truck lengths.
Well if you are 400 pounds trying to fit a size 4 shoe on you are going to change that shoe. Why stuff a v8 in a lil car when you can twin turbo the 4cylinder and make 400+ hp
‘84 square body 1/2 ton 4x4 with a 454, 7 miles to the gallon!!!! Yikes!!! 😱 the most expensive $350.00 I’ve ever spent! It’s a late 70’s truck engine so it has no get up and go. It’s my wood/garbage truck and only sees 50 miles a month, but it’s an expensive 50 miles and I can watch the fuel gauge go down when I pass vehicles, But….. when the grid goes down or the Chinese bomb us with an EMP a points distributor and coil is all it takes to be back on the road!! 🤫 How did we get from hotrod motors to conspiracy theories? RU-vid Baby!! That’s how!
Gen IV’s are cheaper to build, No Computer Chips or Sensors, Can be built north of 500 HP with no boost or nitrous, sound BadAss, and look like an engine should! Less retrofitting, same engine mounts, I can keep going…
Sorry but the LS takes up as much room as a Big Block , LS headers don't fit worth a shit. I have a big inch aluminum big block twin turbo S10 it was easier to do then the 6.2 we are doing in son's 98 s10 . Sorry I will stay old school.
😂 If that were true, then everyone would be trying to find the 8.1L (496), instead of the 6L (364), but they are NOT. The big blocks have advantages, especially while towing, but for performance in a lighter vehicle, the 6L is a no Brainer. The LS small blocks Rev much higher.
Big block with 871 blower all day long. Pansies and cheap people like little LS engines with turdbos. You will never see a professional monster truck, top fuel, funny car will a LS engine. They all run big blocks for a reason.
It all depends on what your goal is. If you want a daily driven vehicle that has good power, decent fuel economy and Grandma can get in it and drive to the grocery store.... thats not a supercharged big block. Obviously cubic inch is king for horse power but not all of us can afford the fuel needed, the headaches associated with a blown vehicle or the sheer cost of a supercharged big block ride. I have a supercharged small block 55 chevy gasser wagon....... super fun...... super cool..... super inconvenient! Thanks for watching and commenting.
