LSA supercharged LS3 or N/A LS7?

[CamaroAJ]

So I'm looking at my options for an engine in the Camaro. I've decided not to bother with the LS1 that I have in the car now and just go ahead and build the big engine now and get it over and done with and I'll be happy.

My options that I'm considering are a LSA supercharger on a LS3 or a N/A LS7.

Pros to the LS3/LSA: LS3 block is about $1400 cheaper than a LS7 block.

I can buy the LSA supercharger core for $300 from work then put the new coupler in the snout for $50 and have a good supercharger.

Cons: added weight of the supercharger and related cooler parts.

Added cost of air to liquid cooler and pump stuff.

I will need to cut the firewall again and redo it to fit the supercharger (not a big deal as I'm not super excited about how the one that I have now fits the engine and I wanted to redo parts of it anyways).

Pros to the LS7: Less weight and more C.I.

I already have some of the dry sump parts and accy. drive parts

Cons: More expensive block and rotating assembly because of the dry sump and bore size.

Higher failure rate due to head valve guide issues unless aftermarket heads and the cylinder liners tend to crack more often with over 600 hp and lots of track days.

So what kinda opinions do you guys have about it? I'm kinda on what I want to do at this point engine wise.

[JsTA]

What about doing a stroker LS3 setup? The LS7 heads are kinda prone to failure and stroking the LS3 will get you the same cubic inches in a cheaper block.

[raustinss]

i went ls7 ....fix the heads and boom your fine , never heard of any liner failures before ...plus its cool to say ls7 ...titanium rods

[CamaroAJ]

I was looking into a stoker LS3 as well. I wanted to keep it under a 4" stoke just to keep from beating it to death with reving it over 7k often.

The LS7 cracked liner deal I found on corvette forum doing a search for LS7 stuff. They all agreed that keeping it under 600 flywheel they will live but much over that they have had some cracked liners with the guys that track them.

[Ron in SoCal]

What's your plan for the car AJ? If it's a once in a while track day driving Miss Daisy, take your pick. If you want to get serious and put that 7" set back to good use go for the LS7. Don't forget about the LS7 (dry sump) tax. It's a killer.

If you keep your foot out of it and under 6800 rpms, a well built 416 would get you 98% there. I'm thinking about that for my next project.

[Sparks67]

Mine is an LS3 418\LS9\katech oil squirter\CNC LS9 Heads from Thomson Automotive. The dyno at 10.9 psi is only 842 hp and 818 ft/lbs torque. I still haven't tested at 15 psi yet or E85.

Jeff

[CamaroAJ]

Originally Posted by Ron in SoCal

What's your plan for the car AJ? If it's a once in a while track day driving Miss Daisy, take your pick. If you want to get serious and put that 7" set back to good use go for the LS7. Don't forget about the LS7 (dry sump) tax. It's a killer.

If you keep your foot out of it and under 6800 rpms, a well built 416 would get you 98% there. I'm thinking about that for my next project.

Do you think I should move the engine back more? Don't tempt me lol. The front of the block is at wheel centerline, I could always make the snout of the waterpump be at wheel centerline.

I'm really hard on my cars when I autocross or track them. My C5Z lived on the 7000 redline I had set on the weekends. That's the part about the LS7 that bothers me, to much detonation (hopefully none, but you never know) at high RPM and the cylinder liners are toast. I think I'm going to go with a LS3 block and do a dry sump 416. That will get me in the 620-650 hp range with good drivability and still be a track beast.