EFI SBC vs LS Motor

[makoshark]

I went through this debate when I built my SBC. It ultimately came down, for me, to budget and already having a large amount of the SBC stuff sitting around.

If I were at that juncture right now, I would seriously consider an LS over the SBC, but there again it would come down to budget. However, to me, I wouldn't consider the 4.8/5.3 or the LS1. I have an LS1 now and didn't ever really consider using it. Those early LS motors are antiquated compared to the new LS3 setups. The LS3 has even nearly knocked out the LS2 out of the equation. I look at the LS setups now as having the ability to unshroud the valves. LS motors main benefit is the head design. The LS3 has the ability to run the LS7 style head and not constrict air flow into the cylinder. That gives you the ability to run the 11* heads with a large bore. All this takes out the early LS series motors out of the contention, to me.

With all that said, after tallying the final cost I have in my SBC, I could have easily purchased an LS3 crate or even built one for what I have in my SBC. I did, however, have a lot of SBC parts already purchased and sitting on my shelf that I did factor into the final cost of my motor build.