Two Decades Of The Ls Engine

1997 Saw the Introduction of Arguably the Most Successful V-8 Ever Fielded in a Chevrolet

- Steven Rupp

As the saying goes, “time flies when you’re having fun.” It must be true because we were in shock when it dawned on us that the LS1 was introduced two decades ago. Yep, 20 years that seemed to go by way too quickly. We remember when the new mill was introduced for the 1997 Corvette. It was a radical departure from the previous Gen II LT1, but kept many of the facets we were familiar with. At 345 horsepower it beat the LT1’s output by 45 hp, but with the aluminum block it was also quite a bit lighter (12 percent lighter than the Gen II LT4). The LS1’s 319 heat-treated aluminum block tipped the scales at just 107 pounds, 53 pounds lighter than the Gen II LT1 block! The tried-and true 4.4-inch bore center-to-center measurement was kept but the overall design really was a huge evolutionary step for the GM V-8.

As Jordan Lee Chief Engineer – Small-Block Engines explained, “The transition going from Gen III to Gen IV and Gen V was a natural progression. The Small Block team has always been guided by the principles of the original small-block team. Keep the technology employed relevant and beneficial to the customer, maintain low mass and compactness, strive for every drop of efficiency and, of course, always improve power density. Interesting to note is that with each iteration we thoroughly evaluated all options and always validated the design genius of the original small-block.