Chevrolet Performance's New LSX-SC Cylinder Head

An exclusive inside look at a specialized design developed to support high boost with high strength

- Barry Kluczyk

Apparently, there is no ceiling when it comes LS performance. Just when it seems an insurmountable threshold of horsepower, speed, or low e.t. has been achieved, the next racer is able to shove another few pounds of boost through a rev-happy, deep-breathing LS/LSX-based engine and move the needle that much further.

As engine builders and racers continue to explore the figurative boundaries of the LS engine family’s capability, they’ve encountered the literal barriers of components pushed beyond their original design parameters. It’s that age-old racing dichotomy at work: You’ll never find the limit if you don’t push beyond it.

Over the years, Chevrolet Performance has revised the stout LSX cylinder block to offer the greater strength required to support high-boost racing engine applications, and now the engineers have turned their attention to the cylinder heads. They’ve developed a new casting that’s based on the proven LSX-LS7 head, but it’s designed and manufactured to support the big power levels racers are bumping up to the starting line with these days.

It officially becomes part of the 2020 COPO 350 production racing engine offered in the COPO Camaro program, but it’s also available separately for builders who want to use a set on their custom engine.

Chevy High Performance got an exclusive look at the head before its introduction at the 2019 SEMA Show and we spoke with COPO Program Manager Tom Wysocki and Alin Dragoiu, the design release engineer, about why it was developed.