When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
The LSX isn't a first gen is it? Just asking because of the way you mentioned picking it up, seemed like it was maybe sitting in someone's shop for a while.
PS: I would leave the 58's on there now and wait for the new bigger turbos to come out.
It's a gen 1 block with the larger water jackets, but it is one of the later revisions that did not have the core shift issue. Guy had the order documentation as it being later in the life of the gen 1 blocks and it checked out with my machine shop as being good to go by their naked eye.
Yes, I would have preferred a gen 2 block, but it already took convincing from the wife to sell the LQ4 block I was going to use and upgrade to the LSX block.
Man, you couldn't pay me to build a first gen LSX. I'm in the process of building a new engine for a friend who's first gen LSX cracked the sleeves in #1 and #3.
Best of luck with it though.
Last edited by 5 Liter Eater; 10-05-2015 at 12:15 PM.
An option is to have the LME dry deck process done to it. Basically plugs are machined and pressed in to make it stronger before decking/boring it. But skip the O-rings.
Man, you couldn't pay me to build a first gen LSX. I'm in the process of building a new engine for a friend who's first gen LSX cracked the sleeves in #1 and #3.
Best of luck with it though.
Was it one of the original castings that where done overseas? How big of a motor was it? How much boost was he pushing through it?
Unfortunately, with blocks, as most things, the we tend to only hear the negative stories. Think of all the commotion that is out there about ERL blocks being trash, people cracking RHS blocks, etc. I've spoke to about a dozen shops who really specialize in LSX engines and no one seen a damaged 1st gen block roll though their shop.
Appreciate the heads up though. We shall see how she does
It was built in 2012 and had <1000 miles on it, no idea where it was cast. It was a 427 making ~1000 @ ~25# via a TTIX kit.
I hear what you're saying RE: only hearing the bad stuff. But GM saw enough failures like this that they felt the need to redesign the block. So it wouldn't be my first choice for a >1k RWHP FI build.
Last edited by 5 Liter Eater; 10-05-2015 at 12:41 PM.
Small update this far. Unfortunately the pistons where delayed that put everything back a few weeks. After a lot of back and forth, I decided to go with a -11cc dish to bump the compression up to 10.2:1 instead of the mid to high 9's that I was shooting for in the past. Since the car is only mostly going to see e85, I don't really see too much of an issue.
Anyway, block has been cleaned up and bored out. Still needs the align-hone to be complete, but all the parts are now in.
Further more, pistons are a thing of absolute beauty
There are a lot more than 2 versions of the LSX block. Mine doesn't have the reinforced water jackets. It was 1-2 months before that came out. Still almost 14k miles now at 1000+ with zero issues. Unless you are going 4.185, pinging the hell out of it, or 1400+hp I don't think you will even come close to an issue. I've seen plenty of "gen 1" later model blocks make 1500+hp for a long long time.
10-05-2015, 10:57 AM
