The low effort swap is a Chevy Performance LS364/450 engine. Designed to replace an LS1, it takes LS1 accessories and has the correct reluctor wheel. List is $4.9K.

 

Everyone freaks out when they see iron block when in reality very few people that own these cars drive them hard enough around a corner to ever notice a difference.

I am actually building a similar combination to the 364/450 engine out of an LQ4. Summit cam and LS3 heads. With 13 psi of boost it's should be a riot.

 

There’s just something about raw displacement. Very popular at parties too.

 

I've been watching this engine since they announced it. Love the package, almost want to buy one as a just in case piece since it would work in my Vette or truck.

 

Sounds interesting, I was hoping to stay with an aluminum block. Besides the 24x reluctor what would be the advantage of buying this 364/450 over an ls3 seeing they are almost the same price?

 

I wouldn't add 100 pounds to the front unless I needed the extra strength, to be honest.

I find that many parts on the C5 where you get a choice (stock / optional stock, or stock / aftermarket) are subtle enough that you wouldn't immediately call it out for being different (better/worse) unless you drive a ton of different C5s regularly. But if you had them side by side, you'd probably notice real quick. A hundred pounds in the engine bay is like that. Will an iron block be fine in the C5? You betcha, even if it's low power. Will an aluminum block result in better handling, all other things equal? Absolutely. Is it better to spend $4900 on a brand new iron block, or $xxxx on a rebuilt LS1, LS6, or even LS2/3/etc? Now that is a much harder question that I would leave in the hands of the owner, because it really depends what you're gonna do with it. If you're gonna drive it to work and grocery store in Florida, that is very different from wanting to run hard sweepers in the Rockies/Sierras, or autocross at a technical track, or go to VIR, etc. You are 100% right that most owners will do the former, and not the other options

 

I think from my perspective I will still run the hard sweepers as hard as I can. On the street pushing it as hard as you safely can it will still scare most of your passengers.

I'll actually be closer to 175 pounds heavier over the front tires between the block and the blower. but yeah, I'm not an autocrosser or an open tracker so competition times around a corner are not important.

I'm just here to have fun.

 

I would try to find an LS3 with lower miles on it and go from there. The LS3 is a good platform if you would want to further modify the car later on. The only drawback is spending g the money on a car with 220K miles on it.

 

Soooo many perspectives. All of them fair.

You sound like you're keeping the car and you drive it. ANY replacement engine on a corvette of any miles is going to be viewed skeptically if the car were sold. Year, model, weight, miles, condition, modified, stock, who did the work, receipts... Someone will find fault with each of these. Anyone who does is not a wrencher and is a mid lifer or a casual in my book. Still good people but that's never going to be the car for them no matter which LS is nestled between the fenders. That's just the breaks.

Thankfully, it sounds like you don't need to worry about that. Me neither.

There was a comment about adding weight. I dont think that's going to bend my head in any way. I absolutely feel a difference in my daily coupe when I have a passenger. But ive had a blower on it in the past which adds a ton of weight to the nose, plus meth pump, etc. A daily driver car will absolutely never realize the difference. Even an occasional track day you won't feel. If people are going to argue weight then they need to begin at coupe / vert / frc and immediately then step to oem option packages before continuing directly to unsprung weight and wheel/tire combos. One hundred pounds gets lost in there real quick.

So by now you know which way I'm angling. L33 for days. Send the stock heads out for work. Slap whatever cam in that floats your boat. Make more power for pennies and enjoy passing all the guys who spent a lot more for an LS3 just so they can say "LS3" and think it means anything.

The one thing I'd say would make any other option worthwhile if it is a dire concern would be warranty. But my experience with companies and warranties, GM especially with my first C5, was that they will find any way out of coverage and can directly lie. On that score I would trust Summit before GM by continents, not just miles.

​​​​​​Consider this, too. $2000 L33, 400 cam, 300 bowl work, X for a tune which is going to be an assumed cost not matter ehich engine you go with. Right there you can already have a monster. But hunt the forums and find a deal on a used A&A or ECS kit for $3500 and you not only have eclipsed any LS3 build but can have your cake and eat it too since you said the car is a daily because you can keep the cam small and just enjoy 10psi boost which will immediately make your forget those weight arguments and you can dial that pulley down to make some insane boost numbers if you want.

Oh. Darn. And if you nuke it? You nuked an L33, not a pricy LS3. And you can go get another one for 2k. Damn the luck right? Lol!
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