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Can anyone tell me how to visually tell the difference between an 01 and an 02 LS6? I am looking at buying an LS6 and I want to make sure it’s an ‘02 because they have significantly more hp.
Thank you for the help. Is the vin on the engine itself? The engine is separate from the car so I don’t have the car available to verify the vin. So I was hoping there was something I could see on the engine itself to tell the difference.
Thank you for the help. Is the vin on the engine itself? The engine is separate from the car so I don’t have the car available to verify the vin. So I was hoping there was something I could see on the engine itself to tell the difference.
Thanks again
John
oops I thought you were just looking at a car, I’m not sure as far as just looking at motor
VIN is the only I know of, there is not a major difference between the 2 in my opinion. The factory rated the 02-04 20hp higher, and they also had more free flowing cats, descreened MAF and I believe less restrictive airbox.
The block, heads, intake manifold are all the same casting/parts. The 02-04 gets a slightly bigger cam and lighter valves.
2020 Corvette of the Year Finalist (performance mods)
C5 of Year Winner (performance mods) 2019
I must have had a brain fart, I could have sworn the 01 had a 241 head... if the engine is out of the car maybe you could talk them into letting you pull the rear cover off and check the part # on the cam... if you plan on a cam swap in the future then I wouldn't worry so much about which year it came from
Last edited by StingrayRebel; Feb 9, 2018 at 06:57 PM.
VIN is the only I know of, there is not a major difference between the 2 in my opinion. The factory rated the 02-04 20hp higher, and they also had more free flowing cats, descreened MAF and I believe less restrictive airbox.
The block, heads, intake manifold are all the same casting/parts. The 02-04 gets a slightly bigger cam and lighter valves.
02 got the higher tension napier rings to control oil, which 01 had issues with and GM was replacing a lot of rings at the dealers. LS6 got these at start of 02 production, LS1 got them two weeks in.
02 definitely got the better coated piston, which was introduced in March 01 (from memory) so some of the late 01's got these as well.
I would definitely try to find the 02 motor if you have a choice.
Last edited by vettenuts; Feb 11, 2018 at 09:45 AM.
Just laughing at the "02's have significantly more horsepower" line. 10-15 out of the 20 horsepower came from the better airbox and the deletion of the precats, which would be irrelevant to the actual motor. The cam is hardly a substantial change, and it would be a good idea to go ahead and replace that harmonic balancer while the motor is on a stand anyways since its likely to be wobbling. While you're doing that you could put the holy grail 2002 cam in there, or literally any aftermarket grind and make "significantly more horsepower" than an 02.