sonic1519

i use to have a 97 c5 vette awhile back. i think it had 345hp not for sure on that. anyway for the time back in 97 it was considered a pretty BA motor for it's time. anyway let me get to my question i now have an 05 with the ls2. and the difference between the 97 and the 05 ls2 is night and day. so i'm just wondering is there a big difference between the ls2 and the ls3 motors.

ruxvette

Depends on how you drive it.

v26278

It's not night and day. More like morning and afternoon. The LS2 rating of 400HP is not done under SAE standards, the LS3 430/436 rating was. Supposedly, if it were it would be 411HP, vs 430 or 436, enough you should feel it but not dramatic. At least to me.

owc6

I can tell you that if you replace your LS2 with an LS3 in the same car, which leaves apple to apples, you can definitely tell the difference.

2vettes

From what I've read, the LS3 has some improvements over the LS2. That being said, the LS2 is a great engine. Lisa (OWC6) indicates her '05 has 220k miles. I think Chris at Callaway has/had one with more than 300k miles. My '05 has almost 82k miles and has been trouble free, traveling thru 36 states on numerous occasions.

I have added power to mine. Lingenfelter added a supercharger pkge at 27K miles. In addition to the supercharger, intake, large injectors and 160° thermostat, I previously added Kooks long tube headers, hi-flo cats, Corsa x-pipe and Corsa Xtreme exhausts.

The point of telling you the above info is that the LS2 engine is strong enough to handle add-ons if you want a little more power. So is the LS3, but you don't have to swap engines or trade cars.

Augie 79

It’s a new record! That’s the first time I’ve ever seen 2 vettes parked that close to the curb in the same picture.

96GS#007

They all follow the same testing protocol and have since the early 70s.

The conspiracy theories are entertaining.

2vettes

LOL. My wife and I each drove a vette to the beach. We generally back into spaces, but the diagonal parking on the street doesn't allow for it. I guess it just takes practice. They both have big front chin splitters; they're not cheap to replace, so you learn to stop short; someone can always get out to look and tell you if there is more room or not.

BWF07

I have an '07 with the LS2. As mentioned already the LS2 is factory rated at 400 HP and the LS3 is 430 or 436 with the NPP. Based on a few articles I have read when the LS2 was tested for HP rating it was found to be 411. GM thinking that they were selling 2004 Z06's rated at 405 hp it was not a good idea to release a base model C6 with a rating higher, so they went with the 400.

It really comes down to what you intend to do with the car. If it is a daily driver the JLS2 is a great engine as is the LS3. The LS3 does have a little more performance potential. Many an LS2 owner has switch to teh LS3 heads when doing a cma and headers as the LS3 head flow better the the LS2 heads. But if you are not planning to do mods to the engine for HP gains or race teh car, there is nothing wrong with the LS2.

Getting away from the engine alone, the newer the model year the more refinements you will find in the car. It comes down finally to your budget.

Mr.Nubain

I had an 01 LS1 with CAI, shorty headers, x-pipe/magnaflow exhaust in an automatic. I figured it had about 20HP with my mods and when I bought my 05 LS2 that is a manual with a K&N CAI & Corsa it was night and day difference in power. I changed out the K&N with a vararam and I noticed a difference with that too. I think 30HP you will feel also the 24ft/lbs of torque. IMO anything over 20 HP you can feel.
I love my LS2, but I'd love an LS3 just because it's faster. This spring headers,fast 102 and tune go on my 05 and I am excited to feel the difference there. A lot of guys are seeing 40-50RWHP out of that combo so it's gonna be fun!

Never-Enough

Either one can be made fast as hell. NO need to sell your LS2 car just to buy an LS3 car.