The LS7

[brt3]

There's also a fantastic article on the LS7 at Camaro Home Page.com: READ MORE HERE

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READ ORIGINAL ARTICLE HERE

PART ONE MOVED TO LS7 STICKY THREAD POST #2: READ IT HERE

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READ ORIGINAL ARTICLE HERE

PART TWO MOVED TO LS7 STICKY THREAD, POST #3: SEE IT HERE

[Col. Brain]

that article is pretty much what the corvette forum has been saying for awhile now

I have posted about them before but Trick Flow Specialties is releasing a new Gen X LS7 head (well for big bore LS motors which the LS7 fits).

Anyone that is really worried should pick up a set of these heads or call up MAST Motorsports and see what they make (i know they have a killer head too and not the MOZES)

A cam and head swap on a Z06 Corvette is about $6500 for parts and labor and tune.


The valves have dropped on Z06s with under 20k miles on them.

Want to keep your numbers matching engine on your Z/28 - i would seriously look at having this done

[Camaro_Corvette]

LMAO, Lovin the Massive LS7 informational posts.

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Originally Posted by Camaro_Corvette

LMAO, Lovin the Massive LS7 informational posts.

Didn't quite realize how long it would be. If people prefer, I can delete these long posts and put them inside their own thread. You guys make the call...

EDIT: Long post deleted; content moved to LS7 Sticky. See also PDF version attached below...

[brt3]

Originally Posted by Col. Brain

that article is pretty much what the corvette forum has been saying for awhile now

I have posted about them before but Trick Flow Specialties is releasing a new Gen X LS7 head (well for big bore LS motors which the LS7 fits).

Anyone that is really worried should pick up a set of these heads or call up MAST Motorsports and see what they make (i know they have a killer head too and not the MOZES)

...Want to keep your numbers matching engine on your Z/28 - i would seriously look at having this done

The Service Manager at Abel Chevrolet drives a 2006 Z06 with a 675hp Katech engine. His shop does a LOT of the Z06s/ZR1s in the Bay Area. His response to my question about LS7 reliability is below:

Honestly, I would not touch the car. You will have a brand new car that GM is toting as a "track capable" rocket ship that comes with a 5 year 100k warranty. I would drive it and enjoy it until you get close to the possibility of an engine failure being your responsibility. At that point it may be worth the investment to have them build an engine, unless you want the extra power and are willing to throw the warranty out. I only went with Katech because we've been a dealer with them for years and I know they are on the top of the list regarding building engines.

We do see a few failures here and there, but most are covered under warranty without any issues. We are also doing head replacements on a weekly basis for those customers that are out of warranty and want the piece of mind. We deal with West Coast Cylinder heads for all of our LS7 builds and they have taken care of dozens of LS7 head builds for us.

Rich Willhoff
Service & Parts Director
Abel Chevrolet Buick

[Col. Brain]

That is good advice. It is a brand new car built for the track. You will probably get plenty of seat time in the car before anything major starts to happen.


From my opinion - i do not believe GM has fixed the problem with the valves. At some point you run the risk of them dropping and sending your LS7 to the scrap yard or worse it causes a wreck on a track sending the entire car to the scrap yard.

For a 75k car that only 500 in '14 are being built - i would like to be pretty cautious and address this issue before it becomes a problem.

Not to mention you save your engine with all numbers matching parts just in case in 20-30 years you decide to unload it and the car is worth double etc.

For a car that requires $2500 in tires after a few HDPEs, and uses $1400 a piece rotors etc
I would think 6k is not a bad price

If you believe this to not be an issue - then call me crazy and enjoy your Z/28

[brt3]

I think all the advice I've heard is good, but I think I'll break mine in carefully and spend this season on-track. I'll reevaluate the valve fix when we hit December...