From
http://www.corvettemuseum.com/specs/2006/LS7.shtml
"The LS7's specifications are significant for a production engine:
505 horsepower @ 6200 rpm
475 lb.-ft. of torque @ 4800 rpm
7000-rpm redline
Unique engine block with larger 104.8-mm (4.125-inch) bores and pressed-in cylinder liners
Forged steel crankshaft with 101.6-mm (4-inch) stroke
Titanium connecting rods
Cast aluminum flat-top pistons
Racing-derived CNC-ported aluminum cylinder heads with titanium intake valves and sodium-filled exhaust valves
Dry-sump oiling system
11.0:1 compression ratio
Camshaft with 15-mm (.591-inch) lift
Hydroformed exhaust headers with unique "quad flow" collector flanges.
All LS7 engines are assembled by hand at GM's new Performance Build Center in Wixom , Mich.
The exacting standards to which they are built include deck-plate boring and honing of the cylinders and even crank line-boring of the block with the deck plates and side bolts installed - procedures normally associated with the building of racing engines and almost unheard of in a production-vehicle engine."
There are lots of details like this one that makes me skeptical of the LS7 as a large-volume production engine... I just don't see them being able to maintain this level of quality on a much larger scale... There are LOTS of details like this in this engine that make it hard to produce on a large scale (IMHO).
But I hope I'm wrong...
~LSx