I'll just leave this here.

LS V8s are strong. Really strong

In reply to G_Body_Man:

Yes they are.

My guess was 800 hp. Boy was I wrong.

Holy berkeley

Yeah, and it didn't even break. They just couldn't get the plugs to fire anymore at 27 psi...

118 octane though.

That article is 4 years old now... But yes they strong

chiodos wrote: That article is 4 years old now... But yes they strong

So what prize do I get for bending a rod?

I have the actual paper article. I remember that the engine was NOT stock. They opened up the ring gaps and they went to some expensive ported heads and a healthy cam. So a $500 junkyard engine and $4000 in top end upgrades.

Stock bottom end at least. Stock 302s break in half at around 600. This made double.

Appleseed wrote: Stock bottom end at least. Stock 302s break in half at around 600. This made double.

I've seen 302s hinge the block at around 450hp fairly frequently. 400hp is considered the safe limit for a 302.

I played with an LS engine on the dyno once. It was a LSX276 crate motor with stock 4.8L truck rods and cranks (Stock rod bolts even) for a 339ci destroker. Hand-ported stock heads, LS7 cam, a Super Victor intake and HP Tuners on a 2002 Camaro SS ECU. Oh, plus two 80mm turbos. At 38psi that thing screamed out 1343hp at 8800rpm and did it time and time again. Tore it down and the OEM rod and main bearings looked like new. These motors are absolutely ridiculous.

In reply to NickD:

And old-timers will throw away the stock rods as a matter of course, just because they don't trust powdered metal.

Knurled wrote:

chiodos wrote: That article is 4 years old now... But yes they strong

So what prize do I get for bending a rod?

You get the book "tuning for dummies"

I kid I kid... Sorry couldn't help myself haha

I get the point of the article, but adjusting ring gap and replacing the head gaskets changes the animal. So it did great, but would a stock engine last as long? To me, that's still unanswered.

In reply to kb58:

It seems to me that as a test of durability they did a good job. No they didnt simply grab a junkyard motor and slap turbos on it, but the parts that should have failed under the huge boost were left stock. Heck they even reused the stock rings. I thought it was a great article.

In reply to kb58:

No.

Answered.

kb58 wrote: I get the point of the article, but adjusting ring gap and replacing the head gaskets changes the animal. So it did great, but would a *stock* engine last as long? To me, that's still unanswered.

Sure, the ring gap changes things a little bit, but if I were putting a junkyard motor into a car, I'd change out all the major gaskets while the engine is out, simply for the sake of longevity. Either way, the bits that should have failed under ridiculous boost from enormous turbochargers didn't. That's a testament to the longevity of the LS itself.

I would like to see what it puts out on 93 octane pump gas.

I messed up my post. I forgot to say that my biggest nit is that they changed the head gasket - one of the first parts to give out on boosted cars.

sergio wrote: I would like to see what it puts out on 93 octane pump gas.

Yeah but they aren't testing the engine's resistance to knock; they're testing whether it'll mechanically stay together under boost. Running on low octane fuel would muddle the results.