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LS1 Crate Engine
The LS1 is the spiritual successor to the “small block V8” that GM uses in rear-wheel-drive cars, trucks, and vans. It was introduced in 1995 as the “GEN III” engine and it only shared rod bearings, lifters, and bore spacing with its predecessors (which was in production 1955 until 2003). Little did GM expect for the LS1 has become a legend.
Some might say we have nothing to prove in 2001. The fifth-generation Corvette has won critical acclaim, including “Best-Engineered Car of the 20th Century*,” a recent award for the convertible from Automotive Engineering International. But, driven by our philosophy of continuous improvement, we never stand still....
A successor to the ZR-1 made its debut in 2001 as the Z06, giving a nod to the high-performance Z06 version of the C2 Corvette of the 1960s. The Z06 uses a tuned version of the standard LS1 engine (designated the LS6), with a higher power output of 385 hp (390 PS; 287 kW), later bumped to 405 hp (411 PS; 302 kW) starting in 2002.