i read a while back ago (and cant seem to find it now. . . geh, my searching skills have diminished) that the early ls1's should be avoided. i never really grasped the reason for this, however. from context clues it seemed as though it were wiring related (or something involving electricity of the sort). i was wondering if anyone could shed some light on this subject. is it something that doesnt matter if youre going to be stripping all the emissions crapola off anyways? is it more involved?

thanks,
paul

 

97-98 LS1s have slightly more restrictive oiling passages, perimeter bolt valve covers (not bad, but specific to those years, and thus different then the majority of them), a different ECU (slightly slower, less memory, but not a major problem with todays programmers), and very minimal overbore/honing ability, factory exhaust manifolds suck also (99 is included here).

They do have a slightly larger cam, different T/B cam, different injectors and a few other things that aren't bad, just... different.

 

In 01 the LS6 intake made it onto the LS1 as well (not all but I think most), which is a plus.