Five GM Crate Engines To Swap Into Your Ride

Chevrolet Performance are capitalising on the popularity of LS engine swaps, and offer a more sanitary approach than buying some bloke’s oil-burning, 300,000km old LS1 off Facebook Marketplace. Sure, there’s an increased cost associated with buying a brand new engine, but for the extra coin you’re securing an engine with an untainted past that’s covered by some kind of warranty - the exact details are difficult to find on the Chevrolet Performance website, and they’ve thrown a ‘Competition Use Only’ disclaimer on some product lines.

As a side note, through Chevrolet Performance you can also buy a raft of genuine accessories like transmissions, transmission controllers and bare LSA and LS3 engine blocks if you wanted to build an engine using a virgin block.

We’re shining a light on five sweet GM engine conversion options that’ll spice up just about any build!

LS3
As the LS engine evolved over the years and the platform found itself fitted to more and more GM vehicles around the world, ultimately their LS3 iteration became the gold standard. With increased capacity, better casting, better cylinder heads and a more efficient cam’ and valvetrain, the LS3s were great straight out of the box and like the rest of the LS engine family, responded well to everything from light modifications and a tune, all the way through to stock bottom end (SBE) boosted applications and full engine builds.

Straight out of the box, an LS3 crate engine will reward you with 430hp and 425lb.ft for a paltry $14,000, but if you really want to get the party started, they’ve also got a version with a meatier cam’ that bumps the grunt up to 525hp and 486lbft.

LSA
The LSA shot to prominence powering the now-defunct HSV’s flagship range of GEN-F vehicles. Initially only available in the range-topping GTS sedan and Maloo GTS ute, for their final hurrah the brand extended fitment of the supercharged V8 engines to the Clubsport R8 Sedan and Clubsport R8 Tourer wagon.

Despite the fact that they’re a 550hp present just waiting to be unwrapped (a number that’s extremely easy to improve on with minor fettling) there’s a long list of reasons why we don’t see more LSA engine swaps, the least of which stems from their ever-ascending value in the aftermarket!

LT1
The LT series of engines are the next generation of GM small blocks, and are slowly replacing the LS engines under the bonnets of GM performance vehicles. The aftermarket for them here in Oz isn’t as mature as the North American aftermarket, but they’ve got some really appealing features like their light weight alloy block, rock-solid 6-bolt bottom end and a tyre-torching 11.5:1 compression ratio thanks to their direct injection EFI.

Interestingly, Chevrolet Performance offers the LT1 with a wet or dry sump option. It makes 460hp and 465lbft.

LT4
In much the same way that some boost made the LSA better than the LS3, so too a little extra aspiration helps the LT4 trounce the LT1. A modest 9 pounds of boost wakes the LT4 right up, and it rose to local fame fitted to the Camaro ZL1.

In the early days, LT4 tuning was fairly crude but it’s becoming more sophisticated now, as the Aussie aftermarket better familiarises itself with the next big GM V8 engine swap. There are already supercharger upgrade options (including replacing the factory huffer with a bigger unit from Harrop Engineering), but even out of the box the LT4’s 640hp and 630lbft make a bold statement!

5.3L LS ENGINE
The 5.3L LS engine sprang to fame after some high-profile (and even higher boost!) stock bottom end budget builds. Famed for their strength, they’re literally stacked ten-high at the wreckers in the States and a few savvy importers have started bringing them to our shores, but it’s a massive case of caveat emptor when buying a seriously well-traveled, second hand engine from the other side of the world.