It’s sometimes hard to measure where a phenomenon originates. Yet, with General Motors’ LS engine, it can be traced back to 1997; that is, at least for us, the consumers. For GM, the journey started long before that. Beginning with a blank sheet of paper, the General’s new engines would share very little with its 45-year-old predecessor. Rather, this new engine would incorporate nearly every major innovation gleaned from performance testing, racing, and longevity of the aforementioned small-block. Cross-drilled, six-bolt main caps, advanced oiling journals and larger volume cooling were all integrated into the LS’ design, while the cylinder heads received large, vertical rectangular ports feeding designed cylinder chambers chambers. If GM was going to make this big of a step, they were going to think three steps ahead.
The LS - appropriately - first arrived beneath the clamshell of the C5 Corvette, closely followed by the F-Body brethren, Camaro and Firebird. The LS soon found itself propelling most, if not all of GM’s rear-wheel-drive cars and trucks, but it wasn’t long before these new motors found purchase between the shock towers of classic muscle cars, hot rods, kit cars, off-road trucks and buggies and nearly anything else that people could find. This quick infiltration into the world of custom applications brought with it all of the performance aftermarket’s attention.
Brian Reese and COMP
Nearly a decade later, as the LS engine sprouted new branches to its expansive family tree,
COMP Cams (CPG) welcomed Brian Reese as Director of Business Development. Once the former Director of Engineering at SLP Performance Parts, Reese specialized in developing aftermarket performance products specifically for late-model engines. Since then, Reese was promoted to Vice President of Engineering and Business Development for CPG. A graduate of Ohio State University (with a Masters Degree in Mechanical Engineering and Automotive Business Management), Reese started at General Motors where he worked at the Warren Technical Center and Milford Proving Grounds.
CPG's VP of Engineering and Business Development, Brian Reese flanked by two of COMP's dyno-mule LS engines.
When asked about the change to CPG, Reese explained, “I’ve watched COMP grow quickly over the last several years and evolve as one of the true powerhouses of the aftermarket. When owners Ron Coleman and Scooter Brothers presented me such a unique position that allows me to be involved in so many ways, it became quickly apparent this was an opportunity I should pursue.”
Today, the aftermarket is flush with performance products for the 13-year-old powerplant. Ranging from the subtle to the sublime, hot rodders and cruisers, racers and builders can share alike their passion for performance thanks to the innovations made by the industry. From top to bottom, in and out, today’s LS engines can be reworked, rebuild, and renovated to meet nearly every imaginable performance goal (be it a daily driver, a weekend cruiser, a gnarly street machine, or a quarter-mile bruiser). We sat down with Brian Reese to pick his brain about his vision for the LSX future, the development of performance parts, and why switching to fuel injection isn’t as scary as many might think.
powerTV: Brian, thanks for sitting down with us. I know how busy you guys are, especially with so much coming up.
Brian Reese: It's my pleasure. Yeah, we're getting ready for SEMA right now! [
laughs]
powerTV: It's hard to believe the LS engine is nearly 15 years old; how surprised were you with how the LS has taken off like it has?
Reese: We recognized the potential of the LS platform the minute it launched. There's practically nothing to not like; it makes great power, it's still a simple push rod, overhead valve engine, it's
all aluminum! It responds very well to performance mods and it's easy to modify. Heck, a bone-stock LS1 outperforms a well-built performance SBC.
The LS1 was destined to be an excellent performance platform; the rotating assembly's lightweight, the stock heads are better than most high performance aftermarket SBC heads, and the valve train is lightweight and excellent for high RPM. So yeah, we knew the LS was a winner from the beginning.
Brian Reese was one of the key speakers at the AETC a couple years ago.
powerTV: There's lots of talk about how the LS - especially the LS3 - can "do it all," namely performance and economy. What's your take on this? Is it true?
Reese: You bet. We were one of the leading manufacturers to support the SEMA street rod emissions program. We started working with Jim McFarland and SEMA in 2006 and were able to successfully match the emissions standards for 2006 with our EFI package and a host of specially-matched aftermarket performance parts.
Thanks to that, we are now marketing a self-tuning EFI system under the FAST brand, which is a direct outcome of our efforts with SEMA and CARB. We've got a lot of stuff in the works that'll work for hot rodders using the new LS engine in their kit cars and street rods.
powerTV: The number of people racing competitively with LS engines is growing day by day; is there enough stuff out there to be truly competitive?
Reese: You better believe it. We introduced the first racing LS block [under the RHS brand] last year. We're working really hard to develop this foundation for racing. I expect the platform will be fully integrated with mainstream racing within two years. Ask me this again come SEMA time!
I'm telling you, racing drives both the performance aftermarket and future OEM developments. The LS1 itself was based on successful designs born through racing. The LS rectangular cylinder port (LS7 and LS3) are almost line-for-line copies of the NASCAR Buick heads used by Bobby Allison. Seriously,if you don't believe me, take a look a how the intake gasket from the NASCAR Buick head fits an LS7 head EXACTLY, line-for-line on the ports and even the bolt holes are perfectly in place. That port was born in racing and became the standard port on GM’s LS3 and LS7.
Reese promises that the EZ EFI takes the voodoo black magic out of converting your carbureted muscle car to fuel injection with a painless, effortless plug-and-play replacement package.
powerTV: That being said, from your experience, what are the pros and cons of cathedral port, rectangle port, and raised rectangle (LS7) ports from a manifold, head, and cam design?
Reese: The offset rocker heads are much better, as the port improves dramatically. Rolling the valve angle on the LS7 and raising the port is further improvement. These are well established cylinder head design improvement steps, so no surprise that they work great. The only real con I can think of is the expense of swapping manifolds and rockers to work with the LS3 or LS7 heads. The pros are obvious, the LS3 and LS7 heads are far superior. The bigger port volume will support larger cubic inch too.
powerTV: What has it that you guys saw as the prevailing combination (cam, valve train, heads) for aftermarket forced induction on an LS motor? What would be some improvements to these?
Reese: Hottest trend is the LSR cam series. These camshafts have been very specifically tailored for niche engine specs. For instance, we have different cams for each type of forced induction, which specifically compliment the characteristics of that configurations; we offer centrifical blower, roots blower, rear mount turbo, etc. Our lobe profiles update as fast as we can generate cylinder heads and valve springs which demand more aggressive design. I can promise the heads and springs will never leapfrog the cam lobes, we have lobes that exceed both today.
This computer design showcases RHS' architecture for its first race-bred LS block which the CPG brand launched last year.
powerTV: GM's LQ4 iron block (with LS heads) is quickly becoming a favorite among those using forced induction; can you educate us why the LQ4 is so good for boost?
Reese: Simply because it is cast iron. It is almost the same dimensionally as the aluminum, but made from cast iron, making it that much stronger. A good block yes, but still just an OEM block, never intended to be boosted and limited to 4 head bolts per cylinder. For high levels of boost, aftermarket blocks such as the RHS LS Race block with 6-head bolts per cylinder are still preferred, as they have been engineering specifically for duty in extreme boost and racing applications.
powerTV: Obviously, there's a big curve of how far enthusiasts will push their LS-powered "driver." What thought goes into developing products that can appeal to nearly every range of performance enthusiast (from the daily driver to the all-out hard core racer)?
Reese: We deal with this every day. Most of our divisions cater to everyone, from street enthusiast through professional racer, but most of our business is street/strip because the market is far larger than professional racing. We're very well represented in all forms of racing, though, but racing all combined is still smaller than the street/strip customer base, simple fact. We enjoy both and both receive equal efforts and enthusiasm. The LS is probably the most universal engine in that street/strip and professional race parts are mostly interchangeable. A 1,000hp street LS engine is fairly simple and common.
With a wide variety of cam profiles for the performance LSX enthusiast on hand and a rich catalog of unique or custom cam grind data at their fingertips, we can provide an ideal camshaft for nearly any combination imaginable.
powerTV: So, from a cam perspective, if you have the same spec engine in a LS and SBC configuration, how do you engineer their profiles (does LS motors like more lift, duration, etc. and why)?
Reese: It is more important to compare head characteristics than engine "type." Most LS and SBC heads are vastly different. The lift number depends on various inputs and objectives, but generically speaking it will be governed by the flow characteristic of the head. If airflow stalls at .500 lift, there isn’t going to be much reason to open the valve to .650 lift. Duration is going to be driven by RPM range and engine duty or objective, but will also be dependent on the head flow characteristics and bore/stroke. Induction type is critical to selecting the cam design, will be dependent on carb, EFI, turbo, blower, nitrous, etc.
powerTV: You bring up a good point; the future of performance GM engines appears to be in forced induction. If that's so, what do you foresee the aftermarket coming out with to improve upon factory-supercharged engines?
Reese: Better superchargers and intercoolers for one; and the infrastructure of the engine sufficient to support higher levels of boost. The 6-bolt heads and blocks in the aftermarket are a direct response to increased demand for boost.
FAST's LSX intake has been a boon for performance-seeking LS-powered car enthusiasts, offering more intake volume and greater overall horsepower and torque than factory manifolds.
powerTV: FAST's LS manifolds have been pretty successful, implying that there's some power to be hand with changing the intake manifold. What was the biggest challenge in getting the LS manifold to make power?
Reese: The biggest challenge is staying within the physical envelope available for a manifold based on the packaging of all relevant vehicles, and making a design that is easily compatible with over 13 years worth of models (1997-2010). The making power end of it isn’t the hard part! Packaging and bending tubes to fit is extremely hard. Bends in runners are death to performance, but a necessity when it comes to any car with a hood!
powerTV: So then, how has the aftermarket encouraged the general interest in LS performance to grow?
Reese: For us, our general willingness to take risks and bring new products to market is what drives us to support the LS platform. Our LS growth has been phenomenal. To support this momentum, we've got a large portion of our team working practically full time on LS projects. The LS is the SBC of today and we fully expect its legacy to continue on a rapid path. It only took 10 years to cover the same ground with aftermarket performance parts as it took nearly 40 years to accomplish on the traditional SBC. Mainstream racing is coming, and coming fast. I expect LS engines will have a dominating presence in racing within five years.
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