By now everyone knows how popular the General Motors LS family of engines have become for performance applications. Their potential for producing reliable, affordable horsepower is unmatched. But oddly enough, when these engines first came on the scene, some critics complained that GM was still using “old school” two-valve heads with a single cam in the block and pushrod valvetrains. Many armchair engineers opined that technology dictated combustion chambers with lots of valves operated by multiple overhead cams were necessary for a modern performance engine. Suffice it to say they were wrong and GM was right.
While the LS series of engines did stick with a conventional valvetrain layout there was good reason for it. It makes for a much more