Warspeed 383ci stroker Gen III LS1

Big-banger LS engines might be all over the place these days, but it seems the original LS1 has faded in popularity over the years compared to its later-model, larger-capacity brethren. However, Troy Worsley from Sydney’s Warpseed Industries has put this piece of Gen III eye candy together, and, while it doesn’t make power like the blown or turbo big-inch iron combos he’s renowned for, it is a long way from a piston-slapping VT II donk.

First published in the May 2022 issue of Street Machine

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“It’s going into an LX hatchback as a tough 550-600fwhp street car,” Troy says. “It should make good power for a 5.7-litre-based combo. These old LS1s are kind of the bottom level of the LS platform these days, as the 6.0-litre and 6.2 heads are just so much better for making power, thanks to the extra years of development.”

The base of the build is a regular old aluminium 346ci Gen III LS1, but upgraded with a Lunati crank and rods kit to displace 383ci, and CP pistons providing approximately 11.8:1 worth of squish. Up top are Trick Flow 225 cathedral-port heads – a bit of a deviation from the combos Troy normally puts together.

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“The customer actually had the engine somewhere else, but it wasn’t getting anywhere, so it was brought here to me to finish off,” says Troy. “There are a few parts in this that I wouldn’t normally use in an engine I was assembling from scratch, but it was a balance of turning some parts away but using some of the bigger items he already had to get it finished.”

That awesome Shaun’s Custom Alloy billet individual-throttlebody manifold hadn’t been selected before the engine turned up at Troy’s, but it really is the crowning glory. These manifolds are typically used on all-out race motors, but Troy opted for a cam that wasn’t going to make this LS1 a peak-rpm screamer.

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“It will always do well with comp and cam compared to another NA engine thanks to that intake,” Troy explains. “It has one of my Warspeed WASP #6 cams that Kelford does for me, running around 240s and 250s for duration, and .630in lift. This engine also has LS7 lifters, Manton pushrods, and, as a point of difference to my normal builds, Harland Sharp bolt-on rockers.

“Because this engine has the Trick Flow heads, which can’t run a factory rocker, we had to use an aftermarket piece, and the customer already had the Harland Sharp rockers. In some ways I’d rather use a factory rocker, but the Harland rockers are probably one of the lightest on the market, and he’d already invested the money, so we made it work.”

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The front of the aluminium LS wears an MMS timing pointer kit, ATI balancer, billet timing cover, Meziere water pump, a Warspeed alternator-only bracket kit, and polished cylinder head plates. The oil is held by a gated Moroso sump.

“There aren’t many people who spend the money building these early LS engines these days, simply because the gains with the later Gen IV engines are so much greater,” Troy says. “I can’t wait to see this one in the Torana; it should be a really good thing!”

Sound the trumpets

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The gorgeous billet individual-throttlebody manifold comes from Shaun’s Custom Alloy, and hides all its linkages under those wide-mouthed trumpets for a cleaner look. The cross-ram pattern has long been used on high-end circuit race engines due to its mid-range and top-end power capabilities.

Warspeed Industries, Sydney