LS Crate Engines

The engine family commonly called the LS series debuted in 1997. General Motors called it the Gen-III Small-Block, with the iron-block versions in trucks and the all-aluminum LS1 introduced in the then-new C5 Corvette. GM has continued to refer to its modern V-8 engine family as Gen III and Gen IV, but to the enthusiasts who quickly grasped the tremendous performance potential of the engines, every engine of the platform is nicknamed “LS.”