304 or LS1, personal opinions.

[(CODEZ)]

Hey everyone,

Over the years I have heard a lot of people saying that they have sold/written off/had stolen their 304 powered Holden and moved onto the LS1.

Alot of these people have said that they personally find the LS1 to be crap (without a solid reason) and would rather the 304.

I have no personal experience driving either of these since I havent had my license for long and still have my first car (a V6).

So, I would like to hear everyones personal opinions on this subject, eg. which engine they prefer and why.

Cheers

[(CODEZ)]

no one likes V8's? LOL

[HARVZ-6]

ls1 all the way, besides 5lts sounding awesome lol


alot more potential, easier to get big figures and seem alot more reliable than the 5l



its like in a old ute for instance, would you go a 308 or the 350?

same situation

[(CODEZ)]

yeah mate totally understand what your saying

just wondering what everyones personal preferences are since theres alot of hardcore 5L supporters out there

[Reaper]

Speaking from experience here having owned countless 5 litres dating back to LH/X Toranas (points ignition suck chunky ones - check out wiki for those too young to have heard of that concept), Brock black motors, VN 5 litres, 5 Litre "VK" Group A motors, 3 x Gen III's and a couple of 6 litres.

In stock form, the 5.7 leaves any 5 litre in the dust. No iffs buts or maybes. That said, the 5.7 is a little difficult to get off the line compared to any of the 5 litres. A change in diff ratio would go a long way to correcting this issue.

One thing to be said for the Holden motor - put a decent exhaust on it and the note leaves **all** the others for dead and sounds down right horny at 5000 rpm. Overall I enjoy all my motors for one reason or another - My personal fav is the 50cc leaf blower motor at the moment . I wonder if I should start a thread on small cc 2 stroke mods.......

Reaper

[burnz]

i love both!

both are reliable, both go very well when modded.
lsx has more power potenial, the 304 has the sound, with its odd fireing order.

[(CODEZ)]

My personal fav is the 50cc leaf blower motor at the moment . I wonder if I should start a thread on small cc 2 stroke mods.......

Reaper

do it lol

thanks for the info mate

[ryno_vrx]

i love both!

both are reliable, both go very well when modded.
lsx has more power potenial, the 304 has the sound, with its odd fireing order.

time for a noob question what do you mean odd firing order?
and i love the sound of my 5lt

[Reaper]

Holden V8 firing order: 1 2 7 8 4 5 6 3
Chev LS1 firing order: 1 8 7 2 6 5 4 3
Small block Chev (old): 1 8 4 3 6 5 7 2
Ford Windsor: 1 5 4 8 6 3 7 2
Ford Clevo: 1 3 7 2 6 5 4 8

Reaper

[ryno_vrx]

oh ok kool thanks i never really noticed

[SimoVXSS]

When looking at buying my latest ride, was looking at either a VT 5L or VX 5.7L

You simply cant beat the LS1 when it comes to performance. In the end no point having a nice sound and being left for dead IMO.

Plus bang on a nice exhaust and a LS1 sounds awesome!

[redcv6]

first thing first. the 5ltr sound, fu*k me dead, just beautiful. ls1 to be perfectly honest is ok, but nothing to special in my PERSONAL opinion.

power: 5ltr never going to compete with the lsx butttttttttttt stroking it to 355 or 383, well game on!

carby 5tlr = my favourite v8 in a holden

[pedrotski]

5l feels like it has more tourqe stock. My car mops up most ls1's with mild mods. Esp off the line.

[ScoHar]

I think the problem here is most 5L were in lighter cars i.e VL-VS and majority of LS1's are in the later cars, as said above 5L sounds great and has quite good pickup, even though its fuel injected it has little 'extras' the LS1 is also a great motor with its direct coil on plug situation and being alloy of course too.

each to their own if I could have a VS with an LS1 yes but if I could have a VX with a 5L no thanks.

[stocky]

I think the problem here is most 5L were in lighter cars i.e VL-VS and majority of LS1's are in the later cars, as said above 5L sounds great and has quite good pickup, even though its fuel injected it has little 'extras' the LS1 is also a great motor with its direct coil on plug situation and being alloy of course too.

each to their own if I could have a VS with an LS1 yes but if I could have a VX with a 5L no thanks.

its too bad that the direct coil on plug causes it to be an ugly looking motor. thats one thing i like about the 304s, the simplicity of the way they look

[ScoHar]

its too bad that the direct coil on plug causes it to be an ugly looking motor. thats one thing i like about the 304s, the simplicity of the way they look

agree'd they look much better, with its metal covers and not cheap tacky plastic everywhere.

[greenfoam]

Stock for Stock the 5 litre makes 400 nm of torque at 3200 rpm the LS1 makes 460 at 4400 rpm. So there's not much in it at all up to 4000 rpm with the 5 litre having the edge at 3500 I'd say, but the 304 falls over at about 4500. A healthy stock 5 litre in a Auto VN will run 9.7 on the 1/8th mile stock. A stock Auto LS1 in a VX will run about 9.4 So there's your performance difference. Over the 1/4 mile the gap is greater because the LS1 is much stronger on the top end. Being a much bigger engine with a MUCH better manifold the LS1 responds better to bolt on mods. I think the LS1 is a great motor, if your main goal is to go fast then that's what you want. But the 304 is a proper Holden and the sound of the thing alone for me makes it a keeper. There's not many factory towing motor kind of V8s that can match the 5 litre for sound, some of the Fords come close. Back in the carby days I used to think chev small block sounded better than the Holden V8 but when the injected motor came out in the VN my idea on that switched

[johnvtls1]

after driving an ls1 then going and driving a mates 5 liter, the 5 liter felt about as strong as my old v6. sure they sound nice but who cares how good a car sounds if its slow. having never drive a 355 or 383 but looking at the power they make i dont think they would be as good as a tuned ls1. an LS1 with a tune exhaust and a high stall will run mid 12's all day, it takes a lot of cash to get a 5 liter that quick.

[blueV8vl]

i love the ls1s with a cam and nice exhaust sound awsome and got the pwr to back it up.
i own a 308 but there all noise have more fun in a ls1.

[FusionX]

Old 5 litre for me. Why? Because a 355 can easily run 10's and still be streetable. While the LS1's can aswell and for cheaper, it's my choice to spend a little bit more and have the quick 355.

[johnvtls1]

Old 5 litre for me. Why? Because a 355 can easily run 10's and still be streetable. While the LS1's can aswell and for cheaper, it's my choice to spend a little bit more and have the quick 355.

but its not a little more its a shit load more. pretty sure a 355 costs at least 10g. that wont get u 10's alone. ull probably need a shit load of nos or FI or both. LS1's can run 10's with nothing more then a cam change, exhaust, diff gears and a big highstall. all that comes in at well under 10g. Theres even an ls1 ute that i know of that runs 11.4 with the motor being stock standard.

[FusionX]

I can think of atleast 4 cars in WA running 355's that run 10's without nitrous or forced induction (including my own and the current WA Super Street Champion) It all comes down the having done research and testing, which is where the expense is. The wrong manifold can cost half a second, wrong tyre sizing, another half a second. Head/Cam/manifold selection is critial on these things, with the right knowledge, its easy to make them quick. You said it in your first post, you don't know 355/383's.

[johnvtls1]

I can think of atleast 4 cars in WA running 355's that run 10's without nitrous or forced induction (including my own and the current WA Super Street Champion) It all comes down the having done research and testing, which is where the expense is. The wrong manifold can cost half a second, wrong tyre sizing, another half a second. Head/Cam/manifold selection is critial on these things, with the right knowledge, its easy to make them quick. You said it in your first post, you don't know 355/383's.

ok well i stand correct, but it would still cost a shit load more then it would an ls1. how much has it cost you too run 10's?

[crewsy]

ok well i stand correct, but it would still cost a shit load more then it would an ls1. how much has it cost you too run 10's?

I definately think it would cost more to get a 5L to run 10's.
Nothing sounds as good though and with a couple of mods like diff gears, cam swap and heads, I think the sound of a 5L is good enough for the power it makes too then

[FusionX]

To build the driveline (motor/box/diff) looking around $15,000 to do it again.