[DeTomaso] New engine

[JDeRyke at aol.com]

The LS-series motors have borrowed so many features from the 1970 351 
Cleveland, it should be prettty familiar for us working around the thing. It has 
features borrowed from the Ford modulars, too. There are a few things they 
dropped the ball on, specifically- in order to cram a water pump, distributor 
and a gearotor oil pump into the front end of the block ala Ford Modular, 
for a low hood line, there's only room for a single-row cam chain, which 
makes me nervous. The direct cam-driven distributor has been a source of trouble 
since they hung it on the last of the LT-series engines, mostly from 
condensation build up inside the less-than-1/2" thick distributor case. The early 
gearotor oil pumps were too small to deliver enough pressure for performance 
work, so look for this as an add-on to wrecking yard engines from the newer 
models. The late semi-dry-sump system seems problematic too and was likely 
added to shrink the thickness of the oil pan for ground clearance rather 
than for real performance work. A few Chevy guys have changed back to the early 
wet-sump engines and gained power & reliability. That's all I've heard- 
never actually worked on one myself. FWIW- J DeRyke