The Corvette LS-7 that never was...

67HEAVEN

67HEAVEN

Well-known user
From the November 1982 issue of VETTE Magazine, by Roger Huntington...

1971ChevroletCorvette-LS7-article-Vette-Nov-82-p1.jpg

1971ChevroletCorvette-LS7-article-Vette-Nov-82-p2.jpg

1971ChevroletCorvette-LS7-article-Vette-Nov-82-p3.jpg

The LS7 454 big-block would have been the true descendant of the 1967-69 L88 427. Sadly, this would never make it to production in the early years of lower-compression engines and stricter emissions standards. It would not, however, have been a true descendant of the 1969 427 ZL1 due to its lack of the ZL1's all-aluminium engine block. That was to be another engine entirely which we can talk about some other time. ;)
 
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Norm

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454 never lived up to it's potential, wasn't even that great of a truck engine, lot of iron, make an excellent mooring buoy anchor....:)
 
67HEAVEN

67HEAVEN

Well-known user
sublimemike said:
Console plate
Octane advisory
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Sorry, Mike. I can't make out much in that photo. In any case, if you were asking, the LS7 'big block' was never a production engine. However, a person could 'create' one with parts from a Chevrolet dealer.

What were you showing us in the second photo?
 
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sublimemike

Well-known user
You are correct of course though legend has it a couple of prototype motors disappeared from a Chevy storage garage as stated In Mike Mueller's book. Back in 69 Jake Sheheey ordered the LS7 option for his new car. When GM pulled it he decided he would build his own complete with console plate that states 454 cu LS7. The car has Harrison rad , oil cooler , J88 brakes , Gulstrand suspension, M22, OK Kustom headers, Winters intake , ZL1 heads and date correct Holley L88 carb. Although Chevy never built the LS7 this is as close to what it would have been. I met with Mick - Yenko at the swop meet on sunday and decided to share it as the L88 post was relevant. 12.5 to 1 compression.
This is the car
 
67HEAVEN

67HEAVEN

Well-known user
sublimemike said:
You are correct of course though legend has it a couple of prototype motors disappeared from a Chevy storage garage as stated In Mike Mueller's book. Back in 69 Jake Sheheey ordered the LS7 option for his new car. When GM pulled it he decided he would build his own complete with console plate that states 454 cu LS7. The car has Harrison rad , oil cooler , J88 brakes , Gulstrand suspension, M22, OK Kustom headers, Winters intake , ZL1 heads and date correct Holley L88 carb. Although Chevy never built the LS7 this is as close to what it would have been. I met with Mick - Yenko at the swop meet on sunday and decided to share it as the L88 post was relevant. 12.5 to 1 compression.
This is the car
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Cool. Do you have any other photos of the console plate?
 
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sublimemike

Well-known user
I will try again . Camera phone and flash blinds it , I tried 10 times. It's amazing .. as if its factory. Car likes AV gas
 
67HEAVEN

67HEAVEN

Well-known user
By the way, for those reading this thread, and curious about Chevy's plans for 1970, the following shows the how things were supposed to evolve. However, increasing emission control standards and development of 5-mph bumpers took too much of engineering's time and money.

The 1969 L88 427 (aluminium heads, iron block) was to be succeeded by the 1970 LS7 454 (also aluminium heads, iron block)
The 1969 ZL1 427 (aluminium heads AND block) was to be succeeded by the 1970 LT2 454 (also aluminium heads AND block)

The story of the LT2 was posted back on March 6th here - 1970 Corvette LT2 (yeah, LT2) Enjoy!
 
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sublimemike

Well-known user
This is better (sonn's phone). The second sticker in the engine bay is interesting and was not readily available
 

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67HEAVEN

67HEAVEN

Well-known user
sublimemike said:
This is better (sonn's phone). The second sticker in the engine bay is interesting and was not readily available
Click to expand...

I took the liberty of comparing the L88 console plate with the one in your post. It's reasonably well done. As you will note, the L88 characters are all the same size font, and very close together. In the LS7 console plate, the L and the S are taller than the 7, and they are spaced wider. Also, the 4 (in the 427) has a longer horizontal tail that do the two 4s (in the 454). Still, it's pretty well done.(y)

L88-LS7-comparison.jpg
 
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sublimemike

Well-known user
Obviously this was never an official GM part but Jake tells me got it through the back door of the parts dept of whom he was a very good customer. There were many things GM didn't officially do but did at the time including a blue Harrison expansion tank designed for braided hoses and racing though GM did not have a race program then I believe.
 
67HEAVEN

67HEAVEN

Well-known user
sublimemike said:
It's very faded - not sure. I do have the original tank sticker though
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Thanks. Which engine did the car come with? Having just now noticed the 'DP' code, I'm betting the number on the partially-covered sticker is 3980209. That decodes to either the L46 350/350 (if the car was originally a small-block) or the LS5 454/390 (if the car was originally a big-block).

What does the tank sticker say for engine code?
 
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sublimemike

Well-known user
454 / 390. He had to take second best then built the LS7 motor almost immediately and used it for autocross events - hence all the rose jointed suspension, GM green sheet parts. Its only got 34k miles genuine
 
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