garye

Does certain mods start eroding the reliability and longevity of the C6 LS3 engine? I will quantify this by saying the car is not being driven hard (drag/motocross) but spirited acceleration on occasion, with hard 2nd and 3rd gear pulls.
Headers (Pfadts)
Cold air intake Vararam snake Charmer
mild comp cam, my biggest concern
Professional tune

The work has been done and it sounds and runs great, but the question came up in conversation with a know- it -all saying the lifespan of my motor is half of what it would have been if I had left it stock.

thanks for any comeback info that may shut him up, or is he right?

Tonylmiller

Difficult to say, with any certainty. It is really a statistical question, since not all stock engines will fail identically.

The only configuration that is tested and warranted to last is the stock configuration. However, many people have had good results with modded engines, including forced induction.

There is always a chance your engine will fail the next time you drive it. But with the LS3, I think your chances are good that you will be fine.

JAvery20

I think another good question is, whats a motors half life anymore? 150k?

Its not 1974 and engine/drivetrain components are not giving out at 80k.

I ran my previous c5 from 10,000-96,000 with a 150 shot most of the way. No issues other than replacing spark plugs more than I would like.

The big beating is done down low. If you are launching on sticky tires at a high rpm, thats when you're really pushing the envelope. Highway pulls on street tires should not sound any alarms.

Don't get too worked up over mods, longevity, and people's opinions. If it breaks, it breaks. Big deal. If it puts a smile on your face countless times before that, I say go for it and never look back.

smurfkiller

headers and intake certainly not prob increase it. cam if its conserative and installed correctly and tuned properly longevity is not a problem. Gering has a 08 with cam, heads, headers, intake, fast 102, tuned and has over 150,000 miles with no problems.

i have no fear in hurting longevity i modded everything on mine and its my dd.

high9s

I would not be concerned about your mods at all. You are just helping the motor breath better. FWIW I have 47k miles on a LS2 at 620 rwhp without a problem.

Your car is set up the way you want it and its fun to drive, your "friend" is jealous and just wants to rain on your parade. I couldn't drive a stock Vette again, I have been ruined. enjoy your car ignore the know it all.

Pfadt Racing

I completely agree. With a conservative cam, longevity should not be an issue at all. Very aggressive cam profiles are a trade-off, but it doesn't sound like you are heading down that road. As another member stated, you're just helping it breath a little better. The benefit of the added power is a nice perk as well

Pfadt Race Engineering
888-972-2464
info@pfadtracing.com

BluV

I have 97k miles on mine, supercharged since 35k (600HP). Headers and intake even earlier than that. I drive it hard - but not necessarily every day.

It is my DD, my autocross car, my HPDE/PDX car, cross country vacation car.

I have had things break on it - but not a single one of them were powertrain related.

Like Tony said above - not all engines fail the same way/time. You should easily make it to 100k miles with those mods though.

SpinMonster

To people who don't wrench on cars, an engine must seem a daunting big deal. If you did ever fail, a replacement used short block installed is about $1200-1800 plus about $1500 in labor. Since I can swap it out myself in about 12 hours complete, I could care less if it failed after 100K. What is far more likely to fail is the transmission and thats $2700 new or $1200 used. If the car is driven normally, the trans wont fail from any mod you have.

Now to answer your question, beating on any engine, modded or not, will eventually result in a failure. Driving it sanely and not banging gears like you stole it, will return the same life span as if it was stock with your current mods. I regularly hear from people with 100k daily driven boost motors making over 700rwhp. I've seen 140K on cammed N/A builds that arent near death by virtue of them not blowing smoke out the tailpipe.

Airflow mods such as headers, exhaust, and a higher flow air cleaner assembly actually extend an engines life by making it a more efficient air pump with less back pressure. The only thing a cam kills are valve springs but they are a cheap replacement item. Bone stock cars actually have huge power problems by 100k miles because they ingest oil with the PCV system. This causes carbon deposits to build up in the combustion chamber. These hot spots cause timing to be pulled killing power. Its why I suggest running meth injection even on N/A cars which nets you 20rwhp. Meth steam cleans as you drive it under heavy acceleration. When I de-modded my car to sell it, the heads came off and it was the cleanest set of pistons I'd seen in a long time. I didnt recirculate the crankcase into the intake and I ran meth with my cammed, supercharged, nitrous, every bolt-on motor.

Ignore comments about longevity from those mods. Enjoying your car with rolling into the throttle does nothing to kill you engine than it would if it was stock. Many buy a car thinking they want it to last forever but the newer model eventually calls your name.

truckplay

the wilder the setup the more wear it will get and therefore shorter it's life. I would not worry too much unless you are going to beat your car to death but do expect more maintanance. some oil usage, valve spring changes (high lift cam) brakes, tires, clutch ... depending on how hard you drive it. keep reminding yourself WHO IS WRITING THE CHECKS and you should be fine.

schizcat

Like others have said....don't worry about it. Really, unless you are using those mods (or more) to their full potential every day or every weekend at the track, your chances are greater. If you light her up every once in a while, then you will be fine. Fortunately, these engines can take more of a beating than earlier motors. That being said, always remember they are not bullet proof and have the potential to have issues with or without mods.

garye

Thanks for the replies everyone