Engines fade. Most of them disappear quietly, forgotten in junkyards and repair shops.
The Chevrolet LS series didn’t follow those rules. For more than 70 years, this small-block V8 lineage held on. It stuck.
But one icon has to go.
The LS9 Long Block crate motor is being discontinued.
If you check Chevrolet’s performance catalog, you won’t have to guess. The page is straightforward. A big, gray “Discontinued” label sits right over the image. It’s over.
C6 ZR1 drivers know what that engine felt like.
638 horsepower isn’t just a number on a spec sheet.
This 6.2-liter beast came from the supercharged C6 Corvette ZR1, sitting in production for nearly ten years. Under the hood? Titanium connecting rods. A forged rotating assembly. Cast aluminum block. It was built tough, then made to scream.
Restomodders loved it. Home builders too. It wasn’t just for Corvettes either. The HSV GTSR W1 down in Australia used one. The obscure Equus Bass 770 from Detroit did too.
For Chevy, ending the LS9 line feels like closing a book chapter. There are plenty of other crate engines available now, though none hit those specific notes quite the same way.
Something else is coming
Chevy didn’t announce the end quietly.
They dropped a hint simultaneously.
On Instagram, Chevrolet Performance posted a blurry, shadowed close-up of an engine block. Hoses, connectors, the familiar bowtie logo. The caption?
‘something BIG’.
The layout looks familiar. Modern pushrod architecture.
It fits the news from just a few months back. GM tossed $888 million into its Tonawanda Propulsion Plant for small-block V8 development. The message was clear. They are betting on eight cylinders. These engines will power the next generation of pickup trucks. Maybe even future muscle cars.
Who else builds an engine teardown ad without showing the whole thing?
The LS9 leaves a gap. A loud, supercharged gap. But with Tonawanda revved up and the factory lines moving forward, the silence won’t last.
What shape will the new big thing take? We’re guessing it has a supercharger of its own.
