Chevrolet Performance (once known as GM Performance Parts, or GMPP) has been a long-standing supplier of officially manufactured and marketed speed parts and crate engines from General Motors. Offering a full catalog of performance, cosmetic and OEM replacement parts for various GM vehicles and engine platforms, it’s as close to getting a replacement or specs’d up engine directly from Chevrolet.
Over the years, Chevrolet Performance has been known to add and remove specific parts or engine offerings that are no longer deemed relevant, popular, or no longer can be produced; whether it’s cosmetic items, suspension components or horsepower creating camshafts, cylinder heads or even complete crate engines. One of their most popular offerings, the LS7 crate engine, has just met a similar fate. having been a staple in the Chevrolet Performance catalog for over a decade, to has finally met its demise.
The LS7, in its original format, first hit the streets in 2006 in the then-brand new C6 Z06 Corvette. Featuring 427 cubic inches and 505hp (NET, for you graybeards out there) of all-aluminum small-block and a dry-sump oiling system, it was seen as a technological leap for pushrod technology from GM. It’s been said, documented, and known that the “real horsepower rating” of the 
engine was closer to 540hp, but it was publically-rated conservatively for insurance purposes.
With a large-displacement and a rev-happy valvetrain, it made for the perfect balance of large amounts of torque and a power band perfect for road racing. As a result, every Z06 Corvette from 2006-2013 had one, as well as the very track-focused, and limited edition, 5th-gen Camaro Z/28 of 2014-15.
The engine would go on top become something of a staple in the parts catalogue, and was even available in various formats; such as its standard dry-dump, a wet sump variant, and a 570hp (LS427/570) version that was simply brutal; offering supercharged LSA-levels of horsepower, without the added weight of the blower.
General Motors will continue fulfilling orders until the very last crate is shipped out, and then that’s that. Will there be some form of replacement? Nothing is publicly known as of this writing, but we’ll keep our fingers crossed.
Rick Seitz is the owner and founder of GMEFI Magazine, and has a true love and passion for all vehicles. When he isn’t tuning, testing, or competing with the brand’s current crop of project vehicles, he’s busy tinkering and planning the next modifications for his own cars.
