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More than a year has passed since our last crate motor buyers' guide graced the cover of the April 2006 GMHTP, and a lot has happened in the interim. The LS engine market continues to explode with new products from GM and the aftermarket alike. Whether it's the great value of GMPP's L92 cylinder heads, the appearance of super-strong LS engine blocks, or the myriad of new upgrades for the king-of-the-hill LS7, excitement is endless on the Gen III/IV engine front.
Because of these goings on, we've decided to forego the Gen I small-block and big-block Chevrolets we featured last year, and focus almost exclusively on the mushrooming market of Gen III and IV engines for this buyers' guide. We say "almost," because we're going to cover a few LT1-based mills as well, since we don't want readers with Gen Iiequipped rides to feel left out in the cold.
A few caveats: it should go without saying that we're only featuring engines that are EFI-equipped or EFI-ready-fuel injection is what GMHTP is all about. For our purposes, "crate motor" refers to an engine that's shipped complete, at least up to the cylinder heads. The engines you see here bridge the gap between fully assembled long-blocks (which include nearly everything except the intake manifold), and complete turnkey engines. Some of the latter even come with wiring harnesses and PCMs to facilitate installation into vehicles that never had EFI from the factory. (As you may have already noticed, we're also using the terms "engine" and "motor" interchangeably-if you take issue with this, my best advice would be to cry about it.) Also note that each manufacturer has offerings other than those listed here, and in many cases, we've included a smattering of them in the company description and the "comments" data file entry. And while we've tried to be as accurate as possible, engine specifications may vary.
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