By V8s have always been the bread and butter of the American muscle car, with Chevrolet’s LS-family small block reigning as one of the most popular engine swaps for any vehicle around the world. If your car came with an LS, however, it’s very likely an LS3, chevrolet’s 6.2L OHV weapon of choice in the modern muscle car wars. The GM LS3 is found in the vast majority of C6 Corvettes, 6th-generation Camaro SS-es, the entire Holden Commodore and Caprice family, as well as a multitude of other bespoke vehicles using crate-purchased versions of the engine– the same architecture was even used for Chevrolet’s LS9, LSA, L99, and more. Basically, the LS is inevitable, whether it’s in your next muscle car or getting put in your next ‘90s Japanese drift project. But with 426 horsepower off the bat, where do you go from there?
More power, obviously! One of the easiest ways to get more power out of any small block chevy engine is a high-flow intake manifold, and here we’re going to take a look at intakes for your LS3-based motor. This means that (with slight modifications and supporting electronics), these high performance intake manifolds will fit on almost any 6.2L V8 Chevrolet, GMC, Cadillac, Holden, or Pontiac vehicle from 2008 until at least 2015. For specific fitment and necessary accessories, check the product pages for your intake of choice to make sure it’ll work for you!
Basic Upgrades
Warranties are a really cool thing. And, if your vehicle still happens to have a factory warranty from Chevrolet, there are actually a few major upgrades you can do to your LS3 without yeeting the terms and conditions of your repair plan into the trash faster than last week’s stack of car memes. Chevrolet Performance offers a few parts that will bolt onto your Camaro, Corvette, GMC Yukon, etc. For a start, if you don’t have an LS3 proper, the OEM LS3 intake manifold can be made to fit almost all of Chevrolet’s 6.0L and 6.2L Gen III/IV small block engines. It’s actually a bolt-on for the L99, bringing your engine quickly up from its “measly” 400 standard horsepower to near 420. These intakes are available with or without the necessary 90mm throttle body and fuel injectors from Chevrolet performance dealers. If you’re beyond your warranty terms or planning to just go nuts anyway, the first thing you should look into is an upgraded hood, as aftermarket intakes aren’t necessarily low-profile. These are available for your vehicle from Chevrolet Performance, or another aftermarket-style hood from your choice manufacturer.
Bigger and Badder
If you want more power, “more air” is the most obvious suggestion we can make, so a bigger throttle body opening and larger runners are a logical next step. Intakes like the FAST LSXR 146102B offer a 102mm opening for a much larger throttle body than stock, but can also adapt to the stock 90mm throttle body. The FAST LSXR can add 14 horsepower and 11 lb-ft of torque when bolted into an otherwise stock car, but supporting mods like a cold air intake (check out our article on those!) and free-flowing exhaust only make that more powerful. The LSXR series intake manifolds are also unique in that they can be refit with different-length modular intake runners (standard, high-hp, and race) to help shift your power band around and meld with the rest of your engine modifications.
Oversimplification
If you’re looking for some extreme changes to your vehicle’s intake, the next step beyond “make it bigger” is “make it straighter.” Holley Sniper Hi-Ram intake manifolds bolt onto the stock heads of your LS3/L92 and provide direct flow from the top-mounted intake plenum through 140mm runners into all eight of your cylinders. Holley hi-ram intakes also include intake manifold gaskets and custom fuel rails engraved with their “Sniper” logo. This is as straight-lines-and-sheet-metal as intakes get for the LS3, and as such the Sniper manifolds are fairly affordable; the only caveat is that you’re gonna have to use a really big shoehorn to fit one under the stock hood of your Camaro, Corvette, or GM truck. With a good cam, cold air intake, and exhaust to compliment a Sniper Hi-Ram, you’ll be making big power in no time.
Out of the Ordinary
LS engines can make a lot of power naturally aspirated, but the real fun begins with forced induction. There are tons of different options available, but the most power is usually available through a twin set of turbochargers. But if you’ve got one throttle body, where does the second turbocharger feed?
The answer is a second throttle body! Edelbrock’s Cross-Ram intake is a crazy piece of hardware. Instead of the standard center 1-to-8 throttle body of many other intake manifolds, the Cross-Ram uses two 92mm throttle bodies, with each one being directed at one bank of cylinders. This means you’re doubling the amount of airflow into the cylinder heads compared to stock, which (with supporting fuel and exhaust mods) can get you well over 600 horsepower at the crank even naturally aspirated. However, Edelbrock designed this intake with the idea of a turbocharger feeding each throttle body, so… let your imagination run wild!
But why stop there?
An intake manifold gets your engine inhaling as well as it possibly can, and seriously increases your horsepower. If you’re looking to go further and faster, there are lots of other modifications you can do to your vehicle, and each of them are complemented by one another. Check out the Motoroso Marketplace performance air intake manifolds, cold air intakes, camshafts, headers, and more for your LS build!
