[Sirrotica]

Originally Posted by shoebox1.1

These motors have 4 bolts around each cylinder right? That’s a tiny flaw in my book

When GM designed the LS engine, they eliminated the 17 bolts that were used in the SBC, in favor of the 4 bolts per cylinder, 10 bolts per head, same as the Pontiac Stratostreak engine uses. Both engines were to be used in production cars and trucks. GM deemed 4 bolts per cylinder as adequate in production engines, same as Pontiac engineers did in the early 50s when the Stratostreak engine was designed.

GM did add a provision on the later LS performance engines to add more head bolts per cylinder, however these were to be used in performance applications, (such as forced induction) not designed for daily driver duty.

Through the ages many 4 bolt per cylinder fasteners have been used, and when this design is used the fasteners are upsized high quality fasteners. The deck of the 4 bolt per cylinder head is usually thicker to have a stiffer sealing surface than other designs. The block deck is also thicker/stiffer in the sealing surface.