LS2 Truck Engine Specs: Performance, Bore & Stroke, Cylinder Heads, Cam Specs & More

The LS2 “truck” engine could be found in the Chevy Trailblazer SS and SSR, plus the Saab 9-7X Aero. (Image/Truck Trend)

Mechanically similar, General Motors’ LS and LS-based Vortec engines wound up on almost every branch of the GM family tree: Chevy, Pontiac, GMC, Cadillac, Buick—heck, even Saab, Hummer, and Isuzu got some LS love.

Since LS and Vortec engines are so common, they’ve become the go-to performance and swap engines of the modern era.

These motors are capable of making a lot of horsepower, and respond well to upgrades like turbos, superchargers, high-flow cylinder heads, intake systems, cams, and nitrous oxide.

The aftermarket is strong, crate engines are available, and used motors are often cheaply sourced through junkyards.

[Do you have an LS2 truck engine you want to upgrade? Read: LS2 Truck Engine Upgrade Guide: Expert Advice for LS2 Truck-Engine Mods to Maximize Performance.]

Summit Racing has created a series of comprehensive guides for each engine in the LS family, so engine builders and tuners can have a handy reference for their projects.

This specific guide is for the GM LS2 engine that was found exclusively in trucks. The LS2 is noteworthy in that it is one of only two LS-series engines (the L76 is the other) that came in both cars and trucks. The respective car and truck versions of the LS2 (and L76) came with different accessory drives, intake manifolds, and oil pans. They also had different VIN codes.

There is a separate guide for the LS2 engine used in GM cars. You can read it here.

Note that LS2 engine specs differ, depending on which vehicle it was in.

For LS2 engines, the 8th digit of the engine/vehicle VIN will be “U” for cars and “H” for trucks.

If that 8th digit is neither a U or H, you probably don’t have an LS2. You can use our handy VIN decoder to find out exactly which LS engine you’ve got. 

You can see all of our LS engine spec guides and LS-related information here.

(Summit Racing’s Brian Nutter and Paul Spurlock contributed to this article.)

Chevy LS2 Truck Engine Specs (VIN H)

The LS2 is a 6.0L, Gen. 4, aluminum small block engine.

These data tables are for the LS2 that was used in GM trucks and SUV’s between 2005 and 2009.

The information listed here is for a stock engine.