GM once had the most reliable Gas V8’s. And V6’s too. Many of them based somehow on the original 350. As soon as they started improving them then reliability went to crap. Plastic everywhere.
Blame the Government, not the engineers............
“Plastic everywhere.”
That’s due to the tough CAFE standards. They took out every ounce of metal they could. Our 1983 VW Jetta interior was all plastic and every bit of plastic in that car broke off.
We had a 1987 Volvo 740 Turbo. Great car, but lots of plastic crap. One day we took a family trip to San Francisco (back when you could do that) and parked in a garage. We came back and a lot of coolant was on the floor. The bastards had used a PLASTIC heater control valve on the coolant line. The entire plastic barb fitting snapped off from the plastic valve body. There are places you just don’t use plastic and hot coolant is one of them. Idiot engineers.
LS engines in commercial service often go 300,000 miles. Not sure what you’re talking about.
The “original 350” which was based upon the original 265?