Pictures of an LS1 head

I think Ford really let us down for quite some years, with the conservative heads and compression, on the 302. The ls1s run a higher compression and (as seen here) much better flowing heads. Better heads on the 5.0 make a huge difference, good heads and cam on a 5.0 put it right with the ls1. I think Ford did it to keep the warranty issues down, makes sense from a business standpoint.