Originally Posted by white_n_slow

You can make it perfectly reliable if you use the right parts and think about what you're doing... most people just slap a vtec head onto their 150k mile LS and call it a day, which is why they have such a bad reputation. At the very least you need shot-peened LS rods and ARP rod bolts. Basically, if you have a crvtec/lsvtec that wasn't completely stripped down, it's not a good one.