a friend of mines had a n/a ls. It did good for what it was. Stock ls bottomend besides the b16 pistons, ported/polished head/and stock LS intake manifold w/ Crower cams springs and retainers, B16 throttle body, Kamikazee header w/ 2.5" exhaust, and msd ingnition. He made right at 180whp. And ran 13.5's in his DC integra. This was his everyday driver. Not knocking it one bit. It beat ALOT of ppl! But he went vtec eventually and he said he couldnt believe what he had been missng out on.
But me personally, i'm bias to the vtec heads here too. I've had LS's and vtec's. Both boosted and N/A's. But most of my enjoyment is with the vtec's.Even right now my stock jdm itr is making 190whp/135w.torque.
Build what you want to build. Everyone has they way of doin things and what they like. See if you can suprise us with some big ###'s out of an LS. Good luck with you quest.