Originally posted by billlsbird
Hey Xtremes, If this was my project & I had the goals that you have I'd go with a used LS1. I have a LT1 Firebird & used to hang out a lot over at www.camaroz28.com & it doesn't take a whole lot to get an LS1 into the 11's. An LS1 Firebird/Camaro would go low 13's right off the showroom floor. Headers, a cold air intake, higher stall converter, the proper gears & tires and they are in the 11's. Your going to have to get headers anyway, your buying a new converter so you can get a higher stall {your not replacing anything}, you can build a home made intake for next to nothing, etc. etc. etc.... Stu Cool mentioned an LS1 from a truck or SUV, I'd check on that {I don't know the differences, if any, on those LS1's}. Go to that web site under the 'Gen III engine' section & check it out. I'd say that you already have your hands full with the engine, trans, rear end, etc. install to also tackle totally rebuilding/assemling an engine. You could get a running LS1 that doesn't need to be rebuilt. If you wanted to built it faster in the future and do a rebuild w/ cam/heads, computer tune, etc. & your in the 10's. Add nitrous??? Woooo, the possibilities are endless. You've got modern technology on your side with this engine. Lots of room for future upgrades. That' hard to beat. An example is they come stock with {I forgot exactly} but I think it's 15 degree heads {or is it 14?}. The first Gen. heads are 23 degree & going to even 18 degree heads will cost a fortune. 15 degree heads put the valves at a straighter up angle so the air/fuel goes into the cylinders at a straigther shot. In ANY motor the heads are where the power is...... Although with modern technology your getting away from the basic trouble shooting techniques; i/e if your car doesn't start you MANUALLY first check the spark, then gas & such. With the LS1 its done by computer.
You mentioned boring & stroking a 400 block? Well, good 400 blocks are hard to find & you need a good one for boring. A Dart block is $2000 plus. Good heads for the 400 are $1200 up {approx.... I have a 400 with AFR heads, they were $1440}.
The LS1 will be more streetable & get better gas milage. The LS1 ALREADY has a roller cam. Roller cam, roller lifters, roller rockers for a 400? $1000 or so..... Check out www.campbellenterprises.com it has a Quarter mile calculator which says that you'll need 525 HP {flywheel} to go 11.60 {at 3200 pounds}. That's easier & probably cheaper with an LS1..... hope this helps ya..... bill
only problem with that is that the starting used motor would be somewhere around $2000 and thats for 70-90k in miles, however, I am wondering if I could build the 6.0l block, but I cant find a rotating assembly cheap enough, cheapest I found was $2300 for that GENIII plus I need coil packs, injectors, cam, heads and associated parts, tranny ($1500 priced out), headers, ect... and I have a budget of however much I want to spend, but it has to be done soon, I have $2700 to start with, but the 6.0l and ls1 have already been discussed, the swap parts are actually more however, $70 for motor mounts, $400 for headers, I cant find a cheap set of heads with a cam, which if I did the LS1, I would def do a larger cam (.575/.575'ish) on stock bored, and a new set of heads or ported and polished heads, unless you think there is a combination I could do to make the horsepower out of a 6.0l or 5.7l without the big money in the heads to make it into 11.6* area, the main main reason for this is to beat my dad's firehawk, running 11.73 on his LS6, which is putting 495 horse at the flywheel. any ideas? would it be cheaper to buy the ls1 complete and used ot buy the 6.0l block and build that?