apathy

Greetings all.

As the purchase of my LS1 draws near (Memorial Day weekend, knock on wood), I'm wondering about what mods I can do.

I'd like to do a very high horsepower N/A setup, which will probably involve a motor swap from what I've read.

However, a few questions...

Assuming I keep the stock block, what's the highest HP I can maintain without sacrificing basic driveability (it isn't a daily driver, but will be playing with it possibly every other night for at least a few miles)? I'm assuming I would get a Trex cam for the engine...maybe a stroker kit? Truthfully I don't know what works with what.

Assuming I don't keep the stock block, what numbers can I shoot for with relation to pricing?

Also, what mods can I do in the meantime? Assuming an engine swap, I know I can do suspension mods, tires, etc., but as far as bolt ons go, I'd rather not waste money in something I'll end up throwing away after a swap.

Oh, and I know next to nothing about engines, so the less fanatically technical you are, the better. Thanks in advance.

SilverGhost

iTrader: (53)

hmmm.

i think you should start by doing some searches in various sections to get a general idea about mods, period.

that's alot of stuff you just threw out and without putting at least some more specific goals for the car, it'll be hard to get some detailed answers.

for example..what is your budget? is this a daily driver? how important are good street manners to you?(i.e-car dying at stop lights, surging, needing race gas)

basic q's like that you need to think about a bit before deciding what direction to go with the car setup wise..

foff667

iTrader: (2)

ported heads & mild cam will give you better driveability than just a big ole cam like the trex...also having a huge cam will do little good if the rest of your mods dont support it...id say take it slow TRY to do all the work yourself as you can learn about engines you can make well over 400hp with a 346 ci motor with an m6 pretty easily so dont go talking motor swap just yet...there are guys in the 10's on the stock block NA so its a good platform...and before jrp chimes in do a search you'll find tons of info about everything and anything youve ever wanted to know about ls1's.

lata
Bill

apathy

Thanks for the info, will definitely do some looking around on the site.

Main question I could use answered is assuming I get an engine swap, what mods would still be useful? Since that's where I'll start modding the car. I listed suspension, tires.

As far as budget goes, it doesn't really matter at this point. I don't have anything else to buy right now, so aside from my down payment on a house I'm saving up for, I can do whatever I want. I'm only 22, with a great fulltime job.

It isn't a daily driver (as listed in my post ), but will be driven fairly often. Assume every other night-ish.

I would prefer the car didn't die at stoplights, but being loud, having high cam lope, etc. doesn't really bother me. No race gas for me, if possible.

Goals? At least over 500 rwhp. Hopefully closer to 600. Will have to do more research to check on feasibilty.

Not very interested in fast 1/4 mile times...not planning on taking her to the track too much. Would just like to say that I have owned a 500+ rwhp car.

Definitely planning on doing or at least participating in most of the work myself.

I'm just trying to build up a starting shopping list, but don't know what all I should be looking into. Like I said, I'd rather buy something that i can keep no matter what than something I'll end up tossing out. Thanks again.

SilverGhost

iTrader: (53)

well if you're looking for that kind of rear wheel you will more than likely be doing more than just heads and cam..if you want to stay N/A. A good heads, cam, intake, exhaust, tuning and a nice nitrous setup will easily cover that number.

but if you want to stay n/a then you might be looking at going bigger cubes. there have been a couple sponsors like LG that have hit the 500 RWHP mark with heads and cam, but that's an exception, not the rule by any means with heads and cam setups for these cars.

Sounds like you want a bad *** street car. If you don't want to focus as much on drag racing then that will effect alot of things, such as your suspension choices, gear choice, weight reduction or lack thereof, converter size if you have an A4..lots of things..

not trying to confuse anything, just trying to get a handle on the situation and help you start in the right direction..

Colonel

Sounds like you'll be wanting a 400ci+ engine to me...possibly with a solid lift cam. You should contact some of our sponsors and weigh your options.

foff667

iTrader: (2)

yah sounds like a big cube motor to me unless you wanna go w/ nitrous or FI...look at it this way anything over 500hp is gonna cost you that down payment on the house...and maybe a few extra

apathy

No doubt.

I'm not going for the end product immediately, so I'll be okay. I'm very budget-minded (reason I currently own my car in my name), so I'm trying to get a general direction to go with.

So, lets get down to my original goal of this thread (got off on a tangent myself). Let's assume that I am going to swap the motor. What can/should I do now that I won't be getting rid of later? I wouldn't mind putting a couple hundred in mods on for the time being, but don't want to drop 800 dollars on something that won't be used later. I'd like to go ahead and get a list of items (even a small list) to start shopping for and planning on.

I guess tires and a new rear would probably be in order, along with gearing. Various suspension mods to help put power down?

This is an M6 car, by the way. I'll worry about looking at another powerplant later. The LS1 has plenty of power already, so I'm not looking to immediately up it. I'd rather have useable power to start with rather than jumping on 400 torque that I can't control. I'll work on the power I can't control later.

foff667

iTrader: (2)

9in, 12 bolt,intake, lid,good LT headers, pulley, that should give you a good start.

Pro Stock John

iTrader: (34)

A reaction....

400-425rwhp
-heads
-mild cam (224-114 as a baseline)
-headers
-cats or no cats
-3" catback or cutout

425-450rwhp
-heads
-big cam
-possibly dual exhaust, exhaust getting exotic

450-500rwhp
-heads
-big cam
-stroked bottom end
-headers
-big exhaust

500-600rwhp
-has maybe been done once with a street car
-big cubes
-stage III heads
-solid lift cam
-hi compression
-sheetmetal intake

I did 475rwhp with an iron block 422ci in an A4 with a 9" and slicks, so it was an easy 500rwhp with a M6.

I currently make 746rwhp with a blower and a stock displacement 9:1 motor.

apathy

Wow, thanks John, that's just what I was looking for.

As far as all this:

Just verifying that this can stay on no matter what I do to the engine.

foff667

iTrader: (2)

pulley's swap over with no issues, if you get yourself a good set of LT's like QTP's or Kooks you should be fine...the only slight issue you may have is primary size, lid is cheap and normally with stay, intake is about the only one thats iffy, youve got the ls6 intakes right now which if youve got an 01-02 youve already got one and to be honest the lsx hasnt show me much so id just keep that if i were you.