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Performance mods on high mileage cars

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Old 10-22-2005, 09:27 PM
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Default Performance mods on high mileage cars

I now have 56,000 miles on my car and plan on doing some extensive mods within the next couple of months. I was wondering how far I should go without any work on the bottom end? What mileage is the cutoff point more or less for a highly modded engine before you should consider pistons, rods, crank, etc.?
Old 10-22-2005, 09:43 PM
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people have put blowers on cars with 80-90+ miles on them. Gives you something to think about....
Old 10-22-2005, 09:50 PM
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As long as you've kept up with ordinary maintenance items and have good leakdown / compression #s, there's no reason to hold back IMHO. My car was basically stock for 93k miles before I started modding it.
Old 10-22-2005, 10:07 PM
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Originally Posted by bshell
As long as you've kept up with ordinary maintenance items and have good leakdown / compression #s, there's no reason to hold back IMHO. My car was basically stock for 93k miles before I started modding it.
I'm not too worried about it at 56,000 but I will do at least a compression check. If I find any problems, I would want to find them before I start all this work. I guess every car has a different history and it's probably a tough question to answer.
Old 10-22-2005, 11:19 PM
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56,000 miles, that's nothing. As long as maintenance has been done on her, get a compression test. If all is good, mod away. If you're doing engine mods, you're going to end up replacing stock parts with go fast parts anyway. The way I see it, the more miles you have on her is more reason to do a H/C package and valvetrain upgrade. The stock LS1 bottom end is very beefy anyway.
Old 10-23-2005, 04:26 PM
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Good, grief, man. That thing is just getting broken in. See sig.
Old 10-23-2005, 06:28 PM
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Check my sig. 80,000+ miles. I notched the pistons a few thousand miles ago, the cross hatching on the cylinder walls looked like new. Maybe Mobil 1 every 5,000 miles helped.
Old 10-23-2005, 09:48 PM
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i've got all the bolt-on's plus a cam in my 98' with 102k miles, and i drive it everyday. and i'm throwing some LS6 heads on next week. i just make sure i don't slouch on the the oil changes and what not. usually change it every 3k-3500 miles. some of my friends say it's rediculous, but it's peace of mind with over 100k on the clock with more power to come.

i just need to motor to last long enough for me to build up my stroker budget
Old 10-23-2005, 10:27 PM
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that is like new to most. we just installed a MS3 in my friends car with 60,000 on it with no problems spinning to 6,800 rpm.
Old 10-24-2005, 03:09 PM
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i have 116K miles on my 6 speed SS, with a fully built tranny now, and im planning on throwing a cam in it this winter, but it should fine.
Old 10-24-2005, 03:50 PM
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I have 132k miles on my '00 WS6 daily driver. It makes 406rwhp/390rwtq with PRC stg 2.5 heads and a TR cheater cam, with stock manifolds/cats! It does burn a good bit of oil, but still makes killer power.

Jason
Old 10-24-2005, 09:00 PM
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like was said before the ls1 has a beefy *** bottom end. mine is at 64,000 miles and i swear the damn thing just broke in. and to reiterate what was said earlier when u do a properly setup h/c/i package u r replacing most of the top end of the motor as well as the oil pump, timing chain, valve springs,pushrods,etc etc. a leak down and compression test doesnt hurt just to be on the safe side
Old 10-24-2005, 09:52 PM
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really all you have to worry about is messing up #7. get a good tune and you will have a lot of fun. as when parts will break a lot of that has to do with how you drive it.
Old 10-25-2005, 12:41 AM
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Holy ****, I guess LS1's hold up pretty well. Lots of higher mileage cars here. It's also not a daily driver, so I'm going to build it up. Mine has been maintained very well since I've owned it and by all accounts, it seems as though the previous owners did the same. WTF, if I have any problems with the bottom end, I will just have to go with a forged short block. .



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