gtamike

At a bit of a crossroad here with a short block build.
Bought the car and put maybe twenty miles on it before it put a couple of rods through the side of the block. Was diagnosing crank sensor signal loss/backfire when it occured with a new sensor. Not sure if it was the cause but all rods were bent with no detonation marks on pistons or plugs.

Anyways,
I'm looking to build a new short block but ran into a few issues.
Here are my options for a budget build.

Goal is 600ish to the wheels. It did 555 at 8psi when a previous owner had it - stock bottom 317s and a small cam.

We only have 94 octane e10 here... no e85. I also cant seem to find a bare lq4 block up here in Canada or else I would just build that.

1. I have a 1999 4.8/5.3 block. I want to bore it out to 3.898 to avoid hurting resale. Forged piston/rods stock crank. The problem with this is no one has an ultrasonic tester to check wall thickness within 400KM from me. Do I just punch it out and forget about it?

2. Use the above mentioned block and build a forged 5.3 - Seems like this would be plenty strong but I am worried it would hurt resale do to the smaller motor.

3. Use the above block, put in 05+ 5.3 rods/pistons, open ring gaps. (cheapest option)

4. Run a stock lq4. I can get these for $1000 complete. But none over 2005. They have 1 04 motor.so its gamble if it has the newer rods or not.

5. Run a stock ly6. $1000 for these but need ls3 intake and 58x conversion box. I wonder how much more hp this motor would produce due to the l92 heads.

Thanks for the input.

gtamike

Also would consider running meth injection.
Anyone have an opinion on the combos?

conan

iTrader: (5)

#4 with meth gets my vote.

#1 with meth would be 2nd

Oh4GTO

iTrader: (46)

I vote #4 as well.

FAST LS1

iTrader: (2)

#2 The 5.3L is plenty of cubic inches to make big power. Even GM uses the 5.3L on the highest hp COPO Camaro, with a 4.0L blower. That gives you forged rods and pistons, for about what option #4 costs with stock parts.

http://www.chevroletperformance.com/...opo-camaro.jsp

93camaro_zzz

iTrader: (13)

I sent you a PM. But my vote would be for a mildly built 5.3.

TheLS1Lover

It is a 5.3L but by the way of 4.065" Bore and 3.150" Crankshaft. It utilizes LS7 Heads.

1fastxz

iTrader: (16)

I'm doing a 4.8 ls with my APS/LGM I'm installing soon. I't has a short stroke and small bore. But there are more then a few people on this board and on youtube using small ls motors making a lot of power.... 800 to 998 rwhp...

I'm using a stock bottom end and stock 243 heads.
looking to make a lot of power with this set up.

gtamike

Thanks for the opinions.
Still undecided.. hard choice. #2 would be the most reliable long term but would cost a bit more.