93transambadboy

I don't really know much about motors and all that but I have a 93 firehawk and I would like to build a 383 stroker I just bought the car and the guy told me it has lt4 heads long tube headers small cam i plan to go bigger maybe a cc306 or 502 not sure yet I haven't heard any negativity about either of them on any threads just wondering if anyone would be willing to point me in the right direction on 383 kits and cam and what I need to do to the heads or just replace them and what gears I should run leaning towards 3.73 cuz for now it is my daily driver I totaled my 2013 ram but that's irrelevant my goal is no less than 500rwhp and if it's not to much to ask please post links to websites the parts you recommend can be found thank you to everyone willing to give advice it will greatly appreciated

Catmaigne

iTrader: (6)

500rwhp NA won't be street friendly with a 383. Nitrous or boost would help you get there and make it more useful on a public road but then you still have to consider the supporting mods. Pretty much everything behind the motor is going to break if you plan on using that power.

HellTeeOne

500rwhp and daily driver don't really go in the same sentence when talking about N/A LT1 strokers. It's also not anything even resembling cheap to get such numbers out of a N/A LT1 stroker.

However, 450-470rwhp can be achieved with a 383 without too much difficulty using a daily driveable hydraulic roller camshaft and a set of good ported factory casting heads. Beyond that, those last ~40rwhp will entail a much more aggressive camshaft and valvetrain and expen$ive aftermarket cylinder head castings plus the machine and porting work on them. In simple terms, those last few rwhp can easily cost an extra $4k or more.

An example recipe for a hot daily driveable 383 would be something like as follows:

-All supporting bolt ons - CAI, long tube headers and full exhaust, 58mm throttle body.
-383 shortblock. This means something like a set of lightweight forged Mahle flat-top pistons, forged rods and crank, Clevite bearings, ARP bolts and hardware and the requisite quality machine work. Decking the block to the correct height to achieve your target static compression (~12:1) by proper quench. Avoid the cheap cast-crank stroker kits, they're bad.
-AI 200cc CNC ported GM casting heads, street/strip ported intake manifold, custom spec'd camshaft for your application. You'll want to discuss your block deck height and piston selection with the head porter so he can get you the proper combustion chamber size and camshaft specs.
-A good tune on the factory PCM, or a good burn on the chip in the case of your 1993 model. You have an oddball year car in that it's the only LT1 or 4th-gen to have EPROM chip rather than the later OBD1 or OBD2 PCM. Not a big issue if you can find a competent tuner for it, which can sometimes be a bit of a hassle, but not an outright deal breaker.

If you have those basic parameters above covered, the rest is fairly straightforward. RamAir95TA on here runs a setup with very similar general specs and puts down 455whp through a stalled/built automatic and runs high 10s at 124+ in street trim.

Notice I didn't even begin to discuss the necessary driveline upgrades (there are many) that would go along with a project like this, but that wasn't the context of your question.

bufmatmuslepants

iTrader: (3)

I'm not trying to be a dick by saying this, but read some threads in this section. It's about twice a day someone posts up this same question with a low budget like $5000 and is given a hard reality check when we explain that it will cost 3-4 times that.

Puck

iTrader: (17)

Bring your wallet for a true 500rwhp. While everything below may not be 100% necessary, it will help.

-25x duration solid roller
-Aftermarket cylinder heads, most likely ported
-Aftermarket computer system to allow over 7k RPMs
-Ported intake, most likely a single plane if you're spinning high RPMs
-Quality valvetrain - not your normal $150 spring kit, $50 pushrods, and some generic roller tip rockers. Figure a conservative ~$600 in top end valvetrain alone.
-Tons of $$$ in labor and assembly if you can't do it all yourself

It's not necessarily difficult, but it is expensive.

ahritchie

iTrader: (1)

500 RWHP? Unless it's primarily a race car, it would probably more cost effective, driveable (and torquey) to just build a 355 with dished forged pistons and put a procharger or small turbo on it and be done!

HellTeeOne

Agreed.
Right around (+/- 5 rwhp) 500 has been done with a ported factory LT intake, ported TFS 215s and a hydraulic, but only once or twice that I know of.

I think it's because a lot of people with goals like this just go solid roller and single plane from the get-go for the 530+ that becomes possible at that point. It's not that much more $ over a max-effort hydraulic setup with factory style intake.

Either setup will be quite expensive, will entail a bit of ongoing maintenance and while streetable, won't be anything I'd call a daily driver setup. These definitely aren't like the much more numerous, daily driveable 400-450 rwhp 350 or 383 setups running around out there.

Back the rwhp goals down to 450-470, and it gets a LOT less expensive and more streetable, while still quite capable of running high 10s in a well setup car.

93transambadboy

Yeah man thanks for the concern but my wallet is alil bigger than 5000 and i know I'm not gonna build this car overnight I'm completely aware of that I'm not gonna build the motor that's in it so the rush is eliminated there and to everyone else thank you for the advice and tips they are greatly appreciated

93transambadboy

I would also appreciate a good website for lt1 performance parts I understand there most likely isnt a one stop shop for everything I need but any leads would be great

Catmaigne

iTrader: (6)

Iron out the details of the build before you start buying anything. Nothing sucks more than hoarding a bunch of parts only to find out you bought the wrong stuff. NA and power adders are completely different monsters, you have to put a lot of thought into it or something will blow up. It's not as easy as throwing a high dollar forged rotating assembly in a block and calling it a day.

Budget for a rear from Moser/Strange/MWC, a driveshaft, a built trans, suspension, wheels/tires, all of the NHRA crap to make it legal at the track if you want to really enjoy it.

That being said, I usually find most of the parts I need at any of these sites...
Summit Racing
Jegs
CNC motorsports
Competition products
...and then I'll take the part numbers of the things I need and search eBay, Amazon, Autoplicity, and the other bargain sites for better deals. You'll save a great deal of cash that way and the parts are the same regardless of vendor (if you can find them).

bufmatmuslepants

iTrader: (3)

I made alot of rookie mistakes on my car, spent money on the wrong parts, wasting time and money. Best things to do first that help your build progress that you NEED anyways, that give you time to research the motor, is rear end, chassis and suspension. What's more impressive, a bolton only car that runs low 12s because its set up with the right parts, or a 500 hp car that runs low 12s because everything behind it is weak? Do things that keep the car mobile and not sitting, like a rear end, driveshaft, rear suspension. Then add things that will work as you grow, like a good set of headers, and a good custom true dual setup with a x pipe. Then build the trans and get a good stout clutch that can handle anything. Then shop for heads, find the ones you want new or used, and with that set combustion chamber size you can select the right pistons for optimal quench and compression ratio. Then last get a custom cam exactly suited for what you want. It's not pure cubes that make power, it's all in the heads. And if you call AI or LE or TFS or someone and say your exact goals for power, rpm, sound, driveability, they will cut you the perfect cam. There's no reason you need to sacrifice the ability to enjoy a car on the street if you pick parts that work well together and fit your needs.

azmarkus

SS RRR

iTrader: (2)

Several times I have seen and read instances of those who have great plans, who are not all that experienced or knowledgeable destroy themselves because they get in over their head and end up selling everything for a loss. So many times there have been those who've basically taken their entire chassis apart, had a 5 gallon bucket full of bolts and the project went nowhere. If you aren't familiar with engines and modifying then I'd suggest keeping things simple. Do some reading on different engine books especially the LT1. Get a Haynes manual so you get familiar with certain techniques of taking things apart for this engine.

SwampWS6

iTrader: (7)

My suggestion is that if you want a 383 build a 383. Its what you want. Suspension will be the weak point. You can start at however you may like. You can start from front to back or back to front. If you are making it a track car where you are making passes every weekend and you are worried about ET then suspension mods will be your friend. But if this is going to be a DD car then you should be fine starting with the motor. But the theory is still the same. If you do all suspension mods and all bolt ons you could run low 12s. If you build a bomb *** stroker with stock suspension you still will prolly run lows 12s. Its up to you. My upgrades are in my sig. Mine are that way because im not building a track car and not a DD. But whats guaranteed is that if you build this 383 the factory 10 bolt is on borrowed time. 4L60E/T56 is on borrowed time. So these things will need to be upgraded eventually. Have fun with your build. No matter which direction you take, you will learn a lot and prolly will take a different approach in with your next build.

Here are some places to get some Ideas -
http://www.texas-speed.com/p-2587-lu...4030-bore.aspx

Just a starting point of reference. Make sure its forged ^^^^^^^^

http://elliottsportworks.com/?page_id=55

http://www.ebay.com/bhp/scorpion-roller-rockers

http://www.texas-speed.com/p-1749-ni...te-system.aspx
Unless you take it to a engine builder who knows LT1s, your gonna need this to achieve 500rwhp.

Your best bet for rotating assemblies is to contact local speed shops to get better prices.Again, these are points of references to get you an idea as far as the motor is concerned, not telling you to go out and buy these parts by no means. But Lloyd Elliot is a great guy to deal with for your top end build! GLWB

BALLSS

OP

I will make the assumption you have not built a LT1 motor before.....so I would find a "qualified" builder/machine shop in your area. One builder highly regarded in the LT1 community is Karl @ http://www.ellweinengines.com/

The cams you note would not come close to getting a 500 RWHP car...and with that said that kind of HP on a "street" car is really not realistic if the car is a daily driver

also as noted you will need to upgrade everything behind the motor to deal with that kind of HP.

Your budget will need to be considerably more than $5k and your car will be down for some time doing all the required work

SwampWS6

iTrader: (7)

I beg to differ, their are tons of cars running 500rwhp or more that are DD. There is a guy at my current job with a procharged C6 with 7xxrwhp he drives it everyday. CTSV's with minor hp upgrades are daily driven. Tons of LS guys do it all the time.

If you mean a 500rwhp LT1/4/5 DD then thats completely understandable and I agree. But since hp is so easy to come by now a days their are tons of 500+rwhp cars that are being driven everyday!

BALLSS

yes, my comments refer to 93-97 "LT1/LT4" cars making 500 "RWHP".

93transambadboy

This guy was telling me to swap the stock wiring harness over to an ls1 harness is that right or is he just an idiot

Puck

iTrader: (17)

He is an idiot.

Unless he also said to get a 24x conversion kit and repin that LS harness.

bufmatmuslepants

iTrader: (3)

Advantages of the 24x with the ls computer is ease of finding someone to tune your setup, no more 7000rpm limit, and no more opti (there's tons of people doing fine with OBD1 and an opti in the 9s and 10s tho). The ease of finding a good tuner is the biggest one. Guys who still dyno tune OBD1 and OBD2 are getting fewer and farther between, but they are out there. LS tuners are a dime a dozen.