LS WON A4

iTrader: (1)

My car currently has 170K miles and is an automatic. I don't plan for anything more than bolt-ons but I have been thinking about a cheater cam or nitrous as of late.

1. Are there reputable rebuild kits out there for LS1s so I don't have to piece everything together individually?

2. I'll more than likely go with a cam instead of nitrous (shooting for 400RWHP), but if I do go nitrous will I need to do forged internals for a 150 shot while it's out anyway?

conan

iTrader: (5)

Are you looking to tare down the entire engine and refresh everything ? What kind of budget are you on.

Marios_98z

There's kits out there that are good but it does depend on how deep your pockets are and how far your looking to dig into the rebuild also 400 hp ain't that hard to reach either a h/c or n2o will get you there no problem!!

LS WON A4

iTrader: (1)

Yes, I mainly want to just refresh the engine so I'm not throwing mods on a 170K mile engine that I have no idea how it was maintained. And as far as my budget, just whatever as long as it's within reason. I've decided not to go with nitrous so if 400RWHP is really my goal I guess it's a decent cam for me then.

conan

iTrader: (5)

I would find your self a reputable machine shop that has done a few ls aluminum engines before.

Get the block honed out to 3.905, polish the crank, check and resize the rods for some ARP bolts, new bearings (rods, mains, and cam bearing).

Check out texas speed for some mahle pistons to fit your stock rods. This will will get you a good over sized replacement piston that will also handle a good shot of NO2, just incase the bug bites again

Just my $.02 but I would get a head/cam package to throw on top of the fresh short block, you could bump the compression a little bit with the heads and throw in a mild cam will get you to your HP goal.

Also while the engine is out I would consider a new converter stall to match your cam choice.

That with new lifters, oil pump, ls2 timing chain, engine gasket/seal/bolt kit, you'll have your self a nice combo.

garygnu

do as stated above .you can find most the parts you need at TSP.for 400+rwhp look at a 233/239 or a tv2 torquer cam pkg.some used 243/799 heads would really help ,and cost $400 .

LS WON A4

iTrader: (1)

I said within reason lol. My car didn't cost but $4K haha. Right now I'm not concerned about a high HP build done right, I just want modest power (350-400RWHP). I figure bolt-ons and a tune will get me to 330-340RWHP, a cam to at least 380 if not 390-400.

And I'm totally against spraying this car, so no need for forged internals. Down the road I'd like to pick up a low mileage NMB '02 SS for my serious go fast bug (if not an '03-04 Cobra).

H/C/I + nitrous for the '02 SS or a ported blower with a pulley and bolt-ons if I go Terminator.

conan

iTrader: (5)

If you clean up the cylinders most likely they will take out enough material that you are going to have to replace the pistons with a larger size. The Mahle's might cost $100 more than a cast replacement piston. It's not like their a $800 set of Weisco's or Diamond's .

The list I posted is a bare bones you should consider if you are going to spend the time and money to take the engine out and crack it open. Your still running a stock crank and connecting rod , just upgrading the rod bolts. If buying new heads is out then I would recommend replacing the valve springs (a must with a cam) Having the valve guides and seals replaced, grinding the valves and seats, milling the heads a little to ensure the surface is flat. So your still going to have to spend money in that department if you want a proper top end.

So where I'm going with this is you need to figure out what you how far you want to take this, make some phone calls to some sponsors and local machine shop. Get your self some options and prices and then put a plan together.

This is all just My $.02 but do it all, right, the first time and forget about it or run the risk of pulling it back out to fix/replace something you skipped the first time around. If a full rebuild/refresh is out of the price you want to invest in the car, I say throw a cam and a oil pump at it and run it till the wheels fall off.

thunderstruck507

iTrader: (18)

You will probably come out ahead to order a short block from texas speed and sell your stock one as is.

By the time you add in machine costs, parts, and the risk of the machine shop not knowing LS engines well enough and ruining it anyway...TX Speed is hard to beat.