Hanabi

Hi,

T-Rex, my hot rod, is getting an overhaul. I saw 'tiny bubbles' in the radiator fluid while car was running, doesn't that mean a head gasket or crack somewhere?

My mileage is 180K so I thought - instead of pulling the whole motor out to fix a head gasket, let's just start over.

I want a new motor. MUST HAVES: Cam, more HP, and it will be like brand new.

From what I've learned, I do know that with more HP I will probably need to up my tranny and then what else?

I am an AVID gear-head girl, have had a Ram Air before but this one is my first to modify and 'up the ante' so to speak.

Any suggestions, comments, instructions, and maybe what order I need to do things in would be most appreciated.

I have a cat-back borla dual exhaust, new water pump, new power steering, got a set of Indy 500 Firehawk W-rated tires, the car is beautiful and sexy and I love him.

I have been kicking *** and taking names, but I'd like it to be even more so when I get this new motor put in.

Also what type of price range am I looking at?

And, who do I trust? What should I look for?

THANKS IN ADVANCE your WISDOM AND EXPERIENCE and overall KEWL-NESS is appreciated

xoxoxo

gear-head girl in spirit have always been
gear-head girl know-how in-training



G

Zlow28

iTrader: (11)

The best thing you can do is read, read, and read. So your planning on spending thousands of dollars on a fix that youre not sure of yet? or do you want to mod the car wether the headgaskets are good or bad?

Besides that...
1. what are your goals with the car? (how much hp, will it be a DD car, will you race it in the track? or just a weekend car etc..)

2. What is your budget? This hobby gets expensive REALLY quick! Plan on spending close to 10k for a complete build if not more.

3. are you going to build it yourself or send it out to get built?

My advice, is to check the compression to see if you really have bad headgaskets. Did it overheat at some point or loose power?

Then you can decide if you want to continue with the build, or maybe do an engine swap like a ls3 or something.

lemons12

iTrader: (71)

Pull a motor for a head gasket? For under 200$, normal tools, and about 5 hours of work that can be fixed. If not... Contact thompson motorsports out of texas, Kyle will get you squared away.

thompson

iTrader: (4)

If you have any questions on a new build give us a call, We can work with you from problem to solution to make sure you get exactly what you need to be back on the road again.

EODguyJake

I'd recommend an LS3. If you have a hot rod shop close by, they might have one that someone pulled out for something hotter. A co-worker of mine bought an '11-'12 LS3 out of a Vette with 11-12K miles for about $5K, which was a steal. He cammed it, and upgraded the valve train for less than $6K total, and it dyno'd right around 450 to the wheels. He also did a manual swap at the time, so the tranny was beefed up, and upgraded to an S60 because his 10 bolt was shot. ALL of that together was expensive, but he's got a nasty street machine. I think tranny work would be around $1800 if you have gears and shafts micropolished. His S60 ran him around $2500, I think. But, it's a nice package, and everything is damn near new. Everything bolts up accept the reluctor ring teeth counts are different. 24 vs 48, but adapters take care of that. All your accessories will swap over, and other than going to drive by cable rather than drive by wire (which you can't feel) everything still works. A/C, cruise, ABS, traction control if you have it. And if you have a shop that does quality work, it's hard to tell anything has been swapped other than the cable throttle. I have a similar setup. If you want pics or more details, send me a PM.

Not sure how long stock parts would live with a cammed LS3. But it's a good platform to build on. Of course, budget is the driving factor. If you're LS1 isn't trashed, you could get $1700-$1800 for it easy. Do what ya can when ya can, and don't do clutch dumps!