Unknown User

fairly new to the LS world, been reading a lot but thought i would ask the experts. What do you think is the cheapest way to make around 600hp with an LS based engine? It is going in an old car and i would like to carb it if possible but i dont HAVE to.

Going by the "no replacemnt for displacement" saying, i was thinking LQ9 but i was told by a few that isn't the best start for 600hp...

v8envy

iTrader: (1)

lots of ways to get there but cheapest is lots of nitrous, but 5.3 turbo seems to be the most economical choice

RoidedSS

the 5.3's seem to be holding very well to large amounts of psi. also, the 5.3 is extremely common since a lot of the trucks use that motor, so if you were to ever blow a block, you could find it's replacement in the junkyard for cheap...

Hot Rod Magazine did a great 5.3 turbo test in which they ran it up to 25? psi and 1300 hp...the motor held before they ran out of dyno time and they claimed 60 or so pulls. something you might want to check out, i can't find the write up online though...

found more details!

Check out Sept 2011 Hot Rod. They wanted to see if they could grenade a 5.3l truck motor. They hung two 76mm EBAY cheap turbos on it, and started uping the boost. The went up to 26.8psi and made 1,203hp before the ignition failed and they ran out of dyno time. In fact they made over 60 passes at 1,000hp plus, one cylinder even had a rust spot in it that the ball hone wouldnt take out......AMAZING! Funny part was, what they thought to be a 5.3l, turned out to be a 294ci 4.8l !! That is over 4HP per cubic inch...wow.

They did 3 things to the engine before doing this, not too hard to do.
1. Increase ring gap top two rings to .28 to keep from butting and breaking the ring lands under high boost. FREE MOD!!
2. They put in an off the shelf 228/230 grind from comp cams
3. They shipped stock heads to Total Engine Airflow for porting and went from 1.89 to 2.0 intake valves. Went from 230cfm to almost 300cfm

Kinda makes me feel good about down the road putting a single 76mm on my stocker now. 750 AWD HP suddenly seems achievable with just some ARP bolts, and ring gap adjustment. I cant believe they got away with the stock rod bolts. The mains maybe, but rod bolts? The stock cranks sure are tough in these engines. I cant wait to see if they push it til it blows, just to see how high they can take it!!

sorry the post is so long

Mean87SS

iTrader: (21)

Home built boost.........

Unknown User

what makes/models did the 5.3's come in? Also, any "junkyard upgrades" that can get the LQ9 in the 500hp+ range N/A? Like use "this" intake with "these" heads from an "LSx", throw in a nice aftermarket cam, headers, exhaust and there ya go...

v8envy

iTrader: (1)

sure you can make 500 hp on a lq9 motor with l92 heads and ls3 intake and a massive cam? but 500hp is only 500hp what do you want to put the engine in? What kind of torque do you need to make, just trying to make 500hp so you can say you have 500hp? If thats the case then do as I just said and spray it and tell everyone you have 750hp.

v8envy

iTrader: (1)

Actually thinking about it I don't know if that would make 500hp N/A my buddy has a LQ9 with a magnacharger and it made under 500hp, but I think you can get close.

Unknown User

trying to get a 3200lb car into the 10's, i think 500hp-600hp is a good start.

RoidedSS

is that 500 to the tires, or 500 at the crank....is your car an auto, stick. give some info. A guy on here did a budget build ls1 with a bre 224 cam, built the rear end to handle a 4500 rpm launch and he was running 10's...just saying. A 3200 pound car is pretty light, like C6Z light. So just give some info on your car and we can try to help you out more.

Rushin

iTrader: (18)

Stock-block LS1 in a full-weight car can do 10's with enough nitrous. Be a little more specific.

T-Top

Have a 6 liter built by a good machine shop. It'll be a high initial cost but you can well surpass your goal and will have less nickel and dime stuff trying to build something lesser up. Although I do like the turbo 5.3.. Don't forget about other things that will need attention like your rear end and such.

Unknown User

car is a G-body, pretty much an blank canvas right now. Plan is to buy the engine/trans i want and while i am working on that, do the rearend, suspension, roll cage etc... I want to keep it running/driving as long as much as possible so i dont lose interest. The 500-600 goal is at the crank and i dont want to use nitrous, unless it is like a 200 shot or smaller.

Checked around in some junk yards and a good LM7 is only $400 or so. I am thinking i could probably do a decent budget turbo setup fairly cheap.

1lejohn

iTrader: (9)

400 cid or bigger with a good set of heads. The heads would need to be 225's or bigger and a hyd roller in the 620's with 230+ duration. A crate LS3 or LSX 376 would work. They would need port work , springs, a cam , and large tube headers. Do a search on this. VA speed has built some of the highest HP L92, and 3 builds in the country. If $$$ is no option then go with the Mast heads.

A side note the GM crate LSX454 is about 10k. I think its one of the best deals out there.

A 5.3 with good heads and a soild roller spinning 8k would do it.

The Hot rod article has every one getting all hot and bothered. I was impressed as well but. The engine was run on a engine dyno not the race track. I'm thinking it would grenade after few passes.

He said a cheap LS build. Thats an oxymoroon

jetaws6

iTrader: (3)

Heads cam and no2 would be the cheapest way. You can probably get it done for 3k-3500 too

edrex

The 5.3 on 16 psi will git you close

Unknown User

let's assume i go with an LM7, what would it take to get 500hp with no boost/nitrous? I'd like to keep it N/A if possible but if it will cost an arm and a leg, a cheap turbo setup would probably be the way to go. Used injectors, holset (or similar) turbo, ebay intercooler/piping and a custom crossover/down pipe could be done pretty easily under $1k.

Unknown User

no offense but that is a pretty vague/uninformed statement. 16psi means nothing, 16psi on a 50mm turbo will, well, not work at all. 16psi on a 101mm turbo will make much more than my 500-600 goal.

SOMbitch

iTrader: (8)

Decide how you wanna get there...

boost
no2
n/a

Then go get the most ci you can and pair it with the best heads you can afford. If you figure 18% drivetrain loss through my a4 I am right at your goal on a fairly mild setup and Nick William's vette makes 570rwhp n/a on a 40x LS2 block IIRC so there are many ways for you to get there. I would think at 3200#'s 475rwhp would put you solidly/consistently in the 10's if you plant it to the ground.

Unknown User

that's whyI asked for opinions, i can't decide exactly what i want as I dont know much about LS based engines. I want to stay N/A but say an N/A 600hp LQ9 build would cost $4000+ and a 600hp turbo LM7 would cost about 1/2 that, I would for sure go turbo LM7. At the same time, if I can buy an LQ9, do some junkyard upgrades and make 400hp+ N/A i wouldn't have an issue spraying a 200 shot at it or something. I don't want a 5k rpm redline either though.

I am still reading and learning about these engines, forgive my ignorance.

SOMbitch

iTrader: (8)

An LM7 + turbo may cost as much or more than a LQ build and FWIW you won't get 600hp out of a stock bottom LM7 and have it last long because that would require about 14psi. Really you won't get 600hp reliably out of an LQ either. The stock crank will be fine but the hypereutectic pistons won't like it. And just to let you know these motors can reliably spin 6500 stock or more if built with better rod bolts. Oh and if you decide to spray a stock bottom stick around a 150 hit and get a GOOD tune. After that things get iffy...

IMO the cheapest RELIABLE way to do it is to get a built short block setup for n2o and some good heads and hit with a 200+ shot and you will break 600 at the wheels pretty easily and run low 10's or better. The tricky part can be getting that kind of power to the ground..

EDIT: I know it is cliche but the old saying "Pick any two..cheap, fast, reliable" holds true....