i used to drive my car with a 233/239 .600 .600 on a 113, drives great, surging down low is all tuning. i sit in traffic every morning on the way to work on the highway doesnt bother me one bit and my cars a 6 speed. 22+ mpg on the highway with 4.30s, the ac on and in 90* weather.

 

4.30s with a 6 speed is milk and cookies

 

My donor car has a 6 speed T56 in it, and I drove it on the weekend. I am contemplating keeping it instead of the 4l60e but I'll see how I go. I've driven autos most of my life so I'll have to go get my manual licence but not a big issue.

I think I'd rather the auto and keep my focus on the wheel rather than changing gears, but the gears are fun

I'm trying to find a cheap rebuild kit for the motor cause I'm thinking it's probably a better idea to do a full rebuild, ls7 lifters and see what the heads look like. I was planning on just bearings and rings, but I don't want to have to tinker much ocne it's all in.

 

I think your cam selection is fine, I may be biased as I got a tsp tourqer 232/234 .600/.600 cut on 110+3, and dual spring/retainer kit for cheap (used on Dyno run only) and 1 7/8 tsp headers, SE true dual dump, bbk intake/ported tb (also dirt cheap) I just threw 60% discounted parts on my car for fun. After a killer tune it runs hard. But long red lights will make it buck a tad, but once you get going it's all good. I'm auto,so it's tricky. If you go auto I suggest at least a quality 3600+ converter... Or stay stick and get some gear in that car.

 

Thanks.

I talked to the guy at LSX performance and he said it's a solid performer that can get up to revs quickly and kick the power in from 2800 so i think it should work well.
I went to test the oil in the LS1 this morning (I run an oil analysis lab so perks of the job) but the friggin dipstick port is too narrow for the sampling tube to go in, so I'll have to grab a smaller one from work and give it a go, just to decide whether its worth a rebuild or not. Compression is sitting around 150psi on each cylinder with little change, it seemed a bit low for me, but that's because my old 400 had around 200psi.
Bearing material in the oil and coolant will be the decider on whether to rebuild or just whack the cam straight in.

 

Oil test came back looking very good. I would have been suspicious if the oil didn't look pretty dark and old, but hopefully should be all good.
I ended up buying a full rebuild kit anyway, so I'll tear it apart, check everything and if the bearings are good I was told to reuse them rather than replace, change all the seals, piston rings tetc, new oil and water pump, new ls7 lifters and trays and I got a cheap set of 241 heads I'm going to have a go at porting, or at least gasket/intake match at the very least.

With the leftover bits I'll probably try to make a stock backup motor.