Rebuild Thread. . . Need your Opinions
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Rebuild Thread. . . Need your Opinions So on tuesday, my A4 took a crap and needs to be rebuilt. it hurt me so much, especially with all the work i have done to the car. i have been pretty depressed about the car, and especially it breaking down at the worse time (school and work have been horrible). so i was originally planning on rebuilding the trans and leaving it alone. but a couple of friends cheered me up and convinced me that this was a window of opportunity to make the car better. of course, i agree. 
so the car is a 2000 Z28 with almost 106k miles on it. it has almost all boltons (headers, exhaust, lid, tune). it made 330hp to the wheels on the dyno with a tune. my new plans now is to swap a manual into it. and while im at it i want to beef up the engine. the motors bottom end was rebuilt 2 years ago, with a brand new crankcase and oil pump, and bearings. the motor does make a sound when cold, like a bent rod or lifter/rocker noise. its not piston slap, im sure of that.
now, my goal is to get around 400 to 420 hp. i have been researching about cams and heads, but im still a newb in all this. and some make no sense to me. im trying to stay under $1200.
would do u guys recommend doing: swapping out the heads completely when doing the cam, or keep the heads and swap out some of the old parts (springs, pushrods, rockers)? and what kind of cam should i go with. remember this is a daily driver and i dont race much, but i would like the engine to run strong. i saw a kit offered by tsp with an ls6 heads and cam, but that was a bit too expensive. Thanks for the help guys.
so the car is a 2000 Z28 with almost 106k miles on it. it has almost all boltons (headers, exhaust, lid, tune). it made 330hp to the wheels on the dyno with a tune. my new plans now is to swap a manual into it. and while im at it i want to beef up the engine. the motors bottom end was rebuilt 2 years ago, with a brand new crankcase and oil pump, and bearings. the motor does make a sound when cold, like a bent rod or lifter/rocker noise. its not piston slap, im sure of that.
now, my goal is to get around 400 to 420 hp. i have been researching about cams and heads, but im still a newb in all this. and some make no sense to me. im trying to stay under $1200.
would do u guys recommend doing: swapping out the heads completely when doing the cam, or keep the heads and swap out some of the old parts (springs, pushrods, rockers)? and what kind of cam should i go with. remember this is a daily driver and i dont race much, but i would like the engine to run strong. i saw a kit offered by tsp with an ls6 heads and cam, but that was a bit too expensive. Thanks for the help guys.
Last edited by Yahelou; Feb 16, 2011 at 06:10 PM.
Your gonna need new rear gears if you go with the M6 and reprograming for the CPU for the speedometer to be right. I would go buy a Stage 2 4L60E tranny from one of the sponcers and a stall too! M6s kill 10 bolt rearends for sport.
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oh i forgot to mention, i installed 3.73s a couple of months ago. i know about reflashing the ecu. got a good tuner in mind that can do it.
From personal experience you won't stay under $1200 doing heads/cam. There are many other costs involved: timing chain, timing cover gasket, head/crank bolts, head gaskets, springs/locks/retainers, PR's, lifters, may upgrade the oil pump or port it, injectors now become an issue based on power goals... Not to mention a new clutch if you go m6 and all the issues that could bring. Not trying to discourage you on upgrades but $1200 is unrealistic. You could possibly stay within that range with a cam only and intake swap, then do the heads later. Just my .02
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From personal experience you won't stay under $1200 doing heads/cam. There are many other costs involved: timing chain, timing cover gasket, head/crank bolts, head gaskets, springs/locks/retainers, PR's, lifters, may upgrade the oil pump or port it, injectors now become an issue based on power goals... Not to mention a new clutch if you go m6 and all the issues that could bring. Not trying to discourage you on upgrades but $1200 is unrealistic. You could possibly stay within that range with a cam only and intake swap, then do the heads later. Just my .02
Not sure, I've heard porting can be expensive. Maybe look into some used ls6 heads or ported 5.3's if you NEED to do swap em, might save you a couple hundred or more.
you have 853 heads right? if so ditch them and get some 243's, even bone stock 243's will give you 15-20rwhp. yeah $1200 wont do the H/C swap lol i know this cause i just did it last january and if i don't add in head cost and the valve job i'm around 1500-1600
if i were you i'd look more into whats causing that knocking noise. good luck to you man!
if i were you i'd look more into whats causing that knocking noise. good luck to you man!
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you have 853 heads right? if so ditch them and get some 243's, even bone stock 243's will give you 15-20rwhp. yeah $1200 wont do the H/C swap lol i know this cause i just did it last january and if i don't add in head cost and the valve job i'm around 1500-1600
if i were you i'd look more into whats causing that knocking noise. good luck to you man!
if i were you i'd look more into whats causing that knocking noise. good luck to you man!
the reason im thinking about doing this is because the car is a just a daily driver. i rarely race it, so i see no point to swap heads. i just want to make sure the engine runs strong for longer.
I saw some of the head/cam kits tsp offer and those look pretty good, i might have to give them a call.
http://www.texas-speed.com/shop/cate...MID=1&catid=47
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Thread Starter
TECH Fanatic
iTrader: (23)
Joined: Jul 2006
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From: Baltimore, MD