If you had $3500 for a shortblock...
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If you had $3500 for a shortblock...
What would you build? I was thinking of going LQ4/9 with a 4.065 bore, hypereutectic pistons, stock rods and crank for a 376.. But would it be more worth it to just have a iron 346 with forged pistons? Not looking to spray any more than 150 and that would be well down the road and only every once in a while.. Mainly an N/A daily driver street car, looking to get the most power N/A for my money. What would you build? Durability and $ is an issue, so stock crank is neccesary.
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What kind of compression would you shoot for? I figure I could get around 11.8-12.0 or so, and run a cam that would put me at or near 8.6 dynamic. I mainly want a cam that pulls extremely hard from 3700-6700 or so, shifting around 6500-6800 depending on what's best for the stock a4 trans. Would such a cam be too big?
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Definitely go forged and do it right since you'll be spending a lot of money anyways! Got my forged 370 LQ9 from TMS for around that price, and am glad I did! I'm running 11.5:1 compression as well. I was told this would be about as high as I should go, and would still be totally safe on pump gas
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Definitely go forged and do it right since you'll be spending a lot of money anyways! Got my forged 370 LQ9 from TMS for around that price, and am glad I did! I'm running 11.5:1 compression as well. I was told this would be about as high as I should go, and would still be totally safe on pump gas
I'm basically split between buying a crate short block or taking parts to a machine shop..
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How's their customer service? No problems what so ever with the motor? Oil consumption? Any track times/dyno numbers? I really don't have a goal for power or anything, I thought the stock ls1 was stupidly fast for a production car as is, so I figure if I could get around 500 at the crank cam only I'll be happy.
I'm basically split between buying a crate short block or taking parts to a machine shop..
I'm basically split between buying a crate short block or taking parts to a machine shop..
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Fully forged 347 with an aluminum block. I like keeping my weight off. :-)
http://www.thompsonmotorsports.net/p...products_id=11
I'd probably upgrade the rod bolts but I don't want/need huge CI for my car. You'd come in under budget too! I am building my forged 347 right now. I wanted reliability and to keep my MPG up since it's a daily driver. As long as I can manage to stay out of boost.......
http://www.thompsonmotorsports.net/p...products_id=11
I'd probably upgrade the rod bolts but I don't want/need huge CI for my car. You'd come in under budget too! I am building my forged 347 right now. I wanted reliability and to keep my MPG up since it's a daily driver. As long as I can manage to stay out of boost.......
Last edited by Exidous; 04-01-2014 at 02:00 AM.
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Fully forged 347 with an aluminum block. I like keeping my weight off. :-)
http://www.thompsonmotorsports.net/p...products_id=11
I'd probably upgrade the rod bolts but I don't want/need huge CI for my car. You'd come in under budget too! I am building my forged 347 right now. I wanted reliability and to keep my MPG up since it's a daily driver. As long as I can manage to stay out of boost.......
http://www.thompsonmotorsports.net/p...products_id=11
I'd probably upgrade the rod bolts but I don't want/need huge CI for my car. You'd come in under budget too! I am building my forged 347 right now. I wanted reliability and to keep my MPG up since it's a daily driver. As long as I can manage to stay out of boost.......
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I should probably mention that 3500 is for all expenses, gaskets, machine work, bolts, etc etc. So 408 or any other forged crank setup is out. Its most likely going to be iron, just because of cost.
I'm interested with what iron block you can get a 4.125 bore out of. What CID would that result in with a 3.62 stroke?
I've been wanting to go 4.00+ bore just because of head selection down the road, but for now the motor will probably have some stock 243s and a decent size cam
I'm interested with what iron block you can get a 4.125 bore out of. What CID would that result in with a 3.62 stroke?
I've been wanting to go 4.00+ bore just because of head selection down the road, but for now the motor will probably have some stock 243s and a decent size cam
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I should probably mention that 3500 is for all expenses, gaskets, machine work, bolts, etc etc. So 408 or any other forged crank setup is out. Its most likely going to be iron, just because of cost.
I'm interested with what iron block you can get a 4.125 bore out of. What CID would that result in with a 3.62 stroke?
I've been wanting to go 4.00+ bore just because of head selection down the road, but for now the motor will probably have some stock 243s and a decent size cam
I'm interested with what iron block you can get a 4.125 bore out of. What CID would that result in with a 3.62 stroke?
I've been wanting to go 4.00+ bore just because of head selection down the road, but for now the motor will probably have some stock 243s and a decent size cam
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Honestly just figured it was a cheap way to get cubes without a stroker crank so why not? But I rarely see 376 and other 4.065 bore combos, is it bad for durability? What's wrong with it? If I went that route, with my goals and cost restrictions, I could just use a LS3 bottom end and basically have an iron ls3. I haven't seen any prices for ls3 parts though so I'm not sure if the cost would be worth it to ditch forged pistons/rods.. Are they even neccesary at my power goals?
If so ill stick with a 4.03 and do a 370.
With that bore, what heads would you prefer to run? I'm familiar with small bore stuff, but with LS3 heads being used on the bigger bore motors I'm not really sure what direction to go in?
As for cost, it hasn't really been answered but is it cheaper to take parts to get them machined and assembled or just get a short block from someone like TMS? I've never had to have anything machined so I'm clueless to costs.
If so ill stick with a 4.03 and do a 370.
With that bore, what heads would you prefer to run? I'm familiar with small bore stuff, but with LS3 heads being used on the bigger bore motors I'm not really sure what direction to go in?
As for cost, it hasn't really been answered but is it cheaper to take parts to get them machined and assembled or just get a short block from someone like TMS? I've never had to have anything machined so I'm clueless to costs.
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4.125 bore 3.62 stroke is a 388. I think this thing properly cammed and compression would be a very fun street motor. Everybody says it'll be lacking on torque. How? Bigger bore same stroke.
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Im curious also, ive been crunching the numbers on puting one together myself and cant really see if it will save me or not.
A forged 364 from TMS is like 3879 + shipping/crate. Now you can always sell your existing block and whatever innards you may have to offset some of the cost, but then you have to deal with all the work to sell and ship them.
If you have a good engine builder near you it will always be cheaper and simpler (especially for warranty purposes) to deal with them rather than some builder thousands of miles away.
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But then again I know there's alot of small steps that should be taken for everything to be spot on, and I'd like yo measure quench by the cylinder, and things like that, a lot of shops get you in and out and skip the small things.
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To rebuild my shortblock using parts I supplied I calculated the total cost to be right around 3k using quotes from a few local shops around me.
A forged 364 from TMS is like 3879 + shipping/crate. Now you can always sell your existing block and whatever innards you may have to offset some of the cost, but then you have to deal with all the work to sell and ship them.
If you have a good engine builder near you it will always be cheaper and simpler (especially for warranty purposes) to deal with them rather than some builder thousands of miles away.
I don't need a new crank, and honestly I'm not even sure if I really need forged rods/pistons. I'm just building a daily H/C car that might see the bottle years down the road, and sparingly if so. If a stock LS1 can take a 150 shot all day, then should I really need a forged bottom? I'd probably spin to 6800-7000 so I guess its good insurance to have forged rods/pistons.