Hi guys, i hope im posting in the right place but was hoping you guys could help me out a bit. Im 19 and ive wanted to build a car for years now and ive saved up about 8 grand to spend on this car. i found a 98 firebird formula 6 speed 117k miles (stock) for 4 grand on craigslist and probably going to pick it up this week if everything checks out okay. I stay up till about 3 am every night looking up how to rebuild this and rebuild that, this set up and that set up. ive ended up with wanting to build an ls1. car has 4.10 rear gears. I want to do all labor myself except for machine work obviously. I have never rebuilt a motor except on a dirt bike. but my dad has built several 350s.

If you guys could please help i have a list of questions, if you could just answer some that would be a great help. Please and thank you guys!

- Is 400rwhp+ (reliable) possible with 2500 in the motor? if not how much $?

- I like the stage 2.5 ls6 heads with the magic stick 3 cam shaft, single behive valve springs, and upgraded oil pump package from texas-speed.com (2000$)

- Is it any way possible that i could re-use the stock pistons/rods/crank as long as they look okay and if i am pushing 400+ to the wheels?

- If i run the package set up that i listed above can i run pump gas?

- should i do any maintenance to the t56 (117k miles) if it shifts good?


Notes: Im all open to ideas and comments. You guys are the ones that have the built cars.. im just trying to join the club. Im just looking for some advice.

Thanks so much guys.

 

The PRC head and cam package would be a good way to go. The stock short block should have no problems at that power level if it's had a good maintained life. Your budget of $2,500 is not going to cut it... To hit 400+ you'll need some supporting mods. Long tube headers, Y pipe, Cat back, LS6 intake or a fast . Your new head and cam will need to breathe. I would also recommend new lifters, oil pump, and ls2 timing chain while your in there. You will also need to have this tuned when your all done. So your $2,500 just turned in to $5,000. If that amount of $$$ is out for right now I would start with the boltons, Intake and exhaust first the save up for a Head/Cam combo.

 

Thanks @conan that helps a lot. Car already has headers and exhaust so that part is covered. And I feel if I did all if that and with a good tune I should be at least around 450 to wheels correct?

 

There's more than a few of these cars that have hit 400rwhp with just a cam and bolt-ons (stock heads)...look into some of the newer cam grinds (ie. EPS, cam motion, Tick)...they all seem to make more power compared to older grinds of the same size/specs due to better lobe design...with supporting mods and a tune, this would probably run you about $2000-$2500, since you already have full exhaust...also might be good insurance to upgrade your rod bolts, since the '98 bolts were more prone to stretching (I think)

 

450 to the wheels is going to depend on how big of a cam you get and how much you shave the heads to bump the compresion. You should be in the 420-430 rwhp range with most H/C/I/E setups. Don't forget about a intake manifold if it still has the LS1 on it.

 

Thanks man. I will look into all of that. I was going to try to reuse the stock pistons but I think I'll just replace while I'm Gona replace everything else. How so wiseco pistons sound to you guys from Texas speed? I used wiseco in my dirtbikes. And I'll probably try to find a used ls6 intake from someone on craigslist. It will probably take me 6 months longer to save up for all this but I would weather have a build that last 30k miles than 3k.

 

Your going to want dual springs man for an ms3 . I just finished my heads and cam set up like two days ago . 233/239 tsp with a set of pnp 799 heads . I have all the supporting mods just waiting till Friday to get it tuned. I got the usual p0300 code . I also have a 98 there a lil different than 99-02 like I had to buy coil brackets for the coils cause you will be switching to center bolt valve covers and other stuff.