I know this has been beaten to the ground from all my searching, but I need to start building a motor since my current LS1 is on its last leg at 160K on the clock. what RWHP can I expect from a budget of around $4500? is it realistic to have a 450RWHP Daily driver for this budget? Thanks for any advice and recoomendations guys !

 

I have a LQ9 and with mods in signature I'm right around 450 rwhp. This is with budget heads, big cam and a Fast 92

 

Is your build within my budget of $4500 ? and would you say this could be daily driven ?

 

Definitely could be daily driven, buts it's just a weekend toy in my case. The car came with the HCI when I bought it, but it's well under $4500.

 

I looked up TMS and their short block iron 6.0 stage 1 is $2600, at that price I dont see my budget working as I will need H/C/I, plus an oil pump, new valve train, and injectors, plus headers also. So I'm guessing for my situation I'm going to need to find a junkyard 6.0 and have it machined? I'm assuming this is the only way for me to have money left over for all the other parts I need. Am I way off base here in assuming this?

 

I thought you already had the LQ9. Sorry my bad. Yeah to keep all that under $4500 I think you're right. The only way is to buy a used block and go from there. Even then after its all said and done 4500 might still be tough

 

well, its not like im under a time crunch, my car still runs strong, so taking months to do a build up is not a big deal if I need to save up some more cash. I guess ill just bite the big one and purchase a nice shortblock from TMS or TSP, and plan on saving up for the other stuff needed

 

Honestly I think that's a smart move. This way you get a fully balance and blueprinted forged shortblock with a warranty. TMS is a fantastic company to deal with btw

 

People are way too eager to fixate on the shortblock. The built shortblock you are looking at certainly would be "better" than stock but that is not to say it would offer any tangible benefit for a heads/cam setup. Stock stuff is pretty good and money gets you a LOT more HP per dollar when spent on heads and cam.

 

right but from my understanding and what I have been told, putting a H/C/I setup on a 160K mile LS1 would not be so smart. I know i could just find a low milage LS1 and then put h/c/i on that, but honestly I want a new motor as I love driving my car and never plan on selling it. so putting money into it in my case, is well worth it because im focused on super long term ownership.