Hey guys, im looking for opinions on how to build my first ls engine. Im thinking about the 5.3 varients or the 6.0 lq4/l1q9 truck engine with ls2 intake. I want to make at least 400hp and keep it simple. Maybe a cam and tune as well. I also have a 4L80e transmission sitting in an old chev express 3500... Not sure if its worth using but i plan on putting this build into a 3rd gen camaro but that could change at any time. Ive done tons of research but now just looking for opinions and what works the best.

Side note: i would love to use a t56 but they are a bit too expensive for me right now. Just wondering if the 4L80e transmission will work well with a car as i know its mainly a truck engine... Thanks

 

There are many stock LSx engines which will handle 450-500bhp on boost. This is the suggested route for newbies, since opening an engine (building an engine) takes more experience. You could buy several stock engines for the price of building one, and learn alot about them in the process of changing over the external parts as you swap them around. Plus you get a ton of spare parts to work with.

Then, once you are familar with the outside of the engines, and how to torque bolts and keep the motor clean, you can move on to building something. The insides of modern engines need to be kept doctor surgery clean if possible. When you do put something together, it should be in a clean room, with filters, and it needs to go together quickly so nothing has a chance to get inside it.

 

What would be my best option for a stock engine? And i thought of boost but figured it would be a lot more complicated. I was thinking about just throwing in a cam and an intake on for starters.

 

There are many guides to this exact question, here are two random,

https://ls1tech.com/forums/conversio...de-1500-a.html

http://www.chevyhardcore.com/tech-st...kyard-ls-swap/

As to the rest, and it depends how much you have to work with. I can easily drop $4000 into a pair of rear mount oil-less turbos and another $500 fabricating an elegant mounting solution, and we havn't even started on the chassis or engine or drivetrain and already spent double what others have spent on just the engine. On the other hand, there are $180 shipped turbos available from ebay, and $150 manifold solutions.