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I don't see much info on this. From stock cubes to 454, home built to purchased. For those who've built an LS/LQ/LM anything and chose to stay NA, how much did your longblock cost + intake + headers. I see alot of high $$ heads and expensive valvetrain so it might be useful for comparisons sake what the total bill was. No labor, no drivetrain, no judgement!
But the spent tab... I have spent a lot on this car. Much more than it's worth. When you add up every gasket. Bolt. Bottle of fluid. And all the parts that are not go fast, it adds up real quick. But a lot of the cost was on stuff to make it handle, the stereo, fixing the millions of problems the car has had. Whee...
But it looks like most of my NA 400cid builds would fall in the $12-15k range with everything. Going to a Dart SHP 427 LLR pushes $20k...
02 Z28 - LS2 365 or 402 (spare parts)
build 2019 -
Cost to date $2,220
90mm snout LS6, radical Peak Speed Shop porting $750
Speed Engineering 1 7/8 headers, Kook's Y pipe, 3 inch cut out, SLP Dual /Dual - sold surplus parts, cost $20
LS2 Block - sold surplus parts, cost $150
Reher-Morrison 236/244 .625/.6xx lift 114 LSA , used in my 416 briefly, re-polished - $100
LS1 crank & rods from the old junkyard motor mentioned below
GMPP/LPE 243 CNC'd heads, BTR platinum springs $1,200
Still collecting parts...
99 TA - LSA 416 NA $12,000 - Long Block, intake, exhaust
(excluding new injectors, coil packs, etc). Build date 2016-2017
$14,500 - turn key engine with new everything, professionally assembled.
ERL LSA 416 short block $5,160
Reher-Morrison top end package $2,700
Two new LS3 heads, CNC porting matched to my application Manley dual valve springs, titanium retainers, Darin Morgan custom spec'd cam, rocker stands, LS7 lifters
Vengeance Racing ported Fast 102 Intake - long runner $1,000
Kook's 1 7/8 Headers, Holley BlackHeart True Dual $1,700
Fbody oil pan, pick up, windage tray, front cover, valley cover, rear cover, lifter trays, BTR trunnion upgraded LS3 rockers, Holley valve covers, Mellings high pressure oil pump, new timing set, all new sensors, LSA new coil packs, MSD plug wires, TR-55 plugs, gaskets, coil pack harness, LSA 58# fuel injectors, push rods, coolant lines, new radiator hoses, 100 mm MAF, 102 NW TB, Fast Toys 100mm lid, new 100mm silicone hoses etc, new water pump, new idler pulley, new belt tensioner, bolts etc- $3,500
From memory, had it all in full detail in Excel sheet.
Deleted all of it when the car was stolen. Missed deleting a screen shot of the ERL short block only because it was on my phone.
$14,500 (engine, intake, exhaust, labor & machine work)
In 2002, junkyard LS1 & 4L60e with 32k miles $2,500 = $1,800 engine $700 transmission. Turned out to be a trashed drive line required rebuild.
Callies Dragonslayer - New crank turned .010 under & too much heavy metal wrong for the customers pistons due to shop error $1,000 (2003)
Balance crank (95% removing **** ton of heavy metal) $250
Callies rods $700 (2008)
Wiseco stroker pistons $750 (2008)
Used Jesel SS roller rockers $600 (2002)
Used Morgan Motorsports 229v2.1 cam 229/229 .578/.578 lift 114 LSA (2002) $150
Machine work on block, distress, deck, line hone, hone etc $1,000 by shop that built GM's ASA racing engines (in 2008)
TEA LS6 Stage 2.5 "Judson" version hand finished by Brian Tooley, NOS exhaust port & valve, dual springs, titanium retainers $3,000 (in 2003)
$1,150 - Used LS6 intake 90mm snout with radical port by Peak Performance. Replaced the $1,100 LSXRT with horrible drive ability. The overpriced tweaked LS6 made more horsepower and torque through the rpm range on this 383.
Hawks Motorsports 3rd Gen LS swap headers 1 7/8, Y pipe, twin electric cut outs, SLP Dual /Dual. $1,750
$1,000 - engine assembly by outstanding friend, SAM graduate, Nascar engine builder & now engineer for McClaren. (2008)
Took 14 years to get engine built and swapped in my 91 RS Camaro.
99 TA - LS1 Heads, Cam & Intake package & goodness
$5225 - build date 2001-2002
$1,800 - TEA Stage 2 5.3 heads, 2.02 intake 1.6 exhaust, 987 dual
springs (2002)
$400 - Comp Cams custom 224/224 XER .581/
581 lift 113 LSA
LS6 intake $405 (2001 - got it at dealer cost from dealer)
Katech ported LS6 oil pump $135
Roll Master 2x Jwis timing set $90
10% UD ATI balancer $465
Gaskets & bolts $125
Jet Hot coated Hooker LT's 1.3/4 $750
Mufflex 3 inch Y to 4 inch out $350
3 inch cut out $35
SLP Dual /Dual exhaust $570
LPE ported LS1 throttle body $100
Last edited by 99 Black Bird T/A; 01-24-2019 at 09:49 PM.
Here is my list for my HCI build. AI 232 heads, Mamo 102, EPS cam, Johnson lifters, Manton pushrods, Melling oil pump, hex-a-just timing set, trick flow timing chain damper... No numbers or track times to show for it yet, but I hope to get some this spring now that I added a twin disc clutch.
The prices are from me shopping around for parts; used, un-used off the classifieds here, and black friday deals. I also have been able to sell stock parts I removed for ~$850.
In hindsight I would seriously consider doing a crate LS3, or procharger instead.
I don't see much info on this. From stock cubes to 454, home built to purchased. For those who've built an LS/LQ/LM anything and chose to stay NA, how much did your longblock cost + intake + headers. I see alot of high $$ heads and expensive valvetrain so it might be useful for comparisons sake what the total bill was. No labor, no drivetrain, no judgement!
My project build started back in 2009 and took nearly seven years to get everything to build the car. I don't feel like going through all of the receipts for the long block so I'll just run it down quickly.
LSX Block: $2600
Machine work to block by LME Houston: $1000
TSP PRC LS7 6 bolt heads: $3100
Balanced rotating assembly: $3200 Callies dragonslayer crank, Callies H-beam, Wiseco pistons, HD wrist pins
To have my engine assembled by LME would have set me back another $3000 which would have been worth it but I saved the $$ by doing it myself and put what i would have spent into other large purchases.
This is one hobby where IF you kept track of a project's costs, you would be in the loony bin before you could enjoy its use... lol
Hey, there's no shame in the game. People spend obnoxious amounts of money on other hobbies far worse than cars. Others spend thousands of hours on bolton setups. Translate those hours to a labor rate and they're way more than the motors in here. People just rarely post up what they spent for a motor, so I thought it would be neat to get a big list with details particular to each setup.
I got my Lq4 for free, one ov the valve seats had fallen down and dug into one piston a little.
Got another piston $50
243 heads $450
Gaskets $350
Head bolts $50
Cam used ms3 $200
pushrods $70
TSP springs $250
Headers $110
Misc $200 Total Engine $1730
Mine is going into a 72 Trans am so Ill be running a single plane and a carb
850 carb, Vicjr intake, and MSD6014 $1150
Swap mounts and transmission adapter plate $150
Fuel system $350
Belts hoses ect to finish swap $250
3" dual exhaust with Xpipe and bullet mufflers $400
4000 stall $300
MISC $300
I'm not sure it's fair to not include the drivetrain, since the 346 completely destroyed my drivetrain, forcing me to upgrade. I probably spent more on the drivetrain and chassis than the motor. But I'll stick to the rules. Also, I wasn't sure about exhaust counting, and some of the ancillary bolt ons (like the lighter clutch or steering conversion), but I figure I used them for power gains, so may as well count them, but likely not the spirit of what you were after.
428 Build: *Running, forged short block and LPE heads with ARP hardware - $6500
*LLSR kit - $800
*Holley Sniper - $600
*Manton 3/8 pushrods - $250
*Gaskets and Fluids - $400
*Pantera EFI 60lb injectors - $600
*Pantera EFI redline coils and brackets - I honestly can't remember, but likely in the $600 range
*Custom Wires - $200
LPE conversion kit 58-24 - $300
*Fuel system upgrades - $800 *Thankfully, most of the remaining bolt-ons transferred over
01-24-2019, 03:29 PM
Share you NA build cost $$$ 
