I have a ASA LS1 with a converted oil pan to fit my swap. So no dry sump. According to what i have read so far the heads, springs, cam are the biggest differences in this vs say stock ls1. If that is the case what is recommended to reach closer to the 550whp range?
is the block stock? Or is it a bit sturdier? Not sure where this engines limit is vs standard set up. If up.ody knows ill assume normal.
i have a NOS set up i could use as well.
I have considered doing a squires turbo set up and keeping it mild to attain that power level
Also thought about changing intake manifold out for a better flowing and just use the NOS set up with it.
Im open to suggestions.

 

Bigger cam

 

They came with a bogger cam. Granted from what ive read it isnt a huge cam. If it in fact does id prefer to keep for now anything that is already better then a stock ls1 and change other stuff as it is a waste of money. Example intake manifold, throttle body, bottom end, and power adders.

 

I'm not sure what the cam specs are on that. I was thinking it was a GM Hotcam which if that's the case, there are better choices.

 

I understand there are but financially it makes no sense to swap it out over something stock. At least at first.

 

ASA specs- 226/236 .525/.525, 110LSA
Hot Cam- 219/228, .525/.525, 112LSA

 

Maybe use 1.8 rockers with the ASA cam for some extra lift

 

Sounds like a plan. What about other things for power production as well? Intake manifold? Bottom end? From what i see the pistons are all same size on stroker kits? Since these cant be bored is that correct only honed? So rings can be sized for honing? Or do people hone enough to actually run bigger pistons.

 

If its gaining you minimal power over stock when something else will get you 3x the gains, then it makes sense.
You're not going to do 550whp with an ASA cam without major upgrades elsewhere. Major.

If you want to keep that cam, 1.8 rockers would barely be a start. That'll net you an extra couple degrees at .050 lift, and a total of .555 lift which is extremely mild as far as LS cams go.

 

How much of a gain swapping out cam? Im all for it if im getting my money worth of course. Initially my thought was stroker 383 and nitrous it. Which i presume would have meant bigger injectors and engine management

 

My go-to is always dirt cheap $800 DIY turbo setups and blow past 500whp by accident.

If you want to do it N/A, there are a few things you'll need first. You can keep your current cam and see how close you get, and if you don't get there, upgrade it later.
You might want to start researching aftermarket heads (or CNC ported stockers), aftermarket intake manifolds (and ported versions of aftermarket).
A tune will make or break it. 550whp, depending on the trans, is ~650 at the flywheel.

Darth_V8r did 539 at the wheels with an LS1.
I trimmed up his post a bit to remove some of the extra stuff:

 

Race car or street car?

 

Street car. Im not against turbo at all. Not a lot of room so it would have to be remote mount.

 

All of your bank account and all of the stars have to align to hit 550 to the tires NA. I'd say 99.9999999% of LS1 builds will never reach 550 to the tire.

550 is that dead spot that takes all the money and time in the world to hit NA (if you ever even hit it, it's FAR from easy or standard issue), and gets blow right past with boost.

If you're looking for 550 ish there's little point in doing it NA. You can make that power very easy with cheap boost and actually be more reliable since you can leave the motor as is, bolt on LOW boost and a couple of supporting mods and rock out for years that way.

Or you could do a really nice blower setup and run it on low boost.

 

What I find most often when people say they want 500, 550 or anywhere in that range, to the tire.. is that they actually have a acceleration goal in mind, or an ET, that they don't realize can be hit with less power to the tire.

You can hit 10's in the quarter under 500 to the tire...

I'm saying all this because in most cases you can hit the number you want for far less money if you concentrate on the acceleration goal instead of the horsepower goal.

 

I never said na only. I think maybe that got lost somewhere apologies if that is the case. Im open to anything that gets it close. I used hp goal as it is generally what everyone uses. Its astreet only car. I know stock asa ls1 likely will be enough for a while. Small shot of nitrous would be as well. But since its a swap i will minimum refresh motor with new timing chain, pumps, plugs, etc...what i dont want to do is pull motor later on to say build the bottom end, or turbo it, supercharged, cam head swap etc...id prefer to get it out of the way first. I have a nitrous set up that ive owned for a while now. Not sure if that points me in that direction as im willing to do whatever really.

 

Many people throw a D1sc kit on it to achieve a reliable 500-550 wheel and 10 second quarter miles. Since you are tearing it apart I would build the bottom end regardless if it was my engine. A well built forged ls1 or ls1 383 would make 450-500 wheel on motor and could take 200-300 shot no problem far surpassing your goal. A stroked 383 with nitrous would probably cost less than a d1sc kit and be much faster.

 

My research was showing that as well. I looked at cnc motorsports stroker kits for a 383. Not sure how that company is but they seemed fine. Unless there is a recommendation? 1800 ish for rotating assembly isnt bad. Machine labor, and get the nitrous express maximizer to do progressive load vs big shots. More manageable drive as well.

 

Ya usually its 2k for crank rods and pistons, arp mains, bearings, 800-1200 machine work and should be good to go. I haven't dealt with cnc motorsports I got the crank and rods lunati kit from ws6store and pistons from wiseco.

 

Oh okay gotcha.

Makes it that much harder to answer though because there's 100 ways to get what you want out of it if you're open to any and all ways of making that power. You'll have to narrow the focus a little for the most help.
You could make that power forever on a stock block, even a dog tired junk yard motor would be okay at that power level on boost. So you don't really need to build for 550 ish. So this really is going to come down to you. Are you going to want more? Can you afford it now or will it be later. If you can afford to do it all now, forge the bottom end and buy a blower kit.

If you need to work in stages, build the bottom end now. Forged internals. And go for 10:1 compression so that it can work well NA, nitrous, or boost. Then use your current nitrous kit for a 100 shot or so.

Then later put a really nice N20 kit on it or a blower/turbo kit. Or go with a bigger cam and top of the line heads, intake, valve train.

If you think you'll be happy forever at 550-700 ish. Then freshen up the motor, open the ring gaps, and boost it.