More information why the resleeved cases cost so much and LS1 case information:


We have stopped doing LS1/LS6 because of the frequency of core shift
problems in those cases. A majority of the LS6 and approximately 30% of LS1
blocks had core shift on the water jackets that create a thin parent
aluminum wall or even breaks through to the water jacket. With this we
cannot guarantee the integrity of the cooling passages.

Our sleeving process has been developed over 15 years of sleeving for race
engines. It is very tedious with many quality checks along the way:

Liners 100% CMM inspected and batched for size
CNC machine to remove existing liners
CNC machine for new liners
Machine for steel maincaps
Install liners with 450F+ temperature differential
Liners torqued during install process
Double vacuum impregnate
Machine liners for 4.000" stroke clearance
Install steel maincaps
Line bore & hone
Deck block to 9.235
Leak check

 

All most any tranny can work with the lsx motors. I have seen 4L60e, 4L80e, t56, th350, th400, powerglide, 200r4 and eve a ford tranny. Some guys have modified a ford 8.8 to work on f bodies. I believe the price was 1700. I have a moser 12 bolt and it is a quality piece.

 

You didn't mention if you already have a core engine, LS1, or plan on buying something to put into your 240.

The LS1 and LS6 blocks should not be bored oversize. You can do a slight clean up hone on them, .005" to .010" depending on the year of the block. The stock gray iron liners are too thin and weak for a conventional overbore.

Also, the LS1 and LS6 blocks are not well suited to dry sleeving to 4.125" bore. This is because of a coolant passage between the cylinders running from about a half inch down from the deck surface of the block, to about two inches down. This leaves very little support for a dry liner in that area. Chances are you will end up with a coolant leak into the oil or at best, the liner will not stay round for good ring seal.

These blocks can be dry sleeved to a max. safe bore of 4.060" using Darton's high strength ductile iron liners. These liners have nearly three times the tensile strength of the stock cast in liner. These sleeves were designed to leave sufficient aluminum parent material in the block to eliminate problems with leakage or cracking.

The best way to increase the bore size on the LS1, LS6 blocks is with the Darton MID wet sleeve. With this sleeve you completely eliminate the original liner and aluminum surrounding it. The wall thickness of the wet liner is over .225" thick at 4.125" bore. This sleeve will take any amount of nitrous or boost you can put to it. Darton sleeve material, whether wet or dry is exactly the same as the material in their top fuel sleeves - 110,000 psi tensile strength minimum. A 4,200" capable MID wet sleeve for the LS1 and LS2 will be available shortly after the first of the year.

The LS2 block has different coring. There is no coolant passage between the cylinders. The aluminum surrounding the cylinders has been increased in diameter as well. This makes it possible to successfully dry sleeve these blocks to 4.125" and larger. The Darton "seal tite" dry sleeve will in fact go to 4.150" bore. The Darton LS2 dry sleeve has sufficient wall thickness to hold roughly 900 - 1000 hp. Any more than this would require the MID wet liner.

There is really no need to upgrade the stock powdered metal bearing caps in any of these blocks unless one intends to build a max. effort blower or nitrous engine. The stock caps have proven to be of sufficient strength when ARP studs are used to hold them in place. I also have a kit to dowel the stock caps to the block to keep them from walking. Again, this is only required on a max. effort motor.

The MID sleeves installed in import drag motors have allowed some really impressive power levels to be reached. The VQ35 Nissan V-6 has surpassed 2,000 hp. The B series 4 cyl. Honda has surpassed 1,000 hp. The GM Ecotec close to 1,500 hp.

If you already have an LS1 block, the least expensive way to big displacement is to send it in to me to get MID sleeves installed. The MID works best on a good used LS1 block. This will give you 387 cubes at 4.125" bore with stock stroke or 427 cubes with 4" stroke. With 4.200" bore and stock stroke 401 cubes with 4" stroke 443 cubes.

Getting back to your original question, horsepower is more a function of air flow than engine size. A smaller engine will need to be spun higher to get the power. The larger engine will produce a lot more torque than a smaller engine making driveablity much better. This assuming the heads, manifolds on both engines are identical. You can achieve your goal of 500 hp with a stock LS1 - LS6 or LS2 provided you have good heads and cam. The power will come in much lower in the rpm range with the larger displacement engine however.

The first photo is the LS2 dry, second is MID wet.

If you are interested in any form of sleeving, send me a pm and I will answer any other questions you might have and give you pricing.

Steve

 

So you're telling me thers a 30% chance my motor is going to fall apart and you won't do anything about it? If so I'm selling it, I'm tired of companies not standing behind their products...

 

i hope ur talking about the 8.8 being brand new. over on the s10 forums they are running the 8.8s and picking em up from the junkyard for under 500 and they bolt right in. i guess its not the same as a camaro but cant be a 1200$ difference. i will be running the 8.8 and has been proven to handle up for 450 no prob w/ slicks.

 

OK I think I am ready to get down to the nitty gritty stuff now. So far what I have gatherd is that I can build a street drivable 500hp LS1 on stock intrnals, to accomplish this I need a good set of heads (could not find anything on EPT are Dart heads good) an intake (do you recomend Edelborck) exaust system with headers (Flowmaster cat-back system???). OK there has been alot of diferent posts so I am just trying to make sure I understand everybody and not just a speck of each one of you, now to the smaller stuff; how about the stock fuel system how much hp can it handle before it should be replaced? (besides the injectors of course) If I go with the F body should I upgrade the cooling system for that much power or is the stock cooling system enough for some track use? Do I need an aftermarket ignition to bring out it's true potential (and help retard ignition timing for NOS)? Do I need an aftermarket ECU, or a chip programer? Is the t56 tranny and 12 bolt combanation enough to reliably handle 500hp on dragslicks? Sorry if I am rambling I have a tooth ache and they got me on Loratabs so I am kinna right now. BTW guys thanks you have been alot of help WAY more than any import forum I have ever been to.

 

Do those 12bolts that you were talking about come with a limited slip?

 

They come with whatever you order them with, limited slip, full spool, but I think to get a mini spool you have to get a ford 8.8

ET heads are proven in my bood, I haven't seen any results from dart, but I'm sure they're a quality head. Stock ignition and cooling system are fine. You'll need a custom tune (stock ECU is fine), which you can pay some one to do ~400-600, or you can buy the software ~500 and a laptop. You may need injectors and a fuel pump, but the fuel lines and everything else will be fine. Best option to pull timing for nitrous is a timing tuner, that way you can run a NA tune, and when you arm the spray it pulls out however much timing you have it set to.

Of course you're getting more help than you would on an import board. This is LS1TECH.

 

No, I'm talking about during the resleeving process. 30% of the blocks are scrapped in-house. If yours has been resleeved and passed the quality control checks there is nothing to worry about. We stand behind our products 100% and have a reputation of doing so.

To clerify, that is why we've stopped resleeving LS1 cases. If a customer wanted their case resleeved we cannot guarantee that it will not have core shift and could get scrapped in the process. We cannot afford to be replacing cases due to core shift.

 

Out of curiosity, how much of a hassel is it to remove the dry sleeves and put in MID wet sleeves?

 

Mike, I just realized that your sig has listed a Katech 4.125" resleeved case. You indicated in your post above that you must have a LS1 resleeved case. We have never done a 4.125" LS1 or LS6 case. Where did you get it?

Also, if you are referring to Darton wet sleeves it would be just like starting with the stock case.

 

What about the intake manifold and exaust setup? What brands do you recomend for that? I added it up and my parts list will put me right around 4k (including the price of a complete exaust system and intake manifold) I could not exen get a 300zx that kind of power that cheep. The only thing that I cannot find is EP heads I figured they would be around $1200 is that about right? Oh and what duration cam should I be looking for in this street machine?

 

I posted ET's site earlier in this thread. www.etheads.com The intake manifold you need would be a FAST (Fuel Air Spark Tech.) 90mm with a 90mm throttle body. The exaust should be a set of 1 3/4" headers with a true dual, X-pipe set-up. Texas Speed sells both. The ET heads are going to range depending on which set you get, but I think they start around $2300. Your cam will need to be something bigger for the power your looking at making. Something in the high 230's to low 240's.

 

Is that $2300 fully preped heads or bare heads?

 

Those heads for that price would be ready to bolt on.