Jared Strickler

I am currently at a loss as to which direction I should go for my build. I currently do not have a car or an engine as I would like to build the engine first and find a car later. Which means I will be starting completely from square one. I can get a 454 big block for relatively cheap $400-$800 range, but it would be stripped, forged, and stroked to a 496 if I went that route. But then again, I’ve really really been looking hard at the LS3/L92 specifically but it seems ridiculously hard to find one of them that isn’t outrageously priced. Either option will be going into a street car. I’ve heard of 700hp on pretty much stock internals of LS motors with a turbo on it and still getting 20mpg and that just sounds super impressive to me which is why I’m leaning more towards this option other than the fact that they seem so hard to find unless you buy a long block for $5,000+ with stock internals. If I’m going that route, should I buy just a bare block from Summit for $1,500 and build it with forged internals, then add boost? Leave it N/A? Or go with a mild big block and possibly even boost it? Any suggestions are welcome, I’m pretty new to both BBC and LS so I’m not sure what to do. No specific budget, but not looking to spend an ungodly amount either just for a street car

Darth_V8r

iTrader: (4)

LS will destroy a BBC. It's no contest.

G Atsma

+1 On all fronts. Better usable power, FAR more efficient, more durable (200k miles is very common. BBC? Nope), fits into more chassis, and is FAR lighter, even with iron block.

Jared Strickler

So as far as LS engines go, can I find one anywhere at all for less than an arm and a leg for just a long block? I know you can find 4.8/5.3 truck motors pretty much all day long, anywhere and everywhere. But I’d like an LS3 or if it’s at all possible which I’m going to doubt, an LS7. I’ve thought about the 6.0 blocks as well, but think it would be a cool to have an LS3 with a 6 speed stick behind it. Old body with a new heart from camaro to camaro or something like that lol. Also would it be better to just buy a block and go full forged internals with aftermarket parts? And is 700hp really a realistic number on pump gas and a turbo with one of these engines? If so, hypothetically speaking what would two turbos net? Not that I’m looking for that much power, but while I’m here asking the questions, might as well gain the knowledge while I can

NAVYBLUE210

If you are going Turbo I would get the last Gen 5.3 from a recycle yard,
Quickest easiest & Least Expensive rout to 700 RWHP.
Check out the forced induction section and threads/posts by
Joe Nova, it's been done Many times before.
Good Luck

Gasoholic

iTrader: (1)

I think I would get a car to put the motor into first. That would kind of dictate what base motor you would want to go with.

Darth_V8r

iTrader: (4)

700 hp with a turbo is very realistic. Even with a 6.0. There are LS3 long blocks out there around 3k. You could also get a junkyard 6.0, punch it out to 6.2 and get some used ls3 heads. Plenty of options. And the block is universal for all LS, so you could swap in a 5.3 now and swap in your 6.2 later with minimal effort

But from performance and reliability and fuel consumption, LS is hard to beat.

I'd take a 4.8 LS over the vortec 350 hands down.

There's a 6.0 in the third gen section just made 485/460 or something close to that, and he had more he can do yet.

A.R. Shale Targa

iTrader: (2)

LS...no if and or but about it...
The Borg Warner S475 turbo is one of the best bang for buck set ups out there
however the T6 head unit is heavy....if you go that route, as others have stated
stay 5.3, possibly even look for an L33 all aluminum to keep the nose of your
car lighter
stock with just a cam/push/rods/valve spring change you could blow right past
that 700 goal on E85 and 12 pounds of boost...any more than that and I'd be pulling the pistons out to re-gap the rings and running head studs
If you decide to go N/A then you could piece together a LS2/3 combo for pretty cheap and make an easy 525-575 fly wheel horsepower
Found my LS2 block in the classifieds for 500/LS3 rods for 200/ and an LQ4 crank for a hundred....had it honed .020" and bought cheap *** hyper pistons with rings for under 300......N/A and no nitrous planned
Do your home work as all the info you need is right here on this site....great minds to help you as well....some of the best have already posted !!!!!!

Gasoholic

iTrader: (1)

If your putting the motor into a late model car yeah I'm all about the LS.
But honestly if I was working on say an old school Chevelle SS396, if for no other reason than it just looks like it belongs there, I'd go with a BB.
Don't get me wrong. I've seen a lot of old school Camaros with LS swaps and they're totally sweet.
Just something about an old school BB with a big ole blower sitting on top, gives me a full on chubby.
But that's just me.

Brons2

I agree with Gasoholic. BBC looks awesome, and it's no sweat getting to 496 starting from a thirty over 454.

The real downside of it is weight of course, them things are heavy. Especially if you have iron heads. And the physical size of a big block limits what car you can put it into.

Jared Strickler

I apologize if this is a dumb question, but when you say the block is universal, do you mean it’s the actually same block with different bore and stroke? Or just that everything is the same as far as “swap parts” would go for every engine in the LS family? And by punching out a 6.0 to a 6.2 would it be able to handle boost and say a 418 stroker kit like the 6.2’s would?

Darth_V8r

iTrader: (4)

No, I apologize for being rather vague. By universal, I mean that the engine mounts and transmission mounts are identical, so once you get one LS motor into a vehicle, any of them will mechanically fit.

There are actually several different blocks, depending on which engine from the factory, but their basic architecture is identical. you have iron 4.8/5.3 blocks, iron 6.0, aluminum 5.7, aluminum 6.0, aluminum 6.2, and aluminum 7.0, not counting the aftermarket blocks also out there.

To answer your other question, yes, the iron 6.0 punched out to 4.065" bore can handle boost. The aluminum 6.0 (LS2) would require sleeving to handle high amounts of boost. It's actually quite popular to boost the 5.3, because the cylinder walls are very thick, you can get lots of power (700 is realistic), and they're cheap, so you can throw it away and get another for under $1k.

If i were you, I'd swap a 5.3 into your vehicle really cheap, and then turbo the crap out of it, based on your stated power goals. if you want a badass, really big, NA motor, i'd still swap a cheap 5.3 in to get the car running. build the bigger motor (which can sometimes take a WHILE), and you can enjoy the car while you're building the bigger motor, then swap it in when it's ready. if you want a badass, really big boosted motor, same plan, honestly. A non-running car waiting for a motor is an PITA, and eyesore, and frustrating. A running car is much easier to buy parts for and much more likely to get done. but that's me.

cam

iTrader: (9)

Up to 1000hp range the LS makes sense. After that the BBC starts to look better and north of 1500 it makes more financial sense.

For a street car the LS is the leading choice these days, by far.

gnx7

iTrader: (28)

A BBC is over 700lbs.... an all aluminum LS engine is just over 400lbs.

Buy this, change cam, slap on turbo.... go crush some cars on the street.
https://ls1tech.com/forums/parts-cla...g-harness.html

G Atsma

Sure you can get aluminum big blocks; AFTER you mortgage the house... otherwise it is a LOT of weight you don't need to deal with.

A.R. Shale Targa

iTrader: (2)

Cracks me up that the new GEN V LT series has canted valves like the sixties RAT engines Those freaks knew some schnizzle back then

cam

iTrader: (9)

fixed

Smokey built it

G Atsma

When it came to engines of any kind, Smokey was THE MAN!

G Atsma

FYI, OP hasn't been here in over 3 years....