Obsolete motors now lol Funny how a old SBC was still used readily into the late 90s the LS1 had a decent 10 year span and then the LS3 sealed the coffin on it. Great little motors but so much more potential in the LS3.

 

I'll take all these scrap LS1's off peoples hands since they're not worth anything.

 

Lol!!

 

Plainly curious, if you were restricted to an LS1 build, what would you build?

 

That would make an excellent stand alone thread IMHO!

 

Completely depends on power goals. Anything over cam only power (north of 400whp) and boost starts to make sense over NA given that its easy to spend over $1000 on heads and $1000 for an intake/TB. A stock long block LS1 with a cam and springs (may not want the cam but it is nice) will do 600whp with boost and live if tuned right for a long time. Some go higher, but that's a rule of thumb. It will drive better and have a better torque curve and not require rev'ing as high. As far as type of boost, it depends on goals and fabrication abilities. Don't want to adjust boost or deal with welding, then go Procharger or Magnacharger. Bolt on and go and typically are easier to package as there is no "hot side in the engine bay". Turbo's have more head room for future power growth for little money (turbo's are cheap these days), and hit full boost faster than Prochargers. Pick your turbo size based on how much power you want to make and how high you want to rev. Prochargers and Magnachargers are more set it and forget it for a single PSI level. Max boost is max RPM. Centrifugal blowers are easier to hook up on the street. Magnachargers (roots style) are violent off idle as they make peak boost very early and are killer for heavier cars, but packaging is tougher like in an Fbody. I'm in the middle of building a rear mount turbo setup because I got a good deal and have only built front mount turbo setups before. I'll have <$2500 into my entire turbo setup that'll make 600whp without working too hard, keeps A/C and all accessories in the stock location, and no hot side under the hood to deal with. When I rebuilt my LS6, we opened the ring gap "just in case" and I picked a cam that I felt would work with NA or boost. We'll see how it goes!

 

Sounds pretty insane. 600RWHP is still no slouch especially for under $2.5k. What Turbo did you go with and did you go for a rear mount kit or just custom fabbed it?

For a high mileage LS1 with about 220k miles on it, would you still risk going F.I on a stock motor or would you rebuild it?

 

It's actually pretty mild lol. 800hp is the new 600, 600 is the new 400 lol. At least in the boosted world. I found a used STS kit from someone I know, but it would be pretty easy to make 1 after seeing it in person. Mine came with a GT67, but I will likely upgrade at some point to probably a VSR billet 76/65 for a whopping $450. On a high mileage motor, if you're willing to stick a heads/cam combo on their that should rev to 6500-7000, you should be able to put some boost on it with less stress since it doesn't have to rev as high to make power. Usually higher mileage is better for boost as the clearances and ring gap have opened up a bit, which helps them live under boost.

 

I had an LS1 stroker, a 383 with Dart 225 ported heads, a 243-251 LSL lobed cam with an Edelbrock ProFlo and it ran very well, made 534rwhp with 518 SAE corrected through a T56 and an 8.8 on a SuperFlo 4wheel dyno, I wouldn’t even consider building anything using a Gen3 aluminum block now, they’re kinda 10 or more years ago.

 

64post, that's a very nice result with an 383 LS1 stroker...kudos! Agreed for the serious hp definitely the Gen 4 and new LT platform are where it's at.

To me building a ~ 425whp to 450 whp LS1/LS6 can still be relevance for a fun cruiser or daily driver...there are a lot 240SX's, S2000's, Valve's, BMW's and 3rd Gen Camaro/ Firebird etc that greatly benefit from any hand me down LS swap.

 

He asked me if it was a good price. I told him to do that deal before the buyer discovered the internet and changed his mind.

 

That's tremendous results. Especially through a superflo.

 

By the time you build the 346 you can almost have a crate LS3. Slap your basic bolt ons to it and your there.

 

If I could get a vid posted I would but it keeps timing out

 

64, thats nice curve

Definitely true if your building engines but as as along as an stock NA 5.3 is worth swapping, a NA stock/near stock 5.7 LS1 still has some merit for daily driver & cruiser applications.

 

LS3 is the way to go here. No need to give it too much though IMO, But, if you opt for the small bore stroker then use a Gen4 5.3 block like LH6, this is a much better foundation with Siamesed cylinders, better bay to bay breathing and thicker bulkheads. Can be safely bored to accept 3.905 piston.

 

This is true, by the time you pay labor to replace a cam, heads and misc stuff you approach the price of a LS2 or LS3 engine.

So you need to answer the question, how much power do you want and how do you get there. The bigger numbers are either a LS3 stroker or heads, cam and Blower or turbo 5.7 or 5.3.

 

Damn, that is one nice torque curve.
What camshaft specs are being used and what intake?
Compression ratio?