you could do a "good" 355 which IMO is the stock crank, forged I beam rods (floating pin) and some forged pistons for about $2K-2500. That's assuming your crank doesn't need too much work. That would be a good foundation for a F.I. 500 rwhp. This is just my opinion, everyone else has different opinions. But I can guarantee what determines how much HP you make comes in the heads and top end. Everything else just has to "put up" with the power, essentially. It'll be a good budget start, but if you ever get serious with the F.I. game it gets really expensive.......actually once you get serious period it gets expensive........

 

Trust me man if I could do tags for 50 years at a time and not worry about emissions this thing would have been carbed

 

what does the 355 have is it just longer rods? or is there an actual bore involved with it?

 

it's bored .030 over, but I would recommend if you're going to go F.I. you leave the stock 5.7 or 5.85 rods in it. I wouldn't recommend 6" rods in it as it pushes the wrist pin into the oil ring. Aside from the bore everything is the same, stock crank, stock rods, bigger pistons. Actually the bigger bore helps unshroud the valves so the heads flow a bit better too.

 

ok so I go to the machine shop... What do I tell them? and what parts would you recommend? keeping my stock crank that is what other things would I need like forged or just cast

 

With the stock stroke and a 6" rod you do not push the wristpin up into the oil ring. On a 3.750 you will with some pistons and not with others depending on ring pack spacing.

 

I would make sure the machine shop your are using has a good reputation, familiar with SBC/LTx and there should be little you should need to tell them.

yes you will need to tell them your goals/plans , but otherwise they should be able to supply proper parts.

The 355 properly built with forced induction ( low boost ) will easily meet your goals of 500+ rwhp.

FI can get expensive in the end, so an NA stroker build might work better with the budget

450-500 rwhp is very doable with a 383/396 if built properly

 

alright I just got off the phone with lloyd elliot and we had a nice conversation about this lol here is what he told me:

first he said with an automatic it will be harder to put down 500 to the wheels which I already know but if im going N/A then 500 to the wheels will get expensive, he said 425-450 is more doable within a reasonable budget so he told me to do a LS1 intake setup and port my intake manifold and have him do the LE2 package with like a 236/244 cam with a .592 lift and go with 1 7/8 kooks headers and put a yank 3600 stall on it and I should be ready to roll on a 383 though, he said a 355 could get there but id have a powerband of a race car and for the street it will be a pain in the ***.

pretty cool guy and he is very knowledgeable, he certainly brought me down to earth but I can live with 425-450 to the wheels for my first build in an f-body especially since its an LT-1...

What do you guys think?

 

build a le2 383. You should be happy.

Than down the road swap out pistons and throw on a turbo if you want more power.

 

So should I just do a forged setup now if I plan on that in the future? because the stock crank is probably stronger than most aftermarket cast cranks but with forged you cant go wrong

 

Heck man do a forged 355 like we were talking about stock crank forged pistons and rods le2 topend also a 100 or 150 shot and you will exceed your 500whp goal and be close to your budget!

 

Also stock crank will hold up to your goals.

 

not sure if I want to run nitrous anymore... I want real power not nitrous power

 

Ah ok still the stock crank forged 355 setup with some type of forced induction would get you taken care of. A good h/c 355 will make 400hp and add a turbo kit you will meet your goals on pump gas.

 

So you are trying to say a 5.7 rod is better than a 6.0 rod in a built 355???? Wonder why nine out of ten of us turbo LT1 guys run them then and have zero issue Maybe I should tell my engine builder who has been building race engines for 30 years he doesnt know ****. I take it you dont even have a turbo LT1?

 

I'm not saying it is necessarily better. There are things to look at. The 6" rod yields a better 1.7 rod stroke ratio, as opposed to the 1.6 from a 5.7" rod. The 6" rod also makes the compression height shorter. Personally I like to have meat on the top of a piston when I plan on running FI.....This is so when I slap 20-30psi into a race engine and it really sees upwards of 32-42psi, depending on how much vacuum the engine is setup to pull. Now I don't know about you but that's a LOT of temperature and pressure in that combustion chamber when the plugs light it. It's well proven that these things will lead to destruction unless your tune is 110% perfect, even with .3" more compression height. For example if you zero deck your assembly with a 9.025 block, 3.48 stroke, and 6" rod that gives you a compression height of 1.285....If you do it with a 5.7 rod you get a compression height of 1.585. Now if you look at a competitive top fuel piston (I know, overkill but it's an example) from JE they have compression heights of 1.63"-1.72".off the shelf top fuel pistonsI don't know about you but those things make 8K+ HP and live 4 seconds at a time. Granted it's only 4 seconds, but it still survives, and they don't replace them every run like they do valve springs. So in the world of BIG racing engines you need as much meat as possible. I have a tendency to over build my engines, but I also plan on abusing the crap out of them. So no your builder, and everyone elses for that matter, is not wrong. There is no right or wrong, but in the world of durability, in theory, the shorter rod engine will last longer under higher boost levels. That is where I'm coming from.

and no my LT is not turbo, but I' have put together my fair share of turbo engines.....and I put them together myself after the machine shop preps the block to my specs. I don't pay someone else to put my stuff together.

My rant is over.

 

I have assembled my fair share of engines. Not seeing your point. With high boost your tune needs to be right on for any piston. We all know detonation kills motors, really doesnt matter how think your forged piston is when you run into heavy knock from a crappy tune. If you look around you will see alot of successful combonations running 6.0 rods in the 355 with no durability issues.

I suggest you build a few turbo LT1's and then report back on your theory. We aren't building top fuel dragsters here. WTF runs 34-40 psi in a turbo LT1??? Do you build hondas or some **** because F-bodies arent running those numbers,period.

 

Again, as I said there is nothing wrong with a 6" rod. The only time you would want the shorter rod would be when you are running boost well in excess of what is conventional. If you have knowledge in turbo or any FI engine you would realize "boost" is actually any number higher than the vacuum that the engine pulls. So if you pull 12" of vacuum you need to overcome that then go positive. So if you have 20psi of boost you're really putting 32psi through that engine to reach the observed levels. Now as for anyone running 20-30 PSI in an LT1, you're probably right in that no one has done it....probably because the block will not hold up to that much and the RPM that comes with it. The top fuel reference was just that, a reference. All it was meant for is an example. If a 1" compression height (again an exaggeration) were ideal, they would run it do to the tremendous weight difference. But as I showed, they run d@mn near 2". But as I said the first time, THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH A 6" ROD!!!! It is more a personal choice and knowing what you plan on doing with the engine and the car in the future. For most street/strip cars, I too would probably run a 6" rod, it would depend on each circumstance.

 

Alright so after a few days of thinking and speaking with a few guys... I am going with a .030 bore over on the LT1 using the stock crank having it balanced and getting forged pistons and rods, bearings and all that stuff for it, im having lloyd building the LE2 heads for me and I am going with a 150 shot of nitrous. That should put me at over 550 to the wheels...

My only thing is should I save money by having the machine shop just do the bore and machine work and just install the parts myself?

and.... what parts do you recommend for the type of build im doing?

 

On that type of power, your driveline and *** are going to break...

So look into saving for a new rear-end and tranny rebuild soon. If not one, the other will eventually meet its demise.

And yes, of course it would be cheaper to have the shop do the machine work and you installing the parts yourself if you are good at doing that. I personally am a tard when it comes to that type of stuff and rely on my buddy Dave to do it for me while I sit their and help out in moral support and food runs. Lol

As far as trannys, I used SpeedInc for my Yank SS3600 stall and am very pleased with it. Excellent customer service and even follow up emails asking me how I've enjoyed it so far. They also sell Finish Line Transmission 4L60e's. I would probably go with their Stage 5 at those power levels for extra insurance. As to rears, maybe a Moser 9" or Strange S60 Dana with 3.73's

So in conclusion, tranny, rear, longtubes, ory, the quality and all accommodating valvetrain LE recommends to you, a nice dyno tune, and you should be set. I'm probably forgetting something though.