95 lt1 with the lt4 conversion formula. I just pulled the motor, it has 76k miles on it. Some what new to all this, want to do a 383. what do i need to do and what are the best parts for this build, plus i want to go with a bigger cam than the hotcam. Any help or ideas???? thanks guys

 

What exactly are you trying to do? What are your goals? If you only have 76k miles on your bottom end, you can do a LOT with what you have. Perhaps a good heads/cam package with a custom grind cam from AI or LE, and you can have 400whp with the stock bottom end.

Unless you're planning a big budget all-out build...

 

At least you know you want a 383 and a bigger cam

So many directions you can go here. What's your budget? (that will probably make decisions for you). There is a big difference between what you want and what you need. You asked what "the best" parts would be - well, I'd say Callies Racemaster or Magnum are two really nice cranks; I think those few who are running the mystical lightweight COLA crankshaft are to be looked up to... I would have LOVED to have received a set of Oliver billet rods for Christmas a few years back... there are plenty of good pistons out there (I'll mention JE). The above mentioned parts would represent a really nice forged rotating assembly. Then again, you can spend half as much (maybe even 1/3 the cost!) and get a forged Eagle rotating kit that would be strong as hell.

We haven't even started talking cylinder heads yet... I think budget will answer most your questions. One important Q would be what do you want to do with this engine/car? (daily driver? emissions yes/no?, race car project? etc).

 

Sounds to me like you want a 383 for the ability to say it's a 383, not for any practical reason.

 

perhaps. Whats the usage of the car?

AI has a good priced rotating assembly.but a local machine shop would have to machine the block. and if your new to it. theyd have to build it up for you aswell.. and that can become Very costly, as opposed to heads and a bigger cam. You already have LT4 heads. theirs alot to get out of them

 

i dont care about the money, just my first time ever pulling a motor and i want to do it the right way. I would like the car for street but more race and project. I have 2 other cars so i have all the time to work on this one.

 

"Street," "race," and "project" are all subjective to your own interpretation. What do you want, specifically? I.E., 450whp, 11.5x 1/4 mile time, nitrous or boost, etc. There are a thousand different ways to build an engine - you need to narrow down what you want.

For example, when I did my build, I wanted a low 11 second car that would look decent, that I could drive 50 miles to the track and back, and still drive 200 mile round trips if I wanted to in summer heat.

 

well to put it simply u got some options..........you can go nice and street/easy and do like a scat cast crank with some scat h beams..........or you can step up a bit and go with a forged crank and maybe some compstar rods.......or you can just say "screw it" and go balastic like I ended up doing lol......callies magnum, oliver billets, and srp pro series slugs........its all a matter of ur budget and the intended use of the motor........you have to ask yourself that first......do you want to spend 1k, 3k or 6k on a shortblock??? get your basics down first of intended usage, NA or PA or FI and budget and that will give u a better idea.....

good luck with the build and keep searching theres alot of decent info out there

 

If you are running the hot cam with LT4 heads & intake (real LT4 conversion) then your current setup if properly tuned should be well over 400 hp at the crank. Didn't GM use to advertise a "proven 425+ hp" with the LT4 fast burn heads/intake and the gm hot cam kit?

Considering what you have (if correct) above, I'd imagine you wouldn't be tearning out and apart that motor to simply build up a 450+ crank hp 383, right? You could slap a blower on your current engine and be making 450 hp at the wheels.

So you'd want to consider a good forged stroker kit - I think for $1500 or so you can get a very decent 4340 Eagle crank & rods and a good set of forged pistons. Do you want to spend another $500-$1000 to beef up your block? - that's something you might want to consider... If you're really holding on to LT4 cylinder heads you "could" keep them as is and go for a custom low revving torque monster cam shaft (or even a proven off the shelf cam). Or you could consider spending the $1000-$1500+ on a serious heads&cam package that would make that 383 into a high reving screamer (like 6000-6500RPM peak)... in this case start to think about beefing up the block.

There's so many other engine parts you'll need to consider replacing. And assume that a good number of stock parts will have to be replaced anyways. I ended up replaced EVERYTHING with my 383 build. The only original parts from my old 355 LT1 on my new engine are:
1: the waterpump housing (although I did the electric pump converstion
2: my stock fuel rail (polished rails and painted red crossover tubes to match LT4 intake)
Thats it! Every single other part, sensor, bolt & screw had to be new. You don't have to go this nuts but one part you may want to consider replacing - or at least prepared to possibly replace - would be the optispark. I sprang for an MSD billet opti. The LSx coil per plug conversion is another option but pricey. The MSD opti goes for $500.

Oh geeze, if we're talking cam swap you really should consider replacing the entire valvetrain - you'll be forced to change the springs no matter what; if you in fact have the GM 1.6 roller rockers already you could use those but recommend you buy brand new chromemoly pushrods and new lifters.

the **** adds up quick.