I was always a Mopar guy, however recently I purchased a 1997 z28. Auto with the basic bolt ons and cam. cai, Pacesetter Lts, ORY, cut out, 30# injectors, 3 inch exhaust and last lt4 hotcam computer was tuned by Solomon and it has a shift kit. The kid who owned it before me put the iron heads from an impala on for some reason. Anyways here is my dillemma, I had an oil leak and determined it was coming from the back of my intake, along with a slight leak from my front seal. My main problem now is when I took the inake off I noticed a decent amount of milky oil. Im just assuming its a head gasket now. I was originally planning on replacing the heads next winter anyways. I am not sure which cam and head combo to go with. It is not my daily driver so I would like something a little more aggressive than the lt4 hotcam, but it will still be driven on the street. I have looked at Lloyd's port work and that seemed like a solid way to get a decent amount of power for the money. However I do not know if my heads are even ok to send out right now. So I am looking at an aftermarket set along with a good cam to match them. I am going to drop the motor so I figured I would go through my bottom end as well, because my oil pressure would drop to around ten at idle ( although I was getting a steady ten psi every 1000 rpms) I heard this is okay for these cars. but I would like to check the bearings anyways. While my engine is under the knife I will also probably doing a little suspension work. I would like to see mid elevens if possible n/a. I have been searching for good head and cam combos but nothing seems to fill the void of what Im looking for. A streetable mid eleven second car without blowing my bottom end. (Will purhase a forged rotating assembly if necassary). I have no plans of running it on the juice. Just a nice healthy H/C/I set up. Like I said before I am use to big block mopars not fuel injected sbc. Thank you in advance

 

If you're on a budget, LE is a nice choice. But if you want the best results with ported stock castings and don't mind spending that little extra, check out www.advancedinduction.com

 

What exact heads are you running from advanced induction? Along with your rotating assembly, and your cam. Your set up actually sounds real appealing to me. Im sort of on a budget but, I have access to a 93 lt1 I can use until I finish my other motor. So It might just take a little longer to finish my built block if I go with more expensive parts. Thank you.

 

You send in your stock castings and they port them for you. They can also grind a cam specific to your goals. Give them a call and tell them your goals and they will guide you in the right direction.

 

Ah that makes sense. If I am wrong about the head gasket and the head is cracked what is my best option? New heads or will LE or AI take them.? Thanks I appreciate the help.

 

I would pick up a set of aluminum heads first. No press in studs and they won't require extra time in the porting.

 

All the details are in the link in my signature. Check it out.

 

https://ls1tech.com/forums/lt1-lt4-m...1-119-7-a.html
Maybe that link and my signature will help you decide.

Mine is still a primarily street car, the one in the link is more dialed in for the strip.

The stock shortblock in these is pretty darn good, I would not dig into it unless you are looking to rebuild it very well, like Mahle pistons as opposed to cheap ones. The stock crank is very good too and not really worth replacing unless going stroker and then you really need to go forged.

 

Thanks for all the advice, I have the iron heads and LE told me that it would be more expensive to have him port the iron heads and it wouldn't make nearly the amount of difference opposed to the alumium heads. Unfortunately I am stuck with the iron heads currently. I do not know if I should spend a few bucks on aluminum heads then send them out to Lloyd or just buy a set of afr or trick flows. I am leaning toward the aftermarket heads due to not knowing if the lt1 aluminum heads I would buy used are in decent shape.

 

Aftermarket castings (IMO) for a N/A build are only worthwhile in the hands of a skilled porter and/or CNC machine. Using them as-cast, IMO, is selling yourself short. Pick up a set of used LT1 heads. They go for pretty cheap all the time ($200ish).

Like Dwayne and I mentioned though, the stock ported castings from Ron/Phil at AI have been in the 9s N/A. If you're looking for these kind of numbers that's the best route to take.

 

Why is it that people come here asking questions only to ignore than answers?

 

Yeah, nevermind I had talked to Le only a few minutes because I had to go to work, I was unaware that he could supply castings for 250$. That sounds good, he also said hed knock off a few hundred due to already having the 1.6 rockers and beehive springs. Sorry caprice I misunderstood how this procedure was done. I got a chance to thoroughly talk to lloyd this afternoon, and it seems like he is the guy I will go through. Everyone else seems to be happy with his results.

 

You act like AI is the only company out there. Get over it. He'll be happy with LE.

You guys act like you get kickbacks from AI with how much you obsess over their dominance.

 

What is so wrong with a recommendation?

 

There is nothing wrong with a recommendation, it's when he starts whining if someone chooses LE over AI. Get over it, it's business. Some will choose one, and some will choose the other. Either way I'm sure that he will be happy with whichever way he goes.

 

I advise to go AI

 

I think "budget" throws the ported trick flows out of the mix, ported stockers will do fine.

 

Absolutely nothing. I agree with everything YOU have said in this thread.

It's the guy I quoted that needs to read the quote above from duh.

This quote is a little crybaby cause he didn't get AI:

 

I think you misread it. Dwayne was referring to the quote above his regarding still not appearing to know which way to go. It wasn't a "crybaby" response - at least I did not read it that way.

 

Do it right the first time, go with AI