A while back I popped a head gasket in my LT1 car. (long overdue by the way; 130K miles and has been sprayed for roughly the last 9 years of its life, and hit with the 150 for the past 2 years ). Anyways, replaced both head gaskets, had heads checked out, put it all back together and went bracket racing this weekend. Ran 4 time trials, each getting consecutively slower; 8.97, 9.02, 9.07, 9.12 (Impressive numbers if it weren't 1/8th mile ). Car normally runs 8.60s - 8.70s N/A. Weather was hot, but not .4 off your ET hot. Therefore, I knew something was not right, and around my 3rd time trial, I could see smoke coming out from under the car in my rear view at WOT, and was reminded of this by racer friends/spectators in the pits. I told myself, "So its got some blow by, big deal. Run it till it pukes!!" I proceeded to run that car another 6 rounds of eliminations to take the win in Street Class that night!!! Car was dead nuts, running anywhere from 8.98 to 9.06 through 6 rounds. I was impressed and depressed all the same time.

Thus leads to the "LT1 Ultra-Budget Build"
Psst....I gave it the title so that I don't give off the impression of being cheap and/or broke

As of now, the plan is...
11.5:1 CR 355cid
Stock Crank
Scat H-Beams
Manley -4cc F/T
Hellfire Rings
(Balanced)

LT4 Hotcam Kit

Mild Port & Polish to the stock castings

Back this up with a 3200-3500 *undecided brand* converter and fresh set of 3.73 or 4.10 gears. Again....decisions, decisions, decisions.

Looking to get the car into the 7s N/A 1/8th Mile, or at least thats the goal.

There will be some suspension modifications along the way as well as more weight reduction (A/C & Heat is all that has been removed.)

It will not be a rushed build, and I don't plan to have the car ready to race again until next March, but I'll try and post updates as I go along.

-Beau

 

If your going to go as far as getting H-Beams and rebuilding the bottom end, IMO you can find a better cam than a hotcam.. Thats just an opinion! Btw whats the need for H-Beams anyway are you planning for some bigger shots of nitrous? Stock rods, reconditioned and shot peened, with new ARP hardware, are pretty strong, or if your dead set on new forged rods, look at the 5.7 in scat forged rods, pretty cheap and a good step up from the stock rods while at the same time staying in the "budget".

 

Yes, there are many other camshaft options out there that may be bigger and/or make more power than the hotcam, but I am not going for big numbers. Also, with stock heads and a near stock bottom end, I will more than likely not spin this motor pass 6000rpm, so some of the bigger cams, ie CC306, GM847, etc, would be useless power. It's a bracket car and nothing more. It doesn't necessarily need to be fast, just needs to be reliable for an entire season and consistent every pass. I just really don't want to do a large camshaft at this time. A camshaft swap is an "easy" change if I decide to go a different route later down the road. Then again, plans could very well change along the way for this build, who knows. But, for now I am pleased just doing a hotcam kit.

As for the rods, I do plan to continue to spray the motor on the 150 when I hit up Test-N-Tunes and a new set of Scat forged rods is part of my insurance policy.

When I get time/funds to start building an all out race-car, :flamesuit on:, it will not be an LT1 based vehicle.

 

lol I was like damn another 8sec N2o car until I kept reading. Congrats on the win and good luck on the new build!

 

So it's a low 13 second car...what did it do on juice..congrats on the wins.

 

Car has run a best of 13.44 @ 103mph N/A and a best of 12.24 @ 119mph on 150 shot and stock converter. Never got track times when I had my TCI 3000 in it waaaaaaay back in the day.

Fastest to date 1/8th mile has been 8.66 @ 82mph N/A, and 7.86 @ 94mph N20. I have been running a bit better fuel since our new 1/8th mile track has opened up (3:2 mix of 90 octane pump, and VP MS101 = 94.5), and the car surprisingly picked up .2 tenths from just the fuel. Went from consistent 8.80s to consistent 8.60s.

 

Plans are changing already, lol.

Looking at the Comp XE 230/236 now!

I'm worse than a woman at changing my mind!!!!

 

wel that'd be better than the hotcam! if you wanted to stay smaller I was going to suggest a crane227 good luck on the build!

 

Thats a good cam..

 

Haha sounds like my builds. Things change faster than a girls mood during that time of the month. I assume you will be getting a new converter to match the new cam?

 

lol....Meh...go big or go home, haha!

Project has been renamed to OverKilLT1

Having trouble finding the XE tho (1.6=.544/.555 112), just finding the XFI (1.6=.576/.570 113), so I will either have to port the heads or run a stock 1.5 RR for now until I can pony up the dough for some AIs or LE2s

Haha...this was all in one day!!! Yes, 3200-3500 w/ 4.10s more than likely.

Also changing to a more cost-effective Mahle -5cc setup

 

Sounds good! Madman recommends PTC converters for NA/nitrous cars if your looking for a great converter.

 

They are def in the running. I want to be very picky on converter selection. Did one years ago that really bit me in the butt, and don't wanna go through that again.

Looking at Hughes, PTC, Yank, and PI Vigilante