I've been reading on forums for months, asking local machinists their opinions, pm'ing, emailing, you name it. I have a 1997 SS (hydrolocked), and I have enough money for a built motor, came with a Vortech supercharger, so I can either do N/A or supercharged motor, either or is fine with me. So far, after taking the hydro locked engine apart, it has the stock crank, is .030 over, after market rods, but the walls are rusted pretty bad. Easily fixable with a new block, 2 of the pistons are gone, they're SRP forged. Water didn't actually damage anything but the block. So, what would any of you suggest? Rebuild what I have, use the stock crank, 2 new pistons, AI 200cc heads with a supercharger? One place in town has this motor in stock, heres a run down, with a price. (I can't believe I'm having this hard of a time for a place to build me anything LT1 related when I have the money in hand, weird..)

Block: Boiled & Aligned Honed, pressure checked, square decked, bored and honed with torque plates .030 new cam bearings & freeze plugs, 4 bolt forged steel splayed mains, 1 piece rear seal
Crank: New Eagle 4340 Forged Steel mains std/rods std (dont know what that means?)
Rods: Lunati H Beam Big Journal 6"
Heads: LT1 oem cnc ported, 2.02/1.60 64cc chambers 210 runner screw in studs & guide plates
Cam: Lunati hyd 525/540 lift, intake 242-300-525 center line 110, exh 252-310-540
Pistons: Lunati forged flat top 2 VR, Seal Power chrome moly rings

Engine is balanced & blue printed, comp ratio he stated is at 10.9, he's asking $5500, I just copied everything from the build sheet. I want anyones opinion on pricing, and anyones guess on what it would make. Car is going to be daily driven, I don't care about gas mileage, I want at least 450HP/TQ, all supporting mods are in hand. If anyone has a motor they are looking to get rid of, or know of a place that can help me out please let me know before I jump the gun on this. I'd like to get my car up and running in 2-3 months tops.


-Down

 

Call these guys and get an idea of what theirs costs:

http://www.golenengineservice.com/engines

This was from an old thread here on the same subject. Search for it and read the complete thread.

Al 59 Z28

 

Why would you put a supercharger on a HIGHER than stock compression LT1? The motor you are looking at would need dished pistons to safely run boost....and conversely, the compression ratio is a little low for a big HP NA build....certainly won't hit 450 RWHP. I would keep looking and decide for certain the route you want to go (NA vs. FI).

 

I never said I wanted to supercharged the motor hes selling. Ill either do N/A or fix my motor to use the Vortech....

Down

 

Then just do a stock type rebuild with forged dished blower pistons with maybe a cam and slap your vortech on it...easy 400-450 RWHP...and a lot cheaper than that NA motor. The supercharged motor will have a lot more low end and be more drivable everyday. Plus, no emissions headaches if that is a problem for you.

 

Very true, plus I didn't even notice the comp ratio. Anybody have a motor similar to this one? Trying to get a real world review of it, or as near it as I can...

Down

 

For $4k more than your budget, you could buy my entire car. Just a plug, like usual. Link in sig if interested.

 

A built motor with 10.9 compression should be a red flag, it is too low for a performance NA build and too high for a boost build. So aside from not recommending that engine I would avoid that shop, and Golen.

You have the blower I would use it. Like ahritchie said put some dished pistons on the stock crank and rods you already have. If you want to do the AI 200cc heads as well great it will be an animal if you are ready for such a thing.

 

im right at 10 to 1 compression on my setup. good low end power and the blower sings up top. just got to pull timing out on the top end, or run a meth kit. the blower is def the way to go for power and streetablility. big power NA will run into vacuum problems with brakes and low gas mileage around town

 

...but a well-built N/A motor will be FAR more reliable than an equivalent supercharged motor, not to mention vacuum problems are easy to overcome. And anyone who is going after performance knows that sacrificing your fuel economy comes with the territory (not to mention the OP says he doesn't care about fuel economy).

 

RamAir- well built is what it is, whether is is a n/a build or a FI build. When it comes to reliability, rpms are the concern. You can make the same power with less RPM (and also less stroke/disp) with a FI build. FI (non-positve displacement) can be very fuel efficient. Also can have less aggressive cams and heads.

Don't get me wrong. I love N/A builds also, but FI is just as fun and reliable.
Remember that ANY build (N/A or FI) not setup properly will NOT be reliable.

 

My nod to reliability goes to the NA setup, without a doubt.
If you're talking just the engine itself, sure, the mill set up for boost can be as tough as the NA one. But, for the powerplant system as a whole, no way!
It's the exception rather than the rule that a boosted configuration makes it more than a season or two and 40k road miles without serious issues, whereas it's commonplace for the NA builds. There's just far less to go wrong.
I read his 450 hp goal as being at the crank. That calls for a very mild N/A heads/cam setup, without any worries about driveability.

 

I agree to an extent but a FI build adds a ton of complexity to a system. And it isn't simply RPMs. Cylinder pressures are drastically increased, fueling, tuning, and oiling become far tricker to perfect, among other things. I'm not saying a FI system can't be reliable, but it is much more difficult to achieve.

 

with good parts and a good tune, with realistic power and RPM on the engine, FI is not a death sentence. mine has about 35K on it and 4 years. just oil changes and O2 sensors. all those guys that last only a year on a FI i would question what they are doing, or they already knew that thier tune was set to kill and a year was acceptable. with his heads, and a small cam, 450HP with the vortech shouldnt even come close to causing reliability issues. you already have the parts to make the power, use them!! but then again what do i know, im just another retard with a keyboard

 

Please do a budget build shortblock with stock crank and let me know what you use? Ive been looking into it for a long time, and cant seem to find anyone who has done anything big with it.

People keep shouting at me to go forged crank, which I get, but if you are building a mild motor, have you ever heard of anyone snapping a stock crank with that kind of cylinder pressure?

 

your first liability are the connecting rods. they are good to around 400HP depending who you ask. the hyperutectic pistons are second depending upon the power adder you use, they are more nitrous friendly than boost. if you upgrade these with forged pistons and a nice connecting rod, your shortblock should be good to go well into the 550 HP range with RPMs in the 6500 range. its just if you replace the stock crank, people get cast pieces and they fail. that's why everyone screams get a forged crank.

my LT1 lasted about 2 years on 150 shot then i swtiched over to blower, in which it lasted 3 more on top of that. the tune, and supporting mods are what makes or breaks the longevity of the cars

 

^What he said. Pistons and rods should be upgraded before the need for a forged crank....the stock one is stronger than any aftermarket cast crank and is more than enough for a mild build. If you feel the need to upgrade the crankshaft, just upgrade to a forged 383 stroker crank, cubes and torque are your friends regardless if it's mild or wild.

 

Don't tell that to the guy with the stock shortblock record, lol. He sprays a ton through his engine and has run a 9.44 at 140ish. The stock motor is quite a stout piece if it has been maintained properly.

 

that is truely an impressive feat. how long did it last before it did melt? and what part gave up first? i cant say anything bad about my stock block. its lasted a lot longer than i expected. if i would have pulled it when the oil gauge started bouncing instead of waiting for catastropic glory, i mihgt still have the stock crank and some forged pistons and rods myself

 

Still together ...