Armycraft

Alright so i bought a 95 z28 about a month ago for 3k, knowing it was gonna need some little work, it was clean though and owned by a shop, its black leather interior solid suspension and tranny and a 15k mile rebuild on the engine, with a vortech t trim blower at 6 psi, well the blower wasnt making boost till 4500rpm and i found the input shaft bearing was blown ,wasnt to worried about it cuz i knew i could sell it, well an injector went out on my way home and i didnt think anything off it just babied it home and swapped the injector out, well now the motor has a knock that comes and goes, sounds like a wrist pin only shows up at abut 3000 rpm, the car also has a bad random miss and no top end power, a bolt on foxbody pulled on me .... well i found a buyer for the blower, my buddy says he will give me 1000 bucks and he will swap everything off and put the k&n air system on the car, ill give him everything with the blower including the crane cam timing system, i could probably get more but this way i dont have to worry about it
For 1k what can i do? another friend has a 355 built lt1 short block that just needs one connecting rod he wants 500 for it, if i do this can i use everything of my current motor and leave it?

I want a mid 12 second car thats stilll half way decent on gas so i dont want a huge cam
its a manual 6 speed, not sure the rear end gear but at 80 its right at 2k rpm, im not worried about boltons because i can do all those down the road to get me to where i want to be at, but for the extra 500 dollars what should i do, get the head worked? bore the throttle body?

Ill get the build sheet for the short block just let me know what you guys think
thanks
Chris

ahritchie

iTrader: (1)

You can hit mid 12's or better with just bolt ons and some suspension parts with a properly running LT1. You should easily get there with a small cam like the LT4 hotcam on stock heads. I would not trust some rebuilt 355 unless you know for certain what parts were used and it was put together by a reputable shop..lots of half-assed LT1 rebuilds are a step down from stock unfortunately

Armycraft

Well the guy owns a shop i asked him for a build sheet, but im gonna have the shortblock looked at to see if it is what he says it is, when he gets back to me ill post it here. Thats another thing i was gonna ask was the cam, i like the lt4 hotcam but everyone says theres better ones out there for the money, the car right nw has a catback and shorties, i wanna get long tubes, aftermarket y pipe but thats after i get the motor resolved

ahritchie

iTrader: (1)

Well, the cam choice is up to you...you said no big cams...the bigger the cam the worse the driveability (in general). There are no "good" or "bad" cams and you will get a TON of different opinions on that subject. From my personal experience, I had the Lunati voodoo 60121 on my old cam only setup and loved it...very similar specs to the hotcam except a newer design with more lift and advanced lobe design. Really depends where you want the power in the RPMs and if you are willing to drop more $$$ on a custom cam or get the trusty hotcam cheap. That's my 2 cents....let the cam suggestions commence!

ahritchie

iTrader: (1)

Read this before making any decisions; 95% of LT1 cam related questions are answered here: https://ls1tech.com/forums/lt1-lt4-m...ion-guide.html

Armycraft

Alright this is what he had, its a 383 not a 355
"92-97 SS Z28 Trans Am LT1 5.7 350 Engine Block FULLY MACHINED STROKER CLEARANCED AND .030 OVER BORE. EAGLE 383 STROKER CRANK. COMP CAM XR270HR 495-502 LIFT 110 LOBE CENTER. THIS ENGINE WAS ORIGINALLY OUT OF A 93 Z28 CAMARO. THE EAGLE 383 STROKER CRANK CAN BE USED IN ANY 1 PIECE REAR MAIN SEAL BLOCK. BLOCK HAD $ 600 IN MACHINE WORK, CAMS $300 & CRANKS $350. THATS $1200 IN PARTS FOR $500"

ahritchie

iTrader: (1)

Sorry dude, a $350 crank is almost certainly cast; not forged. Avoid that engine like the plague....those cranks snap all the time.

3DFORMULA

iTrader: (4)

I second this motion.

Armycraft

Thanks for the info, i steered away from that idea, i found a 97 lt1 with 40k miles that was in a z28 until about 8 months ago when it was wrecked in the rear, motor has been sitting in his garage since then, only issue is that i cant hear it run, which i would like to, he was going to swap the motor into his truck but he picked up an ls2, he wants 300 for the motor, im just hesitant on not knowing if works right,but for 300 bucks i can take it clean it up find a nice cheap cam full boltons and call it a day?
What should i look for in the motor wise compression test?

F0x Slaughter

**** if I was buying it and it was out of the car, I would pull the heads off, check the bores and the valves.

80mph in a 6 speed at 2000 is a stock 3.42 gear.

Armycraft

Well i wont be droping the motor right in im gonna take it apart and rebuild it and just baby my motor for awhile, my girlfriends dad might have a set of lt4 heads in his shop that hed prolly let go to me just to see the car run hard then just a matter of finding a cam similar to the hot cam just dont know the best route to go in hp number im probably shooting for 450 ish which i know people with the hot cam and full bolt ons have achieved, which would be the best cuz im still gonna daily this car and dont wanna kill the fuel eceonomy i might have.

F0x Slaughter

450 with a Hot cam? ROFL!

RamAir95TA

iTrader: (2)

450fwhp is a stretch for the hotcam and bolt-ons - not sure where you saw those numbers being the norm.

And if you're talking RWHP, you're not even close. To get 450whp look at my signature. That's what it takes.

96capricemgr

iTrader: (1)

In a perfect world with high dollar engine management on a dyno with no accessory losses no compromised intake or exhaust for street use the LT4 package makes 425fwhp and more like 330-340 at the wheels in the real world.

You are finding out that"budget" LT1 builds are a bad thing, you had one develop issues on you, then found out the one you were looking at to replace it is no good either.

I would slow down and do a lot of reading before continuing other people's mistakes.

gjohnsonws6

iTrader: (12)

Grab that $300 long block throw a cam and supporting valvetrain in there and be done with it. You are going to waste time,money and compromise the durability for what reason?

Armycraft

Lol that was a typo i meant 350fhp. The reason im a "budget" is i just got back from the army and im full time student and work, like i said i want something stilll economic, that will get lowlow 13s high 12s, being in south florida in the winter to run that.
And i was wondering if an aluminum driveshaft is worth it, its off a 2002 ss with 40k miles he wants 80 bucks for it, the cam i found is still in the box from jegs with the recipet and springs he wants 150, my girlfriends dads has lt4 heads which idk if hes gonna charge me for. not even sure if the heads are really worth it, then found an lt4 intake and throttle body both bored to 58mm, wants 300

96capricemgr

iTrader: (1)

STOCK shortblocks are better than most "budget" ones and a whole lot cheaper.

Konman93

Aluminum driveshaft for 20 is worth it, what kind of exhaust are you planing on running. The better air flow (H,C,I, and Exhaust) with a good tune you and make good HP on a Lt1.

Armycraft

Gonna look to find some longtubes and an offroad y pipe, it has a flowmaster cat back right now. And my friend works at a local shop (serious autosport) hes gonna do the tune, they have a 9 second street gtr stock motor and turbo and a bunch of crap

Armycraft

What i wanna know is what is the hp difference gonna be between a
Stock rebuild lt1 with a hot cam and full bolt ons
or the With the lt4 heads and ported tb/intake hotcam full bolt ons
does it justify the 700 dollar difference cuz he wants 500 for the heads there still in the boxes and wrapped