Alright, so I have a 93 T/a. I want to rebuild the motor and want to have it built to around 400 horses. I don't know what the best route to get this horse power... I do need to rebuild the bottom end ether way... So I just don't know if I should stay around stock pistons ect.. then just port the heads and get a larger cam or what.. any help is gladly taken.

Just thought I would add a few pictures just for show.

EDIT:
Here is a picture of my car after my new rims I just had put on. Also there is a crack in the front bumper how could I go about fixing this cheap but effectively?

 

well are you looking for 400 flywheel or 400 rear wheel horse power? either way a good 355 or 383 will get you there.
if you do a 355 stay with the stock crankshaft and get a good set of forged pistons and rods.
if you go 383 go with a forged rotating assembly...

look at heads and cam from advanced induction or Elliotsportworks

 

Is there something wrong with the current engine in the car? If there isn't then don't bother rebuilding. just research on a heads and cam package and that will put you over your goal. Also make sure you have all the supporting mods.

 

Put a kit on it

 

Whats wrong with the bottom end? there's no need for a bored/stroker motor for 400rwhp, and definately no need for either for 400 flywheel hp either. A decent spec'd cam from Ai (advanced inductions) will get you an easy 400 at the flywheel (320-330ish rwhp neighborhood) A set of factory ported heads and a cam spec'd from Advanced Inductions of Elliot Portworks will get you in the neighborhood of 400rwhp depending on the dyno, tranny, drivetrain, ect. All of this without touching the bottom end.

 

run the ai 200cc head with a moderate cam from them and you'll break the 400rwhp mark all day

 

I can attest to that; they make it so easy

 

Don't forget all the supporting mods to go along with H/C like intake, exhaust, tune, etc...

 

The car is at 230k miles, it just feels like it is starting to go. I decieded that rebuilding it before I went and started to add stuff would probably be the idea. Thanks for the idea guys it really helps.

 

Yes, by all means, at 230k miles, a quality bottom end rebuild is mandatory before adding hp and rpm on it!

 

Get the block rebuilt, balanced and ARP'd. No need for new pistons or rods at that power level. As for your power goals and part recommendations make a phone call. Be careful though, things tend to snowball and you end up going past your budget real fast. lol

http://elliottsportworks.com/

 

With 230K and suspecting issues brewing you are unlikely to be able to reuse the pistons. If you have to buy pistons I would go ahead and buy rods as well so you can run a lighter 6.0" rod/piston combo with is easier on parts at high rpm. Price is going to go beyond "budget" in a big hurry.

If you want to keep things budget I would find a junkyard engine to lightly freshen and start there.

IMO for a mild performance build the rods and pistons are going to set you back at least $800 without bearings/fasteners or machining, you will spend $2k in a heartbeat by the time you are done with the shortblock likely more. Then a good topend and valvetrain is going to be more than $2k again, and then you haven't told us what mods the car has to support a more powerful engine, good CAI, full exhaust from the heads on back, clutch or converter, tranny refresh/rebuild, gears and possibly bearings and posi. How about some suspension work to make use of the power, tuning, fuel system upgrades. The stock fuel system is fine for 400fwhp BUT in a 20yo high mileage car I would be replacing the fuel pump and injectors. The stock injectors are going to be pushed a bit too far if it is 400rwhp you want, some guys can get that much with a stock fuel pump in perfect working order.

I don't mean to be discouraging, I want to give you a true picture of what you need.
Reality is the engine is generally the last thing you should work on when looking for performance because the rest of the car has to handle whatever the engine is going to throw at it.

If you have never had a modified car before it might shock you what a huge difference basic boltons can make gears and in the case of an A4 a stall can completely transform a car without adding a single HP.

Stock for a 275hp f-body was what 240 or so at the wheels? Bolton cars can top 300rwhp with nothing more done inside the engine than springs and rockers, with all those boltons in place you can slap on a heads/cam kit and some 30lbs injectors and push it over 400rwhp. A 400rwhp car is likely to break regular street tires loose at say 45mph or less. It is just a very easy number to hit these days so people always shoot for it not understanding what it takes to make the car support it or how quick that can actually be. In a well setup f-body that can get you booted from the track for not having a rollbar.

 

@96capricemgr oh I know that is why I am here,I do have little personal experience. I do know it adds up in a hurry. I figured if I came here first I would get a good idea on where to start and where to go.

 

I would like to go to the 400rwhp but I feel as if 400 at the fly would be alright. My car doesn't have a lot of upgrades but it does have a new clutch that could easily take the 400hp. I had them install it because I knew I wanted to crank up the horse power. I do have a different fuel pump from stock not sure as to which one though, it came with the car when I bought it. The injectors are still stock. I do have an aftermarket exhaust (flow master) I just don't know how much or what the kid put on it other then that. The kid did take off the egr but that really in my mind wouldn't seem to matter to much.

 

Why does he need forged rods and pistons??? It's 400 hp not 600!! Why buy a used one at a junkyard when you can pull it down, put new rings and rod bearings,port and polish stock heads with a custom grind cam and put some 24 lb injectors on it. That should get you close if you get headers, CIA and a tune.

 

see sig.

 

I'm pushing deep into the low three hundreds and runs into the 12 second quarter miles. It's all in the tranny bro

 

The car is at 230k miles, it just feels like it is starting to go.

 

If I were to do it all over again I for one would do much more research and ask many more questions before I did anything. I would also make sure I had double the money that I had the last time. I dumped a lot of time and money in mine just to blow the tranny within 300-400 miles. It is lots of fun but a lot of work for a back yard mechanic that doesn't know all of the in's and out's... I thought I was going to build a beast for 2k and before I knew it that was at 3k and then 4k... and the bill just keeps going!

 

230k miles, it would be wise to get new pistons & bore the cylinders to clean em up. Agreed on a lightweight piston/ring/rod combo w/ 6" rods. Crank is fine and no need for forged any thing. If you dont care if you get 400 @ the wheels or fly you dont even need headwork, forget who it was but some one got 380ish rwhp w/ AI`s cam thats in my sig. If you got the $ tho might as well atleast get the heads lightly touched so you have more power under the curve. LE used to offer a $750 budget port job, not sure if he still lists it but im sure he`d do it regardless. Obviously you should re-do your whole valvetrain & hardware either way. Dont forget to buget in all the bolt ons you should get too + a tune and most likely a new rear end w/ 230k miles and 400fwhp or rwhp + an M6. You dont need to re-do your whole suspension as im sure your not as focused on ET`s as allot of these guys are, 2 pieces i highly suggest tho are LCAs and a tq arm so you eliminate wheel hop, hook up better and wont snap the stock tq arm.