LT1-LT4 Modifications 1993-97 Gen II Small Block V8

383 LT1 Stroker coming soon.....

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Old Aug 13, 2007 | 07:36 PM
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Default 383 LT1 Stroker coming soon.....

Just curious of what route to go with.... A buddy of mine builds motors and I asked him to build my LT1 this winter. He said he could build the bottom end for $2,600. What do you guys think? Is this a fair price or what? Before you ask here is what it will have in it. The crank is a forged steel crank, Forged Flat Top Pistons(10.5 to 1 compression???), 6.0" Forged H Beam rods, Internally Balanced, And Chrome moly Rings, with good bearings...Obviously the block is getting punched .030" oversize and notched for the rod bolts to clear. Also I'm still kind of confused on what type of cam and head package to go with. Any help??? I would like to go with the AFR 195's but I know that this winter my work slows way down so I was wondering if I could just go with the stock heads and a small cam for now and upgrade next year or what else I should do. I'd just hate to build the bottom end and get it all back together and drive it like that for a whole summer and then tear the heads and cam back out to do a h/c swap again. But a buddy of mine has a set of stock slightly ported heads with a 232/236 555/582 (the lift on the exhaust side is something like that can't remember exactly but I'm close) it's a custom grind cam and he'd let me get them at a good price. Any suggestions on this h/c setup on a forged 383 bottom end? Just wondering what kind of #'s and if this would be a good setup or not. I've never had a 383 before but I'm definentely going to this winter. I just put a forged 355 motor in my 86 iroc with a set of 2.02/1.60 65cc heads and a compcams 270H magnum cam and it moves for what I've done to it....So now that my fiance has taken it from me and won't let me drive it (LOL) now I have to build something that will kick the Iroc's a$$. So let me know what you guys think. Thanks! James.
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Old Aug 14, 2007 | 08:40 AM
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10.5 is just a .1 increase over stock, I would consider 11.0 to be minimum for a built NA LT1.

Adding cubes and keeping stock heads is competely *** backwards and the car will not perform. Power is in airflow and the heads accomplish that. Heads and cam cars with stock shortblocks will walk all over a stroker with as cast heads.

The AFRs, especially the ones under 210cc have long SUCKED, they have a new line out(eliminator) because they knew their heads sucked but the new stuff is not really well tested yet. The AFRs were good upgrades on gen 1 motors because those heads were so bad from the factory, the LT1 heads were a BIG step forward and AFR just reused the outdated gen ports in their LT1 heads. They also weigh near what iron heads do.

Porting the stock head would be your best choice, I recommend Advanced Induction.
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Old Aug 14, 2007 | 08:52 AM
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mm hmm, your really not going to want to tear that bitch back apart to swap heads and cam again either.
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Old Aug 15, 2007 | 03:53 PM
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Yeah thats what I'm trying to get advice on, I don't want to tear it back down again later so I'm just wondering which route to take... So your saying DON'T use stock heads at least get them ported. But if I can come up with some extra money which heads should I buy? And you are about the 5th person to tell me to go with at least 11.0 to 1 compression. So I'll do that. But what heads? Also With ported heads and that custom grind cam my friend has what do you think I'll put down on the dyno? Just a rough guess! Thanks for your input..... X: James
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Old Aug 15, 2007 | 03:58 PM
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Personally I would go with some trickflows milled to 56cc chambers. Do a good port job on those and they will flow a lot better than the stockers.

And go with a larger cam, that cam is a little small for a 383 imo.
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Old Aug 15, 2007 | 04:07 PM
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Depending on the flow and how good the other valve train parts are you could be putting down anywhere in the 360-415 HP for you buddy's heads and cam. I would go with the Ai setup or even go bigger and do the AFR or TFS ported from Ai aswell. Then you could probably put down more like 420-475 HP and tq to boot. I'll be posting numbers soon for my 383, 11.25:1, flat top, 6" rods, forged 3.75(corrected from earlier post) crank. I'm using stock TFS (Trick Flow) heads, 1.6 RR, and a 230/236 .568/.568 CompCams cam. This might give you a bit of and idea for power that you might want to do for the top end.

Last edited by Superbeasst; Aug 16, 2007 at 07:25 PM.
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Old Aug 15, 2007 | 05:45 PM
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IMO your best bet is porting the stock heads. I feel the Trickflows are better than the AFRs but even those I am not seeing particularly impressive results from, there is a current thread about a Golen 383 with ported Trickflows that made mediocre power through an M6.

Only way I would look at aftermarket castings is is you need a big chamber. Then again I look at things based on ACTUAL results as opposed to what is supposed to work, the more experianced you become you will learn those are two VERY different things.

I would let the heads guys help pick a cam but honestly low 230s might be a good intake duration for a DD/weekend warrior. I think a lot of folks here are FAR too quick to push too much cam, but that has been a hotrodding disease forever.
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Old Aug 15, 2007 | 07:34 PM
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id say port the stock (aluminum) heads and go with a cam that has been shown to put out the results that you would want.. cams arent too expensive so id say just get one that is somewhat aggresive but not too much if you wanna drive it often or on the street. maybe something near the 23x/24x would go well for you with a set of heads ported to match (again i would say go with some aluminum stockers). you should have a pretty stout little setup with that.
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Old Aug 16, 2007 | 05:01 PM
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ok, first dyno run, 340 HP, 395 Tq...gotta get a set of taller valve covers though, still getting hit a bit. And going to change the TB from 48mm(stock) to a 52 or 58mm. See how much that helps. I'm hoping to see 360-370 HP and over 400 TQ.
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Old Aug 16, 2007 | 05:06 PM
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kinda dissapointed, but not at the same time.
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Old Aug 16, 2007 | 05:39 PM
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Since you're intending to go with all new internal components anyway, why not just get yourself a bare LT1 block and build it the way you want it all in one shot at whatever pace you feel like, so you don't have to worry about compromising by doing things in stages and having to backtrack by tearing stuff apart later on? Just run with the engine you've got in the car now till the other one is done and do the whole enchilada all at once.

It'll also save you the hassle of having to deal with the downtime it will take to build the motor that's already in the car and having to be without it for however long it takes.

Bare LTx blocks can be had fairly cheap.
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Old Aug 16, 2007 | 06:55 PM
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Originally Posted by Superbeasst
Depending on the flow and how good the other valve train parts are you could be putting down anywhere in the 360-415 HP for you buddy's heads and cam. I would go with the Ai setup or even go bigger and do the AFR or TFS ported from Ai aswell. Then you could probably put down more like 420-475 HP and tq to boot. I'll be posting numbers soon for my 383, 11.25:1, flat top, 6" rods, forged 3.48 crank. I'm using stock TFS (Trick Flow) heads, 1.6 RR, and a 230/236 .568/.568 CompCams cam. This might give you a bit of and idea for power that you might want to do for the top end.
If thats the crank you are using it not a 383.
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Old Aug 16, 2007 | 07:05 PM
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Originally Posted by 96capricemgr
IMO your best bet is porting the stock heads. I feel the Trickflows are better than the AFRs but even those I am not seeing particularly impressive results from, there is a current thread about a Golen 383 with ported Trickflows that made mediocre power through an M6.

Only way I would look at aftermarket castings is is you need a big chamber. Then again I look at things based on ACTUAL results as opposed to what is supposed to work, the more experianced you become you will learn those are two VERY different things.

I would let the heads guys help pick a cam but honestly low 230s might be a good intake duration for a DD/weekend warrior. I think a lot of folks here are FAR too quick to push too much cam, but that has been a hotrodding disease forever.
This is good advice...^^^I'm a huge fan of properly ported big valve (meaning 2.00/1.56s) LT1 castings matched to a small duration (220ish/230ish) cam with nice lift around .570"..The lsa would be dependent upon being n/a not...Lots of folks are way too quick to pick "bottom of the page" cams with big duration a way high rpm hp peaks...With 383s you can make nice power and torque at lower rpm ranges which makes for a terrific street/strip car thats huge fun to drive...There's a guy on cz28.com selling a cam motion 234/234 .576" on a 110 ($150) that seems like it would be a great cam for an N/A 383...This is about as big as I'd go...

For a point of reference my cam is a 226/234 .568" and I was initially "poo-pooed" for going way too small for a 383...Those same folks are the first to run up to me at the track in disbelief at how quick and fast the car is and its all over by 6300 rpm...Just remember that its all in the combo. Everything has to work together...Its not hard, just takes a wee bit of planning...

--Alan
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Old Aug 16, 2007 | 07:21 PM
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yeah, my bad. Its 3.75. Was just looking at a bunch of 355 guy's posts.
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Old Aug 16, 2007 | 07:28 PM
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Hey guys.... Just want to say THANKS for all the input. I agree with alot of your guys' points and I have a pretty good Idea of what to do..... But time will tell. A buddy of mine said he has a bare LT1 block in the garage if I can get it cheap I'm gonna take thesoundandthefury's advice and do it right the first time And hope to have it done by the beginning of next year. Wish me luck...I'll keep u guy's posted. And any further advice would be awesome as well as dyno #'s and setup info. Appreciate it..... James
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Old Aug 16, 2007 | 11:11 PM
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Last edited by streetwarrior96; Aug 17, 2007 at 01:29 AM.
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Old Aug 17, 2007 | 04:59 PM
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Thanks! I can't wait. Already have a little bit of money in the bank for my build
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Old Aug 18, 2007 | 02:00 AM
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Gonna be a torque monster, me and a friend built one...the rear is howling allready.
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Old Aug 18, 2007 | 08:21 PM
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Thats what I'm hoping for....I want a fast street car so thats why I'm going with the stroker motor. I could go with a already built 468 Big Block for the same price, but I want to keep the Fuel Injection.
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Old Nov 4, 2007 | 11:02 PM
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Just so everyone knows who has already posted on this. I told you guys' I would keep you posted with my build.....So.... I have the machine work all done at this time. And I have the pistons as well. Here is my Plan for the bottom end..........
383 Stroker Bottom End
4340 Forged Eagle Crankshaft
4340 Foged Eagle 6 inch H-Beam Rods
4340 Forged Speed Pro Pistons 10.76:1 w/64cc head ( Have the block decked and the heads will be cut a little as well to make sure they are straight.) Also since the stock heads are 54cc's the compression should be 11.5+ to 1 compression.
Also the block has been completely gone through- bored and honed, decked, magnafluxed, checked for imperfections, cleaned, and new freeze plugs and cam bearings installed.... Getting ready to put it back in the shop for the Splayed main caps and align bore to be done....
Also got new rings and bearings ready for build as well.
I have a few pictures on my myspace page in the album called (My Formula)
Feel free to check out the pictures of the motor so far....I will add more as I can get them....Since the guy building my engine lives 20 minutes away (on the highway), it's kinda hard to get out there for pictures. I'm always busy so I'll try my best...But thats my progress so far.....hope u like my setup.....Also going with a LE2 package for the top end forgot to add that up there^.......James
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