98FormulaLS1Drift

Hi guys, i hope im posting in the right place but was hoping you guys could help me out a bit. Im 19 and ive wanted to build a car for years now and ive saved up about 8 grand to spend on this car at the moment, but can always save more. i found a 98 firebird formula 6 speed 117k miles (stock) for 4 grand on craigslist and probably going to pick it up this week if everything checks out okay. I stay up till about 3 am every night looking up how to rebuild this and rebuild that, this set up and that set up. ive ended up with wanting to build an ls1. car has 4.10 rear gears. I want to do all labor myself except for machine work obviously. I have never rebuilt a motor except on a dirt bike. but my dad has built several 350s.

If you guys could please help i have a list of questions, if you could just answer some that would be a great help. Please and thank you guys!

- Is 400rwhp+ (reliable) possible with 2500 in the motor? if not how much $?

- I like the stage 2.5 ls6 heads with the magic stick 3 cam shaft, single behive valve springs, and upgraded oil pump package from texas-speed.com (2000$)

- Is it any way possible that i could re-use the stock pistons/rods/crank as long as they look okay and if i am pushing 400+ to the wheels?

- If i run the package set up that i listed above can i run pump gas?

- should i do any maintenance to the t56 (117k miles) if it shifts good?


Notes: Im all open to ideas and comments. You guys are the ones that have the built cars.. im just trying to join the club. Im just looking for some advice.

Thanks so much guys.

RSAXON1979

iTrader: (1)

First of all if you are buying a $4000 car you will need to do a lot of maintenance before you go crazy modding it. I would be willing to bet that car will need brakes,suspension,ALL fluids changed, possibly tires,clutch etc...

But to answer your questions, Yes 400hp can be reliable, BUT it will be more than $2500 with heads and cam etc... you will probably spend around $500 just on dyno tuning. You should start with "bolt ons" like long tube headers,Y pipe,mufflers,Intake,lid,etc.. before jumping into heads and cam. Dont take this the wrong way but you are 19 therefore you have limited driving experience, a stock or "bolt on" LS1 is plenty fast enough to lose your license/kill yourself in no matter how mature you are, you can always ad more power later.

As far as the T-56 goes a fluid change at minimum would be a good idea with those miles, id also suggest a decent shifter and possibly a clutch if you are planning to ad a bunch of power to it later.

98FormulaLS1Drift

Thanks @RSAXON1979. That helps a lot. The guy says the car is good and I found the car through a guy my dad knows so I'm planning in the car being okay. I can understand the brakes and suspension part. This is not going to be a 1 month build. As for the bolt ons and everything it already has full exhaust, and yes I want all that you listed. But I feel like doing all that is pointless if I'm just going to bolt on a bunch of "power adders" then beat the hell out of a stock 117k mile motor. SO, I want to start buy stripping the motor down to the shortblock, replace what needs to be replaced, machine what needs to be machined and build up from there. I want to have something at least half way reliable. If it takes more money it will just have to.

But still does anyone know that if it's possible to reuse pistons on a 100k+ mile engine and then push it to 400rwhp? And if so can I just use OEM or do I need to get aftermarket with the package set up listed above?

RPM WS6

iTrader: (3)

I agree. In addition to the basic brakes/tires/suspension that wear out on every car, several things can go wrong with these cars when they get to that sort of mileage, items that have nothing to do with the engine; window motors, headlight gears, antenna motor, radiator, alternator, fuel pump, power steering pump/rack, VATS issues, belt tensioner and idler pullies, etc. Granted, some of that stuff might already be done, and most of it isn't super expensive, but my suggestion would be to drive the car as-is for a while and see what sort of issues it might or might not develop before dumping your entire budget on an engine build. This is sound advice when buying any used car that's 16 years old with 117k miles. Experience has taught me to never trust a used car of that age/mileage (or the seller of said car) until I've spent some time with it.

Having said that, if the engine was maintained well and didn't live it's entire life at WOT, then a full rebuild might be completely unnecessary at that mileage. Lots of people have done heads/cam at 100k+ miles, some even forced induction, and had no issues at all. Without knowing the history of the engine, it's hard to speculate on potential logevity though. Again, if you give it some time and drive it for a while, maybe change the oil and then do a UOA (used oil analysis) after several thousand miles of driving, maybe do a compression test as well, you can get a better idea of what you have to work with.