DJazidca

Long story short, the bone stock 35K mile LS6 in my 2001 Z06 blew up at the track on Friday. We're still not sure what happened, but the block is cracked and very little appears to be salvageable.

I only run 4-5 HPDEs per year in the car, and I drive it on the street ocassionally as well.

My shop recommends an LS6 crate motor because it has a 3 year/100K mile warranty and my car is a semi-rare Speedway White Z06 that may be more valuable with a stock motor. However, spending $9K (parts + labor) for no gain in performance is a bit depressing.

I'm looking for alternative motor ideas. I'd like to keep the car light and reliable but add some power if possible (heads/cam?). Thoughts?

rbl

Can you out drive the stock motor?

You could end up with a lot of $$ in a built motor and then have something that isn't very desirable as a resale item.

Maybe a decent rebuild then pay the core charge ... junk yard and a rebuild. Crate is nice but probably unlikely you will drive the warranty out of it.

J.R.

4-5 HPDE"s a year

Crate LS6 - warranty and a good engine -
want more power - have them put in a Chev. hot cam - should still be under warranty and about 30 more HP.

mountainbiker2

Buy a LS6 engine from Gene Cully 484 949-2099. Motor and labor should be around $6k at the most.

Steve A.

shakedown067

If I was going to drop in a new LS motor, why not an LS7? Pick up another 100 hp and you could even get a used one if you wanted. Plus you'll get the dry sump too.

tjZ06

It's still far to early to tell with C5s, but in general "matching numbers" are required for a "correct" motor to add value, not just the proper type of engine. Since your block is scrap you're probably out of luck there.

And for ~9k parts-only you can do a lot better than a stock LS6. However, if you're going bigger/better you're going to want at least headers so you should factor that into your cost. A good 413 or something like that from SDPC should do the trick.

Although now would be the time to do a real, true dry-sump which will eat into your budget big time. I wouldn't be surprised if oil-starvation issues were part of your failure. A true 4-stage ARE dry-sump is a good chunk of coin, and will require you to lose AC but probably worth it. The AVAID system is out there that will allow you to retain AC, but I had one on order for months and got no product, so be cautious.

Are the heads thrashed too? If not for $9k total (parts) I'm sure you could do a forged shortblock and dry sump. If your heads are junk I think you could get close to a crate LS6 (I really don't think they're $9k, more like the $6k somebody else quoted) and one of the lower dry-sump kits.

LS7 longblocks used to go for like $14k, I'm not sure if they've come down, but they're still a lot. The stock pistons are hypereutectic and not great for extreme duty (aka road course), the Ti rods are suspect, and the LS7 style dry-sump is marginal. Also, all the dry sump stuff is NOT included with the $14k longblock. Sure, the LS7 semi-dry is better than a wet-sump but he could get a real dry-sump for the same $ anyway (assuming he is okay with losing AC and/or can get better service from AVAID than I did).

Me myself, I went w/ a LS7 based 427, but did not use any factory internals and have an ARE 4-stage true dry-sump for it (if we can figure out how to install it, lol ) for my '02 C5Z. That being said it will make more power than is necessary for a few HPDEs a year, take me out of any NASA TT classes the car would be competitive in (it might not even make TTU power/weight w/o ballast), required a lot of $ in supporting mods (1 7/8" stepped to 2" headers, 102mm Intake/TB, dual disc clutch, etc). But my car is a street-car toy that sees some track days, much like yours. When I want a competitive track car that's what I'll build, this thing is just fun!

-TJ

shakedown067

WOW, great info there tjZO6.

mrc24x

No brainer.....Give Aaron a call.

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/auto...-for-sale.html

DJazidca

So I may be able to pick up an LS6 crate motor for $4600 instead of $6800 (the price at the local dealer). My shop tells me that the LS6 motors no longer have VIN numbers on them, so there is no way to tell a crate motor from an original. Does that sound correct?

The 2001 LS6 was slightly different internally (heads, cam, valves), but that design is no longer available. Essentially the crate motor will put me on par with a 2002-2005 Z06, so I am getting a slight power increase.

It seems that I could put some long tube headers and an oil cooler on the car with an LS6 crate motor to add some power and reliability for less than $9000 (parts and labor).

Other alternatives?

DJazidca

Sweet motors, but I'm pretty sure my stock tranny and rear end would surrender quickly to THAT much power.

John Shiels

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

sothpaw2

Not better alternatives. For a little more $$ you could certainly add a small cam and port the heads while they are out.

Let us know what happened with your motor. I thought LS6 failure was unusual. Did you run on slicks and at tracks with banking? I am thinking the stock wet sump has its limits.

DJazidca

Not sure what happened yet. The track had only one semi-fast turn (60 mph) and no banking. I was running on Goodyear F1SCs. My setup was mostly stock and I am very cautious with maintenance, so the motor shouldn't have blown up.

drivinhard

the OEM LS6's in the cars will have the VIN on them, if that's an issue.

half of the power increase from 02+ was the intake tract and exhaust, rest in the higher lift cam.

A healthy LS6 with bolt ons (good headers/exhaust/intake/tune) will make darn near ~400 RWHP and never crack open the motor. If you aren't worried about any class rules, that's what I would do.

worldsaway

One option might be the crate motor and save your original motor. That way if the collectible value ever made it feasible, rebuild it and #'s match.

AU N EGL

How many were left hand turns ?

and How did your engine blow? which cylinder #


and Matching #s no longer means anything. Heck even collectors change the numbers to match. But for a DE car, does not matter one bit.

varkwso

Go with the crate.

After two years in the car I am pulling my forged, balanced, blueprinted basically stock motor out of my FRC. Since this time we did not grenade (orginal engine had NOTHING salvageable) it I will probably rebuild it again. Considering our use two years is not bad - but I would have liked to see more! I would do a crate two years ago if I had a "do over".

JimbeauZ06

Was discussing this with Mark at Phoenix a while back. His suggestion was the LS3 crate motor with Hot Cam. 480HP w/ warranty.
Puts you in the vicinity of the LS7 for about half price. I'm sure there's some conversion cost, wiring, compute reprogram etc, but when mine blows that's where I think I'm going. Based on what I've seen on the forum a dry-sump would probably be in order for the LS3 as well.

AU N EGL

How much money do you have and how much maintained do you want to do to the engine?

ls6 crate or LS2 crate with accu-sump may be the least expensive and most reliable

anything else may need or should have an dry sump system.

Otherwise a nice $15K option

schwankeshortblocks

or
schwankeshortblocks LS Options

SouthernSon

Any engine that hangs with you and your crew for 2 years at the track gets nothing but praise from me ole buddy. Don't you even THINK about complaining!