Would buying a 383 performance Lt-1 be cheaper than rebuilding/upgrading my Lt-1?I've seen stroker kits for almost $3000.While I found a 396 Lt-1 for $8000 or a 383 Lt-1 for $4500.I figure I could sell my old lt-1 to offset the price of new performance engine.I can do rebuild myself.I found some of the performance heads alone are over $2000.This is a future project.When I get some money saved I plan on headers & performance mufflers(Borla),electric waterpump & removing my stock intake & have it ported since it is seeping oil.My car already came with resonator removed when I purchased car(1994 Lt-1 auto).It also appears buying a performance transmission is cheaper than having it rebuilt as I do not or have ever rebuilt one myself.
Any places than sell performance Lt-1s that are reliable & have a good track record & produce lots of horsepower?

 

It would seem to me that you can find an LS series engine and put that in. It's much lighter and produces lots of power. It's also very upgradable since aftermarket shops produce lots of parts for them. They were also put into a lot of GM products so a used one can be had for a very reasonable price. The only down side, if you wasn't to call it that, is that you'll have to rework the front suspension to take into account the LS engine's lighter weight. But you'll have a lighter car.

 

Have you talked to a couple of area machine shops that do specialty rebuilds? Are there any performance shops in the area that have LT1/GenII or GenIII buildup experience? Might be worth checking out some of these types of places. How about area Corvette clubs? Members may have some ideas or information.

And cubic inches doesn't always have to be the big thing. Look into turbocharging or a supercharger. With a strong bottom end to take abuse, it's easy to add over 150HP or more with a supercharger and a tune. You may find this is a better way to go in terms of cost, reliability and importantly driveability.

My 2002 C5 coupe has a Vortec S-2 supercharger and intercooler on an otherwise stock engine (just bigger injectors and cold air intake). With only 7psi boost and a tune, it put out 443HP at the rear wheels on a dyno. That makes the HP at the flywheel somewhere around 510HP. It will run mid 11's all day long and at 80MPH, I can get 32 miles per gallon. And it will easily drive along in city traffic at 25MPH in 100 degree temps with no burps.

Adding cubic inches is one thing but to really get the benefit of a 7-8% increase over the stock displacement, you have to consider a larger cam and higher compression to achieve expected power gains. Big cams and an auto tranny aren't always fun to drive in city traffic.

As far as an LSx engine, you would probably wind up doing more work in the modding of the PCM and the wiring than what you could gain in performance especially in a stock LS motor.

 

Doug rippie motorsports is located a couple hours away from me.I also checked their website but noticed their 450hp package is about $10,000 installed I also called Blower Works & they sent me a couple booklets with info about their products,but the basic blower package was about $4,000 & with the extra stages I think $6500 altogether & thats without doing anything to stock engine(internals,etc.).Ls1 installed involves wiring changes(cutting & splicing) different mounts etc.If I wanted an Ls1 engine I would just sell my car & get a 1997 or newer vette.I don't know of any local corvette clubs & it would be nice to talk to someone(when the time comes) local about Lt-1 builders.Also not interested in NOS because I sometimes drive with my daughter in the car.I would like to get at least 500 horsepower,could I get that with just a cam,rockers,springs,headers,Borla mufflers,ported stock intake,slp claw intake,ported Maf sensor housing,stall converter & a tune.All that I could easily do myself(besides the tune) & probley spend $2500,but does anyone think I could reach 500 hp with those upgrades?I want to keep up with the newer corvettes.Thanks for advice.

 

hey buddy,

I am faced with the same delima....what i came up with is find a used lt1 engine even though it might just be a 2 bolt main rebuild it to stock. Pull your engine then make the mods on your original engine and then put it back in...at least that way you have spare to keep her running and driveable. if anybody has some other idea's i would love to them as well.

thanks

 

Anyone,anyone?

 

Not even close.

 

430 hp?400whp?How much you think with those upgrades?

 

Maybe 430 to crank but probably 350 to 375 to the tires

 

That will at least make my car a 12 second car.

 

I very seriously doubt you will top 400 RWHP with stock heads NA, no matter how big the cam. 350-375, as posted above, sounds about right. If anything, a bigger stall converter is going to cost you power, on the dyno, but it can greatly improve your drag racing times.

 

Why would you waste money building two engines?
Why not just buy core engine , rebuild it to what you want and do swap?
One rebuild and one engine swap = cheaper

 

500? not likely. I did the kind of build you're talking about here and figure it's right around 400 at the crank, 330 at the wheels. It's a fairly common set of mods when guys like us are ready to get a little more serious.

Mine is good enough for 12.2s in the 1/4 with a 3.73 gear ratio in decent air. I believe that'll at least keep up with the C6 Z51, but not quite enough to take a C6 Z06 and a LONG way from a C6 ZR1. I did beat a C5 Z06 off the line at a stop light, but we both let out at 60 so no telling what would have happened if we ran 'em out.

But I think your $2500 number might be a little low. I took just about every cheap way out I could think of and still ended up well over the $3000 mark not counting fluids and miscellaneous. But about 350 of that was to have the heads cleaned up at a machine shop, and 650 was the rear end, so I guess you could maybe keep it in your range if you leave the axle ratio stock. If it's a 3.07 you could probably get away with it, but if it's a 2.59 or whatever ratio it was in the non-performance axle cars, I wouldn't leave that in unless you plan on some bonneville runs.

Good luck in your quest. If it's really something you want to do, look up some of the cam swap threads in here. There are some really good ones with valuable troubleshooting help, and it may help avoid some "gotchas" along the way.

By the way, if you do get close to 500 hp in that car and get it to hook up, you'll need to figure out something other than the Dana 36 for a rear end.

 

If you're gonna buy another engine, why not build it the way you want it before you put it in?

 

I was faced with the same decision process when I spun a bearing on the LT4 in my "96. I initially wanted to do a crate 383 engine. My shop told me that they could build an engine cheaper and it would be hand-built. They also told me that I could swap in an LS1, so we headed off in that direction. I wanted to make better than 600 hp. But as we got going that direction, it was becoming clear that I couldn't afford the LS1 swap... it was going to take a LOT of reworking of the car (even the electrical stuff) to make this engine work. So, I went back to just rebuilding the LT4. We got some pretty trick parts, but still nothing radical, and began the build. We are going to supercharge the car with something like 15 lbs of boost. With some careful engine work, the computer tells us that the HP will be better than 625, and torque in the range of 700 ft-lbs. And we did this for less than a crate engine work-up. Also did it for less than the Lingenfelter's drop-in 383 which is a lesser engine than we are building.

I posted a link to the forum on the building of my '96, showing all progress so far. A lot of the engine stuff is already done, so you can see what we are doing there, with pictures.