I was going to try and rebuild my car in stages, but that got blown away, so I decided to have my car rebuilt where I am working.

So first off, anybody know a good shop in Birmingham,Al?

2) do they make .040 pistons? (just want to be unique)

3) Only boring it out, so what heads are best 175, 185 or 195cc?

4) Not looking for a big increase in hp, just a little tweek, so what cam?
I know you need to match heads to cam, just cannot find anything that is not a novel, that explains what I need to know.
Yes, I searched the forum, but most cam threads w/details are for l98's and I am not sure how much that relates to a LTx.

Thanks

 

Good thing about the lt1 is the rotating assembly is pure SBC...
You can do a stout build for decent money...

I went with scat 6" forged rods, mahle power packs and the stock crank. I have more than three years of daily driving on that lower end and its survived literally thousands of 7,000 rpm blasts.

There is lots of controversy over 6" rods vice the stock 5.7 inch length however, I went with them since the Scat rods weigh about the same as stock....had ARP fasteners and cost about the same as rebuilding stock rods with quality hardware. With the longer rods you end up using shorter pistons (again lighter) My machinist was surprised by the amount of metal he had to remove from the crank when he was balancing my rotating assembly. (lighter is better than heavy when it comes to accellerating a rotating mass)

I also had Brian Ebert, ( my machinist) deck the block so that the pistons were .005 in the hole and used .027 cometics (this results in a tight quench) and with my BIG cam allows my 12.1:1 compression LT1 live on pump gas..

If you are not looking for a power increase just have your heads cleaned up and go with a small cam.
However, I'd go with a set of AI ported heads and one of their custom cams.. (Ron and Phil will help with your cam choice)

From your HP goals you'll probably want something smaller than mine... 23x 23x on a 110LSA with .61X lift...

The high compression tames the big cam so the street manners are great but when one holds the pedal to the mat, all hell breaks loose.....But it is mellow enough around town that both of my teenagers have driven it to school (alone) with no issues.

Good luck with your build.
Just remember supporting mods quickly eat up the budget.. IE if you go with a bigger cam... you'll end up going to lower rear end gears...if you have an A4 you'll end up with a stall converter....headers, bigger TB....roller rockers, hardened push rods, guideplates....it just goes on and on..


In summary figure out what your goals are .....choose your parts....research the lowest prices....find a good machinist.....make your budget.....double the budget and if you are lucky, you'll end up close to what you end up spending...
Mike

 

Hi,

stock crank as in stock GM with many miles?

Thanks,
Steve

 

Less than 50K when I did the build about 80K now..
However, LT1 are pretty stout and can go a couple hundred thousand miles... the engine in my Impala SS had no ridge and still had cross hatching at 150K....head was off only to remove a couple of broken exhuast manifold bolts


On the vette the factory crank was still in specs and so it was not turned for oversized bearings....if the crank needed work (besides the balancing I would have built a stroker. Some folks in the "know" , believe that the factory piece is better than the inexpensive cast steel aftermarket cranks.


Mike

 

Actually the aftermarket cast steel cranks are stronger than the GM cast or their 1053 steel cranks. The 1053 steel is about the weakest steel crank out there, compared to a 5140, a 4130 or a 4340 steel crank. I would take a aftermarket crank anyday over the stock GM crank. I have thrown more GM 350 cranks in the garbage than I can count. Why build a 350 when you can build a 383 for about the same money.

 

Thanks Guys!

 

deleted, I messed up and posted in the wrong post.

 

I couldn't find an aftermarket .030 over piston and rod combo that had the same bobweight as the stock crank, so I've got a bunch of stock LT1 cranks in the shop collecting dust. The complete eagle assemblies (piston, rods, cranks) are cheaper than piecing stuff together and having it balanced. As mentioned, the cranks are stronger than the factory crank.

There are issues with resizing the PM rods, and even reconditioning earlier stock rods is more expensive than just buying rods. It's gotten to the point where I strip a block and just about everything (sometimes including main caps) goes into the scrap metal bin.

-- Joe

 

Google Lloyd Elliott....he is the heads & cam guru. Good guy