Well when you have 427 cubic inches it's not that hard lol. (Ls7) A 600 rwhp anything in the 350-383 cubic inch range is going to be pretty rowdy no matter what though. That being said a heads cam 6.0 works really well simply because the power band stays pretty broad. I've also been in a few that just felt lazy but I think there were other factors contributing to that. Realistically, boost is best then cubes. Of course both is better lol.

At the same time though... I do kind of like the rough almost unstreetable nature of some builds. The 400 in the 67 is like that. But it makes it a totally different kind of fun. It'll literally try and kill you if you step on the pedal too hard. Flashes the stall, twists the chassis, tries to pull the tires and then blows off the rears 1-3. but that wouldn't make sense in a newer corvette. It does in that though. My next project is going to be an LS swapped square body. I'm going to stroke the hell out of it and use it as a tow rig.

 

The 4L60e flexplate isn't flat, its dished, and doesn't require a spacer.

 

I did a quad turbo 4.8 swap with an MS3Pro to control it all and did it for less than $4k. I'm pretty sure I could do a 400 HP N/A one for under $1500 in a weekend, minus A/C. Add $500 for that.

Also, his car is an auto, so the 4+3 and 6 speed stuff is irrelevant to him.

 

I always wanted to build a super budget LS. Swap the parts you need while you're still in the junkyard. So go pull a 6.0L LQ4 out of a 1 ton. Unbolt the 317 heads and use them as a step stool. Then grab a set of 706 heads off a gen III 5.3 Silverado. Bolt them on reusing the LQ4 head gaskets and bolts. Then find a 2wd 4L80e or even a 4L60e. All you would need then are valve springs and a cam and you should be well over 400 hp. Doing it this way you are only paying for one motor and one transmission ($300 total at my yard without harness). Your compression would be around 10.5:1. A mild cam would make it run great. 3200 stall and it would scream.

I hate dealing with a factory harness and PCM but if you got that from the yard with a 411 PCM from either the Silverado or a 2000's S10 with a 4.3L ($100 total.) You could program that with PCM Hammer or LSDroid instead of HP Tuners. (PCM Hammer and LSDroid are free) Then in reality you could have 400 hp for under $1K if you went with a SS2 or a Summit cam with PAC 1219 springs.

 

Wait, you mean you don't have to spend 8-10k for a 400 HP 383?
Who knew.

 

Hmmmm...

So, what can you get if you spend 8-10k on an LS?

No forced induction... Yet.

 

I spent like 2k doing the one in the work truck and it's about 450 but it also has to pass emissions and a visual being a commercial vehicle... a friend tried the LS swap and it got a condemnation sticker. Simple task to fix... register it as a personal vehicle but it's so much cheaper to have it under the company license. I actually was going to tap the dropped valve straight and use the factory heads then it would've only been like 1100 but I was convinced otherwise... that wasn't even a sbc problem. That was a it had a half quart of oil in it for 70k miles problem. That being said if I just put new heads on it I could've run it. Just ground the dent in the piston straight. I was so close to doing that super budget but it just gets driven too much to have been safe in my mind for that.

Honestly you can do anything budget be happy. That truck didn't need 450 hp but it's fun Tokyo drifting a 9000lb work truck down a road.

 

I personally wouldn't ever spend over $4500-5000 if I was going N/A.
You can do 1000 HP with that same budget and forced induction, so even at 4500, you're past the point of diminishing returns.

I had an LY6 like 4 years back (Gen 4 iron 6.0 with LS3 heads and VVT) that I bought for $400.
Howards cam/springs, 1 7/8 Speed engineering long tubes, new head gaskets, stock LS3 intake, and it made almost 550 HP on an engine dyno.
I had about $1200 total invested minus ECU. A 150 shot put it at 712 HP, with like $1800 total invested.
The gen 4 rods/pistons could shrug off 712 HP indefinitely. I can't remember what ECU the guy who bought the engine was using, but with a stock gen 4 harness/ECU, this was likely a sub-$2500 setup.

 

K, I'll take this to a pm now if that's ok... I have many questions... Then the plan is to weigh a 500hp N/A small block vs. a 500hp N/A LS, both set up for forced induction and write up a post showing the business case.

I have been leaning small block, but need to put this all together to make a smart choice here.

 

Does anyone in this thread have a .pdf/digital of this publication? I'm interested in some research for a potential build. I've a WTT/ISO thread in the C4 'parts' section.

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...m-gen-iii.html

 

5 motors

 

How many of them are zero mile professional rebuilds or crate motors?

 

How often does it matter when it comes to LS engines?

 

I'm not putting a used motor of unknown remaining life in the car. My time has value, and I plan to do this once, and once only.

Comparing junkyard LS to freshly rebuilt small block is not really something I'd be interested in doing.

Going apples to apples at 500 crank horsepower with fresh rebuilds or crate motors is a valuable data point.

Also, I see the claims for $400 6 liters made here often, but every time I look locally they seem to be closer to $2000 when complete and running. If there's a source to get them at $400, I'll drive a LONG way to save $1600.

 

$400 is way too much for a 6.0L. I got my LQ9 for $200. On sale days I grab a motor with a trans for $300 out the door. By the sounds of it you need to find a better yard.

There are people running over 800 hp on junkyard motors with over 250K miles on them. On the Sloppy Mechanics YouTube channel he went into the 8's in a Mustang with a junk 4.8L and a big turbo. Why anyone would spend the time or money on a high end small block build is beyond me. If I blow up a junk yard motor I'll just throw in another one. I feel the same about transmissions. If I break my 4L80e just go grab another one.

 

Some people just prefer to spend thousands of dollars for mediocre results

 

Just so I follow this...

You are talking a running, complete, oil pan to maf, all the accesories plus the ECu & harness LQ4, LY6, etc... for $200.

If so, where are ya and where is this yard? I'm in Michigan, and I'd be happy to drive out there to get one. Be happy to take you out for dinner and beverages of your choice!


EDIT: Just priced them locally again. 56,000 mile 6.0 out of an 04, complete and running as described above, $3000.

 

Take a look
https://upullandpay.com/pittsburgh/home/


Take a look at there Facebook page. They show all the cars/trucks that are coming to the yard the next week.

https://www.facebook.com/UPAP.Pittsburgh/

I was just there on Sunday for there bucket sale. Everything you can fit in a bucket for $25. Anyway they have 3 LQ4 6.0L's in the yard right now. PA is like the land of 1 ton trucks and vans.

Normally (no sale going on) it's $325 for any motor without any accessories or harness/PCM. But they have sales all the time. My favorite is there motor/trans sales. Get any complete motor with a transmission for $300 out the door. If you get a motor without a sale you get a 60 day warranty. With a sale you don't. Right before Christmas they do the Santa's Sleigh Pull-A-Thon. You get to keep whatever you can drag 20 feet for $80. So you load up a truck bed liner with whatever you want and drag it.

Yards that charge $1K for any used LS motor need to go under. They are just ripping you off.

Also take a look at my LQ9 build thread I'm in the middle of. I got that motor from there.

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...d-v-2-0-a.html

There is another yard in Ohio that is almost as good. The price is just a little more. It's called Youngstown U-Pull-It. I haven't pulled a motor there yet but probably will later this summer.

Also if your in Michigan I know there are yards like this closer to you. Take a look at a YouTube channel called "The Driveway Engineer". He is from Michigan. He takes trips to a U-Pull-It yard in his videos. He talks about prices in his videos that are similar to what I get.

I'll add this too. If anyone here wants to to to the yard in Pittsburgh and pull parts on a day that I'm there. I will gladly lend a hand pulling a motor or whatever as long as you help me pull my stuff. That and just a heads up, the ritualistic Five Guys Burgers afterwards is worth the trip.

 

FYI
on a Sea Ray boating forum I check there is a large boat being parted out for structural damage.
The owner is selling two Mercruiser 6.2L Horizons (320 hp) from the boat.

Now where have I heard of Mercruiser putting motors in a Corvette before?

 

I'm going to take you up on this!

Let me see if I can line up some vacation days!