~STOLEN~

Hey guys, im writing to those who have gotten into the bottom end of their cars. I've decided to keep my car for a few reasons, but i want to change the set up drastically for the next season. i would like to have a setup that is much easier for the tuner as well as driver friendly.

my current combo---SBE, h/c/i/e/102/102--100 shot plate kit---makes good power, big cam sucks to drive other than racing (24deg overlap) car gets driven 3-4 days a month and maybe to run some errands

option 1--rotating assembly OR just pistons for more nitrous and have a custom specd cam made and up the shot to 200, possibly change intake and TB set up, drives much better and have WAY less in the combo

option 2--rotating assembly for boost and purchase a nice blower setup to land inthe 750-800 whp range and have the power ALL THE TIME. drawback, it would add 6k to the total bill


so my biggest question is this.
for those who have done either of the 2 options, what would you do differently or change had you to do it over again?
thanks in advance

Innovate

If I were to do it again?

1. Cam with higher lift.
2. Cosmetic HG's for .040 quench to bump compression to 12 to 1.
3. COPO LS7 exhaust valves.
4. Lighter load springs.
5. Finish up my MSD's runners (porting).
6. I think I would of still went with the heads I have. If not, AI's, MAST, or break my wallet All-Pro's lol.

In your situation, boost will allow you a more drivable cam. That being said, unless you use Dart sleeves in the block I would avoid boost or big boost. If no boost, pistons only with more compression and bigger or differently specced cam.

Hi-Ram.

~STOLEN~

thanks for taking the time to reply , i appreciate the input

I really like the cost effectiveness of staying nitrous. I would come out way ahead in $ per horse power, i just hate the filling bottles, bottle pressure, all the other electronics etc etc. And the only reason i went n2o was because I had to spend all the blower money i had to fix the heads and was left with enough for a clutch and pieced together nitrous kit.
Being content with keeping the car, I wouldnt mind waiting it out to do a nice blower setup. They money is huge though. And i dont have a clue where to start on rotating assemblies for ls7 . (other than what you said)
high ram....I dunno I'm not cutting the hood. I could convert the car to e85 for just the cost of the hood!!

Innovate

No problem man.

If you are willing to wait, sleeve the block, Callies Dragonslayer Crank, Forged rods/pistons, and ARP everything to get ready for boost. 6-bolt heads, T&D RR's, and a 116-117 LSA custom cam. UPP Twin kit or F1X.

It depends on your horsepower goals really.

dcamick

Not necessarily that I would do differently......But OP's thread seems to be a good place to post what I have done....Thanks Stolen for Posting!!!

I have a previous post "Can't Help Myself" about my need to Modify...When I originally said years ago " I would never Mod this Corvette"

Would I have done something different.....Probably!

After the following:

AI Heads, Comp Cam, Kooks Headers, Borla Exhaust, Stoptech Big Brakes, Bilstein Shocks, Forgeline Comp Wheels, high performance radiator, A&A supercharger (6 lbs), Supporting Methanol Injection system......But I promise I'm done...I think!

Final pull: 7/19/18 Concord, NC: Sorry video (Facebook) apparently not a valid extension.....Dyno results: 700/631


Have a great weekend!

Dcamick

~STOLEN~

ok so after looking at pricing on all of the following internals, plus the potential price of machine work on oem block. i have a question.

Other than simply being a purist corvette owner, what are the drawbacks from changing out the dry sump setup and going completely diff platform in a C6Z.......im not saying that i would rip out the ls7 and dry sump for a junkyard 5.3 ( which a TON of people have done) but just simply doing a good ole low compression lq9 376 or ls3 based 416 built for boost? wouldnt going that route save a enough of money that would lead to other upgrades to offset more performance like fuel system upgrades.
im just thinking through the keyboard and bouncing ideas. (dont flame me too bad here) LOL i mean i have seen everything cubic inch wise and platform wise, so with ls7 stuff being so expensive, other than saying its a ls7.....why couldnt we yank it out and start over? :

i guess the answer is buy a roller and build from scratch:rofl

dcamick

Why not??? I believe the process would be a lot easier.........

Innovate

jayyyw

From what I've seen, a piston swap and bottom end refresh will run around $3-$4k with parts and labor. Then you still have the weak sleeves which are only good to around 900whp on nitrous. A little more on boost. If you want to stay with a 200 shot, you'd still be pretty safe, but no room to really grow down the line.

I haven't researched a full motor build yet, so I can not comment on pricing but it won't be cheap.

I have thought about trying to sell my LS7 and throw in a 5.3 and boost the **** out of it. But it'd have a shitty powerband and end up not much faster than where I am now.

I'm definitely not looking forward to the next step. I've almost maxed out the SBE. I'll probably do pistons to bump the compression, new bearings, ARP hardware and a custom LLSR to spin it to 8k.

jayyyw

No, you don't.

~STOLEN~

I'm really torn about keeping nitrous, it is good cheap power, i just really wanted a blower in the beginning and my junk guides and head fix but me behind the rolling ball so to speak.
i know i could afford to do a freshen up on the current bottom end and keep the nitrous, just switch jets, convert to e85, mill heads and make GOOD power, and do all of that over the winter
BUT, i also know that i could part out my current setup (before it grenades) and cover prob 50% of the boost build on the cheaper end by choosing another platform. That said, it would prob be same result, just take longer and would depend on parts selling on the forum.

as far as cubic inch, i dont care what bottom end is in the car as long as im able to make 750-800 when i push the start button. the nitrous stuff has just worn me out this summer is all, filling bottles, fixing parts that have went bad etc

jayyyw

I hear you. I've decided to keep my Z06 all motor and nitrous for the occasional big dog race. It'll be super lightweight, gear'd, make near 680whp NA and rev to 8k. Later I will buy a ZR1 to fulfill the boost junky side.

Nitrous is a little pricey in my area but luckily my tuner just made the switch on his personal Z06. So he is looking into getting a mother bottle or two. That should drive my nitrous cost way down, especially if I can go half and half with him.

~STOLEN~

see that was my initial though. i put the car for sale and had ZERO interest in it. planned on getting a c6 zr1 but i cant justify paying another 25k on the car to just have a blower when i could build mine and just have it paid for. after i took the car off the market, i decided to pay it off by end of year, so not having a pmt starting next year would be great, as well as let me feel NO guilt taking it completely apart to build LOL

i had friends with mother bottles around here and they were still charging 10 bucks a pound around here. i had to just bite the bullet and go to a local speed shop and turned out they were only charging 6 bucks a lb......funny how you find out who your true friends are like this.....smh

~STOLEN~

so, how long would a SBE live currently if i just ditched the nitrous and put a v3 kit on it @around 8-10lbs? SBE has 60k on it

figuratively speaking i should say

just give me your .02

jayyyw

Yeah, I've put mine up for sale a few times and had zero interest. Maybe if I get more e-famous I can get more bites, LOL.

Wow, that's shitty. I pay almost $7/lb right now. Going half and half on a mother would drop that down to around $3/lb for sure. Much more economical.

PSI isn't what you want to base it off of. HP/TQ would be a better indicator. Depending on the tune and how you took care of it, I couldn't see why it wouldn't live in the 800whp range. Anything less than that, you won't be any faster than you are now with nitrous. But you will have the power on tap, pretty much, at all times.

~STOLEN~

i dunno bro #streetsciencetx may be your ticket....i watched that **** on the tv last night with the volume ALL THE way up LOL you may have added a $1000.00 private party value to it hhaahhaah

and yes i can live with it @6.00/lb

i would be happy at 7-750 to stay SAFE on the car to be able to maintain blower/bottom end happieness. but then i think.....well hell i make that now on nitrous FML

i guess im just spinning my wheels here, its been 2yrs since ive changed anything significant on the car other than the oil....im just getting slap happy and annoying all of you on the forum

jayyyw

Haha. I actually like that video more than my other buddy's cause it looks a lot closer! That Supra was making near 1000whp. No sure why they decided to down play it like that.

I actually need to take a break from spending on the car. I haven't stopped modding it since I bought it. It's an addiction.