i am new to this to start off i really want to build a bad a** motor to drop into my 1992 camaro. I am trying to find what motor to go with and what upgrades i should do i am looking at buying a motor out of a 2001 ls1 camaro. is that a good choice if not what motor should i use and if it is what upgrades should i do to be able to run turbo and get as much horsepower as possible

 

Read through the build threads of several turbo conversions and see if thats something you can afford/handle

No offense, but you sound like a high school kid dreaming big with no idea just how much is involved in such a task. Theres nothing wrong with that, jsut dont want you to get your car torn apart and $6,000 into the project before you realize you're over your head

 

well i understand your concern and no offense taking I am actually a college student about to graduate with a degree in civil engineering. i have read and read all kinda of thread on here and all over the internet. i have also been saving for quite awhile bc i have always been in love with the third gen camaro. I also have a cousin who knows alot about cars but he is into imports and so every time i bring up building up my camaro and ls1 he always tries to get me to go with an import i just really trying to learn as much as i can before i do anything but i just dont know where to start.

 

Decide how much you want to spend first then ask for advice. You want as much HP as possible? No problem pony up a hundred grand and we'll tell you how to build the fastest LS powered third gen with ease. Only got 5K? Dont think about boost you wont pull it off even close to that.

If you want a boosted LS powered third gen swap thats going to make 5-600whp and hold together your going to need to spend around 10-15K and have to do pretty much all the work yourself. Sure it can be done "cheaper" but you wont make a pass down the strip without breaking something.

Good luck

 

as noted, building a boosted motor isn't all that hard or expensive; lots of guys are building budget blown 5.3's over on 'tech. but you'll break things real quick in these cars at those power levels - the 10 bolts wont too long and neither will any of our stock transmissions.

 

Is this your first build? If so, I'd consider it a learning experience and try to keep it simple. I've been wrenching on cars for 10 years and I found a plain jane LS1 swap to be challenging, since it was all new to me and there was a lot of new material to learn. Research is free, and man does it ever pay off. I built my wiring harness for nearly nothing (<$50) using Pocket's posts, chevythunder, and LT1swap.com.

Its kinda like running a marathon, you don't go outside on your first day of training and run 26.2 miles. You've gotta build the skills and knowledge over time to do it right. (Or you can pay someone mega-bucks to do it for you...)

 

If you want to keep the build cost on the low side, you can pick up a used LQ4 truck motor out of you local bone yard. The truck motors have high flowing heads like the LS6 and they have larger combustion chambers to lower you compression ratio. The Iron block will also handle a litter more power. I would add a good set of rods and forged pistons to make shure it stays together. The factory cast cank can handle over 700 hp. You can also use the truck cast manifolds install on backwards for the turbo set up. I have seen Turbo cars making over 1000 hp using these manifolds for single or twin turbo set ups. Good luck!!!

 

thanks for the replies i have about 10k saved up for this car, i can pretty much to all the fabrication and custom work needed to put the ls1 in. I am going to take my time with this car if it takes me a year that is completely ok with me I want to do everything right the first time. I can also fabricator all the pipes needed to hook up the turbo and cooler, what i really want to know is where do i start i plan on completely rebuilding the ls1 motor from ground up i just looking on some advice on where to start thanks

 

Get a rotating assy from Scat with a 4" crank your will get a 383 with this set up. Trick Flow have a good LS1 head and it's not that expensive. Call Comp Cams and talk to the tech department about what parts you that have and what turbo set up you are going to run. They will grind you a nice cam that will work good with your build. Good luck...

 

Just buy a good condition 5.3L truck motor or even a 4.8 if you cant find a 5.3. Newer ones will have 243 or 317 heads. 317 heads are better since they have larger chambers for abit less compression.

You can throw some boost at these motors, enough to make 500+ whp just fine. Especially if you do a mild cam along with the boost.

My buddy has been playing with stock bottom end LSx motors and has done some impressive work. 702whp on pump gas with a 4.8 with ported heads/cam. 7500rpm peak. 23 psi or so. Stock bottom end + ARP rod bolts
816whp on 11psi E85 fuel + meth inj. on stock bottom end LS2 + rod bolts. Same heads/cam as on the 4.8.
550whp on a stock LS1 with LS6 cam/intake. Single GT4202 turbo. 3900lb went 10.5s at 130
Now has a 5.3 running 20psi on 93 octane. Feels faster than the LS2.

You can get 4.8-5.3's for cheap. They will run hard. Turbo kit if fabbed you should have only a few grand into it. I have about 3.5g into my complete twin setup

 

can you put a stroker kit in a ls1? is it a good idea or no I trying to do as much research as possible thanks

 

Yes. A 4.000 stroke in a ls1 makes a 383. Id stick with stock cubes and add more psi.

 

i was just wondering why you would stay with stock cubes

 

Lower cost so you can spend other money elsewhere. Turbo choice will decide how ur motors gonna react. A 76mm is good for a 5.3-6.0

 

Dont need to spend much money on the bottom end to make power in a turbo lsx car. 500+whp is really too easy on these motors. I would just upgrade rod bolts and if you bought an LS1, I'd put on 317 truck heads to drop compression down alittle bit to be safer. Thats why I'd suggest looking for a 4.8-6.0 liter truck motor to start, and swap LS1 intake on it and boost that as is. EASY 500-600whp with some boost.

If you were going to go all out, get iron block and forged internals, etc, etc. LS9 head gaskets seem to be working well on boosted combos. All forged internals and such should support 1000+hp but thats not a budget setup

 

what intake should I go with and since my ls with be turboed should i replace the pistons also

 

You can do whatever.. ls1, ls6, ls2 depending on what you get. Even the truck intake may work

 

Be cheaper to put some Forged pistons in something then to fully stroke. I'm not sure if it would be really worth it. Right now I have a 5.3L block i'm into for next to nothing, Its getting Bored for some 3.903 -11cc Weisco Pistons. I'm usning the stock crank. It should be good for everything I'm going to do with it and then some.