After having a twin turbo setup on my sb it decided to take a bad turn. Hopefully its just the rings popped but anyways. I'm thinking about selling the rest of my setup to swap to the ls world. Which I should of done in the first place. I'd like to see. 400 -500 whp but not sure on what motor to go with or the mods. Iv been reading up and the possibilities are somewhat endless. Just wanted to see what you guys would suggest for motor choice and add ons. As well as what tranny (personally I was leaning toward the 6 speed but an auto would be cool too.) Possibly on a moderate budget. Not planning to rush this.

 

Blank piece of paper and a blank check. Love it!

You didn't provide much detail about the twin turbo setup, but I assume you're going to adapt it to an LS platform, correct?

500 RWHP is fairly obtainable with a very common stock 5.3 from GM light trucks. Even a 4.8 could do it, but it would have to work a little harder.

One of these 5.3's can be had for about $400-$500 all day long. Getting harness/PCM will run a little bit more. To go in a 3rd gen, you'll want f-body oil pan (or the Holley swap pan), and f-body (or Y-body) accessories. The accessories part includes the damper, since the truck one sticks out about 1/2 an inch further than the passenger car versions. Good opportunity to upgrade the damper, anyway.

For tranny, an f-body 4L60E would be my choice. It'll need a little help, of course (at least a shift kit and aftermarket converter). Or, a 4L80E, which is bigger and heavier, but much beefier.

Although admittedly a dyno queen, I love this story: http://www.hotrod.com/techarticles/h...g_bang_theory/ (especially the revelation at the end). They did some "extra" stuff like high-end intake and head porting, but the results are still pretty amazing.

 

They are only 57mm t3/4 hybrids. I will provably sell it to provide cash for the swap. Unless suggested otherwise I may just go n/a with a mean cam. Maybe a stroker motor? I'm only a newbie when it comes to thus stuff but you guys are crazy when it comes to info. Any and all ideas would be accepted. I'd like to be on tge low end on the price but wth lets see what happens :-)

 

On the side note. That is freaking crazy. I love that story but my biggest problem was finding an exhaust shop that wanted to even do the exhaust and with my lack of welding skills along side with lack of experience / tools. The headers worked but sat the turbos a little high. If I did do a form of boost I would think maybe a procharger or some fab help for a turbo.

 

I was wondering after I hit "submit" if you were thinking NA.

And I'll stick with "moderate budget"...

Similar story, but start off with with a 6.0l truck engine. Same accessory story. Flat top pistons will produce a decent 10:1 SCR (shave the heads down if you want more). LS6 intake or better (that FAST stuff is pricey), good cam and exhaust, and you should hit that 400 RWHP target without breaking a sweat. 500 RWHP is going to take a little more, of course.

If you start with an LY6 6.0 engine, it'll have the "good" L92 heads already. Same intake and accessory story, but a cam change will have you there.

Stroker kits are pretty expensive from a $'s/HP perspective. For sure will help make the power without having to work so hard, but kind of puts you behind the 8-ball for the total project costs. I paid $2500 for an all-forged Manley 4"/4.005" kit, that still had to be balanced. You can pay less, but, there's that "getting what you pay for" factor.

Some of the "normal" hot rod stuff is in order, as usual - Upgraded rod bolts, good oil pump, good flowing air intake and exhaust system. The LS2 timing set is pretty popular. I assume you already built the car to take the power.

 

For the most part yes. So far 6.0s are kinda hard to find up here. Cheaper that the ls tho if you find them. I figure if I can get a 6.0 short block I can throw on a ls6 intake a good set of heads and change the pan. Or should I try to find whole motors?

 

Up to you. I haven't looked a lot, but I typically find more complete engines than shortblocks. Most of the shortblocks are rebuilds. The 317 LQ4/9 heads are basically 243 LS6 heads with larger chambers.

One advantage of getting a LS1 drop-out is they often come with harness and PCM. See that sometimes with truck engines, too.

 

At the moment the harness and pcm are plentiful for me. The "complete" motors are going for crazy money and theyre all ls1's. Short blocks tho are about 600 bucks. cheapest ls1 i have found was 1400. i figured should be able to match that price but with my heads and intake and if im lucky find the accessories as well. Most of the ls1's are without the harness tho . Sorry if im being a pain just want to make sure i get it right the first time instead of having a shed full of parts.

 

Get a 5.3 truck motor and keep one of the turbos. Those 5.3 bottom ends have been known to be able to hold up with big amounts of power. Pickup a turbo cam and 500hp will be cake.

 

I'll keep an eye out for one of the above. i have plenty of time to gather parts and i would think one of them would be way to small but we will see

 

Well.... I know this hard to chew on but really you need to either 1. pick a power goal or 2. offer up a budget.

It really is about matching the right parts for the intended results within acceptable costs. Hard to do without knowing where your at $ wise.

If you stick with boost getting your piping solutions sorted out will be the most costly aspect if you cant do the work yourself so perhaps seek out a ready made kit for LS and third gens ( there must be something out there ) and start with that. Those turbos you have are kind of small so it will make a real snappy 5.3 or 4.8 machine. Six speed combo with those will be HELLA fun but expect to pay to get a six speed in there nowadays. My suggestion is to purchase a fresh built one from one of the reputable suppliers on tech. Theres not many original ones left that arent thrashed out

 

Im still at the drawing boards so thats the glory of not having to pick one yet, its been narrowed down to boost if i find a 5.3 or 4.8 and n.a for the 5.7 or 6.0 I was already planning on the 6 speed. It will fall all on what i can find and we can go from there. As far as budget? its hard to say being as im not sure what base im going with or what ill be getting out of the original setup. I would guess around 4000 on motor stuff but again this will be a longer process rather than just throwing it all together. Im looking to see what everyone else would suggest then we can go from there. Im just beginning where as alot of you guys have already done the trial and error and i respect any and all info you all give. I'm sure there are plenty of people willing to help regardless of what way i do go. I do really like the idea of a single turbo'd 5.3 but i love the sound of a built up n.a so when the time comes i would like to think you all would help me decide on what bullet to bite

 

4K can put together a nice NA 6.0L if you take your time and hunt for deals and run the LS3 heads. Trans aside that is.

If your entire budget is 4K for all? Find a running driving 4th gen six speed thats not all clapped out mechanically and use everything. That plus cam, exh and tune will work nice but again 4k, I'll be impressed if you can get this done for that.

Ballpark 7-10K for a decent NA build, nothing wild. Boost? Worth doing boost? Double it.

Want a boosted car that runs for a half day then blows up? You might do 4K if you scrimped on absolutely every corner you could with cheap no name ebay parts and junk etc. Fun, but dont expect it to last

Cheap, Fast, Strong. Pick two

 

4K is for the motor alone, but thats just and estimate and i plan on gathering parts and looking for deals. Its not going to be a quick throw together but i was/am leaning more towards a 6.0 build maybe around 450 -500 ponies. thats about it

 

4K budget for that is reasonable if you shop smart. Id still lean towards the LS3 heads but I dont mean to say cathedrals dont make power, they sure do, but its a whole other animal to work with cam wise. Speaking of which dont rush to buy a cam just yet, the more details about your car you get finalized before ordering a cam? The better. Its a delicate thing to get the right cam for each set up. Which is why I mentioned goals earlier which you seem to have not and I understand maybe not yet but they will evolve and then you'll know what to ask for cam wise.

 

Oh yea cam will be one of the last things to get. Should i try to get ls6 heads and intake or just go for ls3 heads? Stroking may be a possibility based on what i find. I would love to get a 6 speed in it but if i have to deal with an auto i guess thats no biggie either. Thanks for the help though and im sure ill have alot more to ask before this is all done

 

LS6 heads are also an excellent choice. Cant go wrong with them either, but these days they damn near cost as much or more used than brand new LS3 heads unless you find a bargain

 

I'll keep that in mind seems like ls6 heads are the way to go on w/e build i choose. Ill keep an eye out on the ls3 heads as well and maybe ill get lucky. seems like the average price of a full lq4 is about 1000 bucks or is that a little high? and no harness or cpu on that.

 

IIRC you can buy a fresh rebuilt 6.0L short for 1800 bucks shipped. If you run the 243 heads search out a stock LS6 cam only thread from PatG where he made 420 or something with his cam. Great combo

 

Thats not bad, would you suggest staying away from stroking it or just depends on how much the budget allows it?

 

More cubes the merrier. You'll have to do some digging around and watch for shop specials etc. Check with Texas Spd and Scoggin Dickey they are a great bar