Tcawley21

I currently have a 97 T/a ws6 with 31k miles on the engine & trans. *garage kept all its life* I'm looking to add some more power to it (no nos, supercharger or turbo) so I was thinking about buying a stroker kit, having my car sent in to a shop (not yet discovered which shop) and having everything pieces together there. Can anyone give me some Helpful hints regarding the build itself, what to buy and not to buy, shop cost, am I better off buying brand new heads or porting the stock lt1 heads, etc. all of this on a 4-6k budget

Injuneer

Define "some more power". Has anything been done to the engine at all at this point.... e.g. bolt-on modifications?

Reworking your stock heads and a matching cam, plus improvements to air intake and exhaust, injectors and PCM tuning can produce 500HP at the flywheel. The stock rotating assembly will support this level of HP.

What trans - T56 manual or 4L60E automatic? That will determine supporting modifications to the drivetrain. Then the suspension needs to be addressed to put that power to the ground.

Chimera96

for a 383,no....labor alone will be the bulk of that if you are "dropping off the car to have this done"

if you are a point & pay guy, find a "qualified" shop versed in the LT1 platform (very few are) who will do engine work.

Contact Lloyd Elliott and get a head & cam package from him and have the shop install this.

With this said, and your wallet will need to be thick if paying someone to do this, you will need "supporting mods" (headers, cat back exhaust, CIA, TC if automatic, gears AND TUNE) to take full advantage of higher HP & TQ a good head and cam package will cost. That is just the "short" list.

will a 383 make more power, yes but that requires a whole new rotating assembly and block work. $4-6k will barely scratch the surface for that if you pay someone else to do the labor to R&R the motor AND to the machine & assembly work on the motor

You have a low mileage garage queen (nothing wrong with that) and want a "little more power"....assuming your car is stock you could have a shop do:

1:6 RR
valve springs
cold air intake
headers
cat back exhaust
PCM tune (mail order)

if you have a automatic, higher stall TC.

Lower rear end gears will "get the car moving" quicker

Tcawley21

It is automatic and unfortunately I don't have time to do anything on my own for I'm deployed and when I am back in the rear I'm always occupied with other things. What's a good cam that could put down some serious #s (granted it has supporting mods)?

Injuneer

Now you're only asking about a cam...... no more 383, no more heads & cam???

Chimera96

OP

first thank you for your service.

while there are some off the shelf cams that work well (depending on what head work and supporting mods you combine with them) I encourage you to contact Lloyd about what specific direction you want to take the car be it cam only, heads & cam or what H/C package would be good for a 383.

http://elliottsportworks.com/

You can stay under a $4-6k budget easily for a H/C package along with a higher stall TC (2600-3200 stall) and even headers + a tune ($150-$350 for mail order)