The ones I see at Texas Speed are about $2k, any cheaper than that? And if there are, are they just as reliable?

Anyway, I know to make power that most of it comes from your heads / cam setup, but are strokers worth investing in? I wanted to build a 400 HP low compression motor. I know stroking increases compression, but I was thinking to offset it with thicker head gaskets or using dished pistons

Or is there another way I should try to reach my goal?

 

Do heads and cam. You should be able to easily hit 400, even with budget heads with a slightly increased chamber and a cam in the 220's.

-Geoff

 

Sweet deal, what set of heads should I look into?

 

Why 87 octane?

And if you're looking for a 383 stroker setup, you're going to spend a LOT more than $2000! You're better off sticking with the stock 346 or go to a 370/402/408. 383s rarely make enough power over a similar 346 to justify the cost.

 

87 Octane because Premium fuel averages $2.97 and regular fuel averages $2.50 where I live. When fuel hits $3.50 again then Premium is going to be $4.00 per gallon. I've had a Z28 before and ran premium, didnt have any real problems keeping it filled up and it was pretty efficient but with a setup like this my car will be faster than a Z28 and be able to run cheaper fuel, double win for me.

How would you go about building a 370 though?

 

Let's assume you get 15 mpg out of that 383 and drive it 200 miles every week all year long.

200/15 = 13.33 gal per week

13.33x2.50 = $33.33/week = $1732.90 per year

13.33X2.97 = $39.59/week = $2058.69 per year

I fail to see the logic of building a $4000-5000 (you will end up spending about this much) a nice motor to be 87 octane specific in order to save $6.26/week or $325.79 per year. If you drive it less than that your delta will decrease significantly.

 

yeah, true although I drive alot more than $200 a week. I average about 600 - 800 a week. I probably wont do a 383, I was wondering about the effectiveness of that idea. But what does it take to do a 370? just wondering

 

Iron 6.0 bored .030" over. They're inexpensive and make a nice forced induction foundation.

Again, building a performance engine around 87 octane is foolish at best. You'll spend alot of time and money to reach your goal, and you'll be disappointed in the end. The money it takes to build what you are looking for far outweighs the cost difference in 87 vs 93 octane. Additionally, the engine will need either lower than stock compression or reduced timing, which will make for a lazy engine. Trust us, building an 87 octance engine is a waste of time - which is why nobody else does it

 

I don't know if you have driven or rode in a full bolt-on / heads / cam / intake 346 or not but if not you need to try that first. These motors fairly maxed out will really get your attention. I would seriously consider this option before wasting the money on a new motor build and not supplying the right fuel. A nicely built 346 will rape a bigger cubed LS that does not have all the supporting mods. Also if you do all this and can only run 87 octane you and your motor are not going to like it. If you can't budget the fuel for the build then I would suggest waiting and not doing anything to the motor right now. Maybe put the money into a full suspension, rearend, sticky tires, etc.

 

Oh, is that the same displacement as the LS3? I've always lingered with the idea of having a 6.2L in a 4th gen . Okay, I'm convinced I'll run premium. Maybe I'll offset it with buying a manual trans.

Oh I'm definitely not saying LS1's are slow. I've had one a few years back and sadly I had to give it up to continue college. It was just a stock car though with an Intake and nothing more. I miss it. I can "afford" premium fuel, it's just I'm afraid of what could happen when gas spikes again. We've had it as high as $5.00 per gallon here. But right now while I still have no motor, I'm just contemplating on ideas and builds

 

No. The LS3 is very different. First the 6.0L is a 364. It has a 4" bore. With a 4.030" bore and stock stroke of 3.622" it becomes a 370. The LS3 uses a 4.060" bore and the same stroke, to displace 376ci

 

Cool. Can an LQ4 be bored to 4.060" to make a 376?

 

Of course it can, as can the LQ9.

You can treat the Gen III iron blocks much like the old SBCs. You can go straight to a .060" overbore, but most don't. If something happens like a damaged piston, broken valve etc that scores the cylinder wall, or even just in need of a refresh, the block is trash. However, if you just go .030" over, you still have that extra .030" if you ever need it in the future. But if you don't care about things like that, that seeminly insignificant extra .030" will allow for the proper use of the square port LS3 head choices

 

How much should it typically cost to bore the engine? replacement LQ4's can be had for $800 - sooo if the engine is damaged and you gotta pull everything off to hone the block out anyway, for the price you may aswell just replace it anyway.

 

That is a ton of miles. If you are driving 100+ miles per day, you may want to skip the motor build, and find a fuel effecient daily driver.