How much can a stock LT1 bottom end take and not break every other week? I am thinking about full exhaust now (LT’s into a full flowmaster), then over the winter going with a nice ported head/cam/N20 combo, or just a nice port/cam combo then looking for a torque converter and a tune.
I am still in college so I can't afford a complete 396 4 bolt engine or anything, I would like to stay at 400rwhp and less and the car would not see much track time, just enough to see what it would run and leave it at that and the car will not be a daily driver come this winter.

I heard you can get close to 400 at the wheels with not much work, maybe a nice cam/ rocker combo and a really good port job and tune?

I put a post in the drivetrain section to see how much power it can take.

 

with 405rwhp my stock 10 bolt took a lot & never broke, never wined, no probs here, I still got a 12 bolt later on

 

400 ponies with an A4 you should be fine. If you are tearing down the engine I would replace the bearings. But the crank and rods should be fine. The pistons are your limiting factor, but they are still in their range of functionality.

 

heads and cam will be fine.. just get it tuned.
lot of little costs though.. probably be about 2.5-3 grand in parts for heads and cam.

 

My car has heads cam and bolt ons with nitrous ... Dynoed 529rwhp and 528rwtq with stock bottom end ,stock 10 bolt and stock tranny...

 

Dyno's don't go down the track. Get some track times on that setup.

 

That much? I was just going to get the stock heads ported and a fresh valve train, probably stock valves and clean them up. I know summit has a nice hot cam set up pretty cheap with a new valve train.

 

i dont think you'll be making 400 rear wheel with the hotcam. not saying it cant be done, but not likely. you cant go cheap and make the power you want. you have to be willing to shell it out and do it right the first time so you're not tearing into it again when you're unhappy or when it breaks.

 

Then i guess I'll say.. Your not going to hit 400 rwhp with a hot cam.. No way in hell.
The 2.5-3 grand post is the list of parts that you will need if you want a chance of hitting 400rwhp. If u keep the hot cam and keep the stock valves and stuff you'll probably see 340-360rwhp.

 

So should I just save my money and buy something LIKE a comp cam 306 and some new heads? Like Some GTP's??? or could I go with some CNC heads like the ones that thunder racing sells?
I am not trying to cut corners I just don't want to spend to much and not get the results I want. My goal is to be able to run with and or beat a near STOCK Z06 (I think they dyno at like 380-385rwhp). I plan on pulling a lot of weight out of the car soon and just doing bolt-ons of now and 3.73's, then it looks like next winter tearing into the engine. I just like to plan things out

 

Stock Z06 will dyno in the 350-360RWHP range, but they are also 300+ lbs lighter than an f-body, and have a gearing advantage (roughly equivalent to 3.73 rear gears in an M6 f-body). On the plus side, it's a whole lot easier to get a good launch out of an f-body than a Z06. Anyway, you'll really need close to 400RWHP and 3.73 gears to run with a well driven Z06.

 

I pm'd you.

 

Hows 12.330@112.15 with a 1.874 sixty foot N/A before tuning and the car gained 25rwhp on the dyno....Car weighs 3858 and i 220lbs..... As for a nitrous pass i am going to do alot of suspension work to the car before i spray it hell the car won't hook now...

 

With very little supension work(lca's, panhard rod, no sway bar) and good tires it should go 10's on spray no problem.

 

That would be great......The track i go to is the same one they had the North vs. South shootout and to put it simple the track sucks ***.....