This is my first post so HELLO everyone and please bare with me in case Im doing something wrong. I just bought a 95 z28 Vert with 160000 miles. With this car I will do all of the same stuff, but I want to rebuild the motor. Does anyone know a good machine shop that knows LT1s in ATL? I want to go ahead and stroke the motor (383) while its out. Any suggestions on a good stroker kit, or any other recommendations would be greatly appreciated. This is my first time doing any internal mods to an LT1.

 

Do a search online, you will find many venders that offer stroker engines (short & longblocks, mild to wild, budget etc.)

 

Thanks, butI was hoping someone who has stroked there car before could give me the run down of what they personally used. This is my second LT1 car, so I have looked at a ton of stroker kits over the years. This car will be a mostly street occasional strip car, but like I said while I have the motor out I might as well add some cubes. I will be rebuilding the motor myself, just having a machine shop do clean up on the block.

 

What are your plans/goals for the car as far as hp levels etc. A 383 is an excellent choice for a street/strip car. It still has great torque down low for normal street driving even on a higher stall torque converter so you don't have to rev it to high heaven to make it move like you do on a 350/355 (how do I know? my brother has a 350 big cam I have a 383 big cam and mine has much better street maners).

My opinion here but if you don't plan on going over 150 shot of nitrous or about 8psi on a blower no need to spend the extra money on a forged crank. A good cast crank will get the job done. The rods however should at least be upgraded to forged I-beams. Piston choice will depend on your goals for the engine.

As far as top end there are many companies out there that have offered great packages, AI, LE, etc. to name a few. Thing to remember here though. A 383 is more cubes so a big cam for a 350 will be much milder on a 383. A cam in the range of a GM 847 and CC306 for a 383 are axcellent cams for a street driven 383. Great torque down low and pull to 6500 max for the added cubes. I recomend however, a custom grind or set up similar to AI 210CC package however as my set up with stock ported 205cc heads and CC306 on 11.1:1 is a little tame for me. BUT it's a great street/strip set up.

 

i would go with a local machine shop and do it yourself. Otherwise I would get a golen or victory racing shortblock, top it of with LE or AI heads, intake, and cam.
Cant go wrong with a setup like that. With a 383 and le3's or Ai's 200cc heads guys are near 450/450 rw hp and tq. Those setups have every bolton and a pretty radical cam but no the less, their 450rwhp and 450rwtq, which in my mind are LS numbers.
What are your goals for the car? Budget? need a little more info to give better advice.

 

Thanks for the advice, I like doing most work myself (and my dad at one time built race engines), so I will prob do like you said and install the kit myself with help from my dad. My only goals for this car are to make it a lil faster than stock, but keep it reliable, just something to drive to work in during the week and hit the strip on Friday night. I want to keep the kit below 2 grand. I wont be using NO2, but boost may be an option in the future. I I have a few questions though:
1) Will the stock heads support the 383 cu in?
2) With plans for possible boost or NO2 in the future, what is an acceptable compression ratio in these cars? No more than 10 PSI on boost.
3) I know I will need to have the computer tuned, how much does this cost?
4) Do most guys go internally balanced or external with these stroker kits?

 

1. Stock LT1 heads flow about 195-205 CFM. Not enough for a healthy LT1. You can have them ported close to 300CFM if that's your goal.

2. For a blower, look at 9.0-9.5:1. For nitrous, stock (10.5:1) and higher.... 11.0-12.0:1 is possible, depending on the cam you select, and the quality of fuel you can get. You have to decide up front whether you are building for forced induction or for nitrous.

3. A mail order tune might cost you $150. A real dyno tune could cost anywhere from $200-500.

4. Doesn't really make a difference whether you go internal or external. Internal can get expensive, depending on the amount of weight you need to add.

 

Thanks a lot. Are these compression numbers with stock type pistons or billet internals? I think my goal of getting a stroker kit for under 2 grand might be unreasonable. Are there any budget 383 kits anyone on this forum have used? Internally or externally balanced, I want to hear about both and total cost.