what are some opinions on the top engine (360 hp). has anyone purchased this, or know anyone who has?
http://www.golenengineservice.com/html/lt1_lt4.html

 

Golen has a good reputation with their engines, only complaint is that they are a little expensive.

 

Thats not a lot of power, i'm sure thats just flywheel hp. i bet thats just a stock headed motor with a small cam like a hot cam. I'd much rather buy a block or something from VRE and then get a set of heads ported to slap on. It would cost a little more than the golen but you'd make a lot more power.

 

Golen has a great reputation. Very good quality workmanship. That's a great price for a long block. Notice that you get 4 bolt mains with that long block and it's the budget long block. No core charge either. That price is lower than any other popular LT1 builder for what you get. I'm an engine builder (Ellwein Engines) and cannot come close to Chad Golen's pricing. Golen specializes in LT1 motors and has refined the assembly and parts selection to perfection.

If you want more power look at getting a Golen short block and then add your favorite heads cam. Golen will put your heads and cam on a short block for no additional charge if you decide to go with Lloyd Elliot or Advanced Induction.

Karl Ellwein

 

Man, a built 383 LT-1 for 5599 is pretty good. (not that that's what you're looking at) There's guys on here that have spent well over that on their projects and that's starting out with their own block. I'd say that there's some pretty decent pricing in there.

 

I thought it looked like a pretty good deal. Its actually what ive been looking for. Might sound crazy to some, but I dont want more than 400 flywheel hp, b/c im on a budget, so I dont want to have to keep spending money on upgrades, and broken parts. I want a 12 second reliable street car, that I can take to the track every once in a while. My nova is another story

 

Their power ratings are flywheel with ZERO accessories(not even WP), ZERO intake or exhaust restriction. He is being completely honest, it is most of you who fail to understand what he is telling you.

His heads suck in a big way the shortblocks are fine.
He has a couple b-body customers with 383s speced at like 420-440hp putting 32Xhp to the tires that is the drivetrain, intake, exhaust and accessory losses pulling the number down. Before you argue that consider many times people say 20% for drivetrain losses and that is somewhat well accepted add just 5% more for accessory, intake and exhaust losses then multiply 440x75%=330. Bet a bone stock LT1 dynoed like his longblocks are would dyno 360.

I will say again he does just fine building shortblocks, the point I am trying to make is most of you fail to understand the HP ratings he offers and how to compare them to the numbers you see here day to day.
I will even say I know someone with a Golen competition 383 shortblock in a porkier than average Impala that goes low 11s on the bottle, Karl should know who I mean.

 

I understand what you are saying, but if he puts it on an engine dyno, with it being an lt1, wouldnt he use the drivetrain, or ignition that we would use? I dont know a lot about engine dynos. Also, why are his heads bad? and what cam is that that comes in the package?

 

Because his heads are stock. Also they don't hook the engine up to any drivetrain they just slap the motor on the dyno and run it. I'd say that 360 hp motor is going to be slightly better than stock as far as hp goes once its in the car.

 

Golen's heads are not bad. They are just not fully ported. They get a good valve job and a pocket port which is way better than a stock unported head.

I like how Golen tells the gods honest truth and does not exaggerate. With his stuff you’ll get good quality at a good price. For more power you can always work with Golen on the heads and cam selection. But that motor is built to be a mild upgrade over stock and it pretty much delivers on that. It’s a good choice for a replacement LT1-350.

Karl

 

Great support from Golen

 

Looks like the compression is upped by 3/5 of a point. Maybe that's where the little extra power comes from. Does that motor have the stock cam in it? If the heads had bigger valves and were pocket ported, wouldn't he say that or have some flow numbers? It's not a bad price, though. You need to call them up and find out all the specs of the engine. Then, run back and tell us.

 

The description makes it appear to have an itty bitty cam in it, only slightly larger than stock.

If you want to go that route just tell him to put a different cam in it, you can make great power with stock heads and a decent cam. Hell, even a cc503 would do the trick nicely... took me to 112 mph traps in an auto on stock heads!

 

The LINK to the 350/360 long block specs

And no I don't work for Golen but I know a good value when I see it.

Karl

 

I can tell you right now, Chad is GREAT. Engines are nice. I'll let oyu know when my finally gets going, i think my mechaninc may not fully understand what he is doing. However for the price,it's a great engine. i believe GM wants in the 5's for that engine.

Here are links to my Golen Engine Install:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eT7LdV5tKs4

there is a whole series of these videos on YouTube, all titled The Black bandit.


However i will caution you because i learned from this experience,my Z is a 94
Had to get a vented Opti for the Golen Engine, and had to by a New piece of the Harnes that plugs into the Vented Opti. the old Opti Harness connection is a different length than the vented Opti

I'll let you know how it goes.some how two pushrods got either bent or broken in the new engine, but i dont think it was Golens Fault. he did ship two new ones out over night.