Yo

I was thinking... lets say you find a great deal on Formula, everything checks out but the engine... actually, the engine does run good and strong at that. Full exhaust, nice clutch, older tranny... How much would it cost if the engine died and you wanted to replace it with a brand new LT1 engine? Would it worth the trouble, effort, money, and time? Because I am not sure how abbusive the driver was on the car I want, but I was thinking, even if he did abbse it, I can always replace the engine... couldn't I? And how much is it to replace a tranny with a performance once, or just a better one at that.

I know these questions suck and are dumb, but sorry... :-/

 

Biggest thing I'd be looking at here would be how well the rest of the car has held up. How's the interior, body, undercarrage, etc...?

It's probably cheaper to rebuild what you've got than buy a totally new engine. Do you plan to buy a stock LT1 or go with a built engine package? I'm not sure what kind of performance 6 speeds are available, the stock one is pretty strong. If you want to convert to an auto, you can get a performance 4l60e or a th400, but those are a waste if the engine doesn't require it.

 

Yo

Well, if it would be easier, then I would buy a performance package for it, instead of going back to the 275 stock hp engine. Would the performance package really give it more hp and torque? Or is there multiple options and like countless setups you can choose so you can basically choose how much hp you want the engine to have?

By the way, how do you like your Star Spec 3 Clutch? I am looking for a new clutch, and not sure if I should go Mcleod Single Disk or Star Spec 2.

 

The clutch works great, feels like a stocker until you dump it and it just grabs instead of spinning.

There are many, many, many different setups you can go with more better hp/tq. How fast can you afford?

It's definately easier to buy a package deal, all the guess work is done for you and most of the engines are dyno tested to ensure they measure up. Only downside to this is the cost, a good shortblock version is usually $4000+ while a whole engine (heads, cam, intake, etc...) can be upwards of $10,000. Depends on how much bling you can swing. Rebuilding is a little more difficult in that you have to match your parts and you aren't really guaranteed the results you want. In some cases it is cheaper than a new engine, in others, it could be more expensive. Just depends on what you want to do.

 

Yo

10K?! Holy crap!! haha

Well, lets say I were to rebuild it... to a more performance, just to make it more sturdy, stronger, longer lasting, etc... like pistons and that crap. Connecting Rods and all the good stuff ya know? You think i'll still hit the 4000$ mark? I mean, I know its a pretty bill for a rebuild, but I just want the car to run again if it dies. Not make it a drag king.

 

you can rebuild the short block (355) for under a grand if your careful. the crank can be reused, the rods can be too. if you want new rods you can get eagle rods from e bay. id recomend forged pistons, sometimes you can pick them up barely used, i got a set for sale , thats if you do the work yourself, is you get it assembled then probably under 2k at a local shop when its all said and done.

 

Yo

haha, thanks... thats what i'm talking about baby... haha

 

Yeah, have the block prepped (new freeze plugs, bearings, hot tanked, and bored/honed) and use the same crank and rods with a good set of forged pistons. Get the heads ported and polished with a nice cam, some new lifters, pushrods, and rockers. Then have the PCM recalibrated. Easily under $4000. What I was talking about was doing a stroker engine where you have to clearance the block and use totally new parts.

 

New LT1 motors are not available, so it's not an option. Of course, the existing motor can be rebuilt.

Rich Krause

 

What about the crate LT1's that GM sells?

 

88894196 Not sure what this is then?

$4,895

DESCRIPTION: ENGCLT1GW

Sure about that Rich (I am not)? Just saying that my local dealer didn't say it was unavailable about 3 weeks ago when I inquired about this p/n. My cars restoration/repair project is over $3,000 now and I was wondering if I should have just done whole assy.

Later
Sean

 

i just had a motor built for my car which is a O.E rebuild.. needed a new crank,4 rods and 4 piston's not to mention the oil pan and the other lil b.s.. heads redone all in all cost me 1700bux for it.. So i'm sure you can get it cheaper.. but i just went and had the thing balanced/blueprinted and stuff.. nothing fancy though...

 

Semantics maybe, but AFAIK these must be remans, not "new". I'd be interested to know if they are in fact "new". But to the best of my knowledge, GM stopped making LT1/4 blocks when the C5 came out. IOW, as soon as they stopped putting them in new cars. There were some left over motors, but once those were sold there were no more.

Rich Krause

 

Yo

So you paid 1700$ for a fresh start with your LT1 engine? Man thats awesome... That sounds kind of cheap though... ripping apart the block and all that crap. But whatever, its still under 3k which is better than under 4k!!

What if I wanted to put a different/better engine in there? Say the LT1 or whatever else could fit thats more efficient? Is there even anything out there?

 

I looked into buying a new LT1 last spring and was told they build them based on a special order, one at a time. It was really expensive (I thought way more than $5K, more like $12K ) Of course that was the dealership - and they didn't offer the info that it was reman. engine - so maybe it was.