Thanks for the continued great advice, it is much appreciated. Without help like you guys I would have ended up building a pos in the end probably. I have a few months to wait unfortunetly, but I plan on having her going by august (my 21st birthday )

Oh btw, sorry for the n00b question but im a little confused on one subject...

I was under the impression that the LE3 heads were a port "option" to be done to the stock LT1 heads, are LE3 heads their own brand of heads??

 

I would personally go with a good set of forged "I" beam rods.. They tend to be lighter and in many cases stronger.. I would also step up to a 6" rod over the 5.7" You will get less rod angularity and could possibly free up a couple hp this way.

I would also go with a forged crank, and/or pistons (at the very least get forged pistons) Good piece of mind.. The new motor being built for my car is going to be fully forged.. I personally think that the extra money is worth the piece of mind...

You should be fine either way depending on the quality of work that the machine shop does for you. These are the changes I would make to a 383 that I was building from the setup you listed. But for 400rwhp, you honestly should be fine.. but if you do keep everything cast, you will just have to think about limiting the RPM's to no more than 6k when choosing cam profiles.

Just my $.02 and good luck with the build!

 

All of Lloyds heads are using stock castings. They are customer supplied castings. I would think, if something were to happen, he would be able to round up a head or so, but generally you would send your stock castings and he would do the work to them. As you pick different stages, they wil flow more and have more "work" done to them. Also look at the hardware he is using. 918 beehives, titanium retainers, etc. it is different and he does work with you on different combo's based on your goals.

Hypereutictic pistons are fairly decent these days.At the minimum these should be used. If you are going to spray the motor, then you better have forged pistons to take the abuse.Nothing looks nastier than a big *** hole burned thru the piston from detonation.