O.K. so here's the deal I am planning on rebuilding my LT-1 and I am leaning towards boreing it .030 over and using LE2 heads and cam ported intake and 58mm TB. Would it be ok to use a stock rebuild kit for the bottom made for the bore and what not? The use of the engine is mostly for weekend drives and the occasional strip run.


Just curious for some input looking for 400-450 hp @ flywheel but I want to keep the bottom end pretty stock.

 

You can certainly re-use the stock crank and rods, if that's what you mean provided they are in good shape. I would have the crank Magnafluxed and if it's good, polish the journals and you will be good to go. Obviously, you will need 30 over pistons in the configuration needed to get your desired compression ratio. Most likely that means flat-tops with valve reliefs, and there are many many good choices for that configuration. I am pretty familiar with the LT1, let me know if you have more questions.

Rich

 

Get a set of Mahle pistons and you will be good. They are still the best deal out there and are floating pistons which make assembly easier. I'd still recommend forged rods since they are so cheap, but that's up to you. In the least you need to replace the stock rod bolts with ARP pieces and they have to be pressed in and therefore the rods should be resized. After all that, you're halfway to getting forged I-beams.

 

I bought a new block and built it up and decided to go ahead and rebuild my old block. I ended up getting the Mahle .030 pistons and went with stock rods and crank. I did the ARP bolt upgrade and had to have the rods resized. My shop got the bolts for $30 bucks and resized the rods for $10 a piece. I had the crank polished for $35 bucks. All of these prices included cleaning and pressing the new pins into the rods. So $145 bucks to reuse all of the stock componets is alot cheaper than buying new pieces. And the stockers are good up to 600HP and maybe even more with the new ARP bolts. I ended up spending $1,120 on everything to rebuild the bottom end and getting the block ready to sell. I will be posting the short block to sell soon if interested.

 

The crank maybe, but the stock rods even with the ARP bolts shouldn't be pushed much past 450 crank hp if at all.

 

Why do you say that? They are pretty decent rods. Anyway, rod bolts have little to do directly with any hp limits. The stress on them is primarily related to rpm and piston weight.

 

They are decent rods, but with heavier pistons and higher RPM, you should invest in some forged rods. That's all I'm saying. It's your motor, do what you want. My motto is: Build it once, build it right. That doesn't mean you have to use the highest quality parts, but don't build it to marginally meet your expectations. Include what we engineers call a "factor of safety."

 

understood, but it's surprising what you can get away with, and it may make sense when $$$ are tight. David Vizard once did some tests with nitrous on a carefully built SBC using OEM quality parts. He wanted to see how much hp he could make before breaking something. He got it to over 1,000hp before the block cracked.

Rich

 

I'm not sure how many motors will be built this way, though. I have heard of that motor, too.

 

Thanks alot guys I really appreciate the input. This is why I love this forum you always get more than one opinon.

 

Any recomendations for piston brands? The Mahle pistons are over my price range, was considering maybe Keith Black, Sealed Power Speed Pro series. Any opinons on strong affordable pistons in the $200-300 range will greatly appricated

 

Nothing wrong with Speed-Pro. The "Power Forged" is about $275/set. Not bad for a decent forged piston!. Their HE is even less.

Rich

 

Thanks alot Rich I was hoping that there was another piston out there that was affordable yet durable

 

Rich, you wouldn't happen to have a link to that article, would you?

 

No, it was long time ago. I remember it because it confirms by bias! His point (obviously) wasn't to recommend that you build a 1,000hp small block with stock parts. Just to see how much they could take.