I seriously considering doing a heads and cam package on my LT1. The motor is stock with about 112,000 miles on it. I want to go with an AFR LT4 head and XE cam grind setup. Do I need to do some sort of rebuild or refreshening before I do H/C on an engine with this amount of mileage? If so, how much would it cost.
The ingition system is all fresh.

 

if you had the time and alittle extra money it would not be a bad idea, but the engine would probly be ok for a while more.
if you did freshen the engine all you would probly need to do is hone the block, replace the bearings, rings, seals and may as well change the timing chain to and the freeze plugs. and any other things that seem about to go (leaking water pump ect)

 

Honing the block would require engine removal though, wouldn't it? I know I can change the timing chain will the motor is in the car, but what else would I be able to do? I really don't want to pull the motor.

 

well, you can change the engine bearings with the engine in the vehicle but it would probly be easyer to pull the engine to do that. it seems back in the 60s or at least before my time it was common practice to repalce engine bearings once and a while with the engine in the car, today I dont know of any one that replaces bearings in the vehicle. so probly just change the timing chain and sprockets. what ever you do try to keep everything as clean as posible when removing or installing the heads, cam ect.
do not use any abrasive wheels to clean gasket serfaces or sand paper ect, as most of that abrasive material will remain in the engine and damage it. some people spin bearings after head and cam installs most lilky because of dirt and abrasives entering the engine. I would also switch to a good synthetic such as redline

 

If you don't want to pull the motor, you can't freshen it up. I would just slap the heads and cam on there and enjoy. Fate will most likely give you no choice but to pull the motor later. It's hard to say how long it will last, but the thing could blow if you do nothing to it. I'd say you could get another easy 20,000miles+ with proper installation.

 

It just seems like it would be an extremely complicated task to pull the whole motor. Well, that would be a good time to replace my torque converter, but I just don't know if I could handle something like that. I guess I'm going to have to do a lot of research on this.
Just how hard is it to pull the motor?

 

by the time the heads come off theres not much more to take off before the engine can come out. disconnect trans, some hoses, wires, ofcorse once you pull the engine I bet your going to say ohh hell I may as well put a stroker crank in it

 

Ahh, don't say that! One of the reasons my engine is basically stock now is because I always want to do things once, and do it right. But, that means that I can never afford to do anything. Maybe I'll hold off on installing the torque converter until I install the heads. Then I'll have the heads off, and the tranny disconnected anyway. I'll have to just live with my stock crank for now.

But, ya know, maybe some new pistons for nitrous.....No! No! (slaps myself)

 

IMO it's easier to drop the engine out the bottom than to pull it out the top. Less to remove that way..

A buddy and I had his engine ready to drop out in like two or three hours...

Back to your original question, it would be safest to go ahead and do at least a stock rebuild IMO. Once you remove the heads, the block will change shape slightly. It's been torqued for 112,000 miles in a certain position, and now you're going to release that torque, and then retorque it. Not to mention, the stock rings and bearings were designed to make as much power as you're talking about with 112,000 miles on the clock.

If you can afford it, rebuild it.

An even better idea is to get a stock block (probably $150 or so) and an engine stand and piece together an engine. Then just drop the old one out, and put the new one in. Minimal downtime for just a little more expense. You can do it on a budget, and as you have the cash that way. Then it's done right the first time.

 

The problem with that is that I'd have to wait to get the old engine out before I could transfer the pistons rods and crank.

Out of curiosity, if I wanted to spray a 150 shot, on top of these ported 195 AFR LT4 heads with an XE cam, would the stock rods and or pistons be able to handle that?

 

If it's a wet shot, maybe. I don't see a dry 150 shot on top of ported heads and a cam running for too long on a truly stock bottom end.

Forged pistons with the stock rods and crank should be ok though.

 

I would definitely be running a wet shot. Hmm, so maybe some cheapy forged pistons would work? See, this is what I'm talking about. These heads and intake are going to end up collecting dust in my garage like my torque converter and headers. Hey, at least the headers will be easy to install also with the engine (or at least the heads) out.

 

If your truly on a budget either do like someone said and pick up a used shortblock and build it as time and money allows or just slap the heads on. Cause if not you'll get the well I might as well do this and if I'm gonna do that then damn might as well do etc etc, it is never ending. Ask some people on here if they were just going to do a basic rebuild, did it turn out to be basic. It's also called the fever.