Car is running strong right now. It only has 80,000 miles on a 1994. Has CAI, catless 3" Exhaust into dumped bullet from the manifolds back, madtuner.com tune, and a built 4l60e. She runs 13.2's all day long on drag radials.

Anywho, I was thinking about running a fully forged motor made for a 125-150 shot when the engine lets go down the road. Been doing a ton of research and a long time lurker of this forum.

My delima is that I will be pretty much forced to daily drive a heads/cam car because I will be forced to drop a loan for the engine build and wont be able to afford insurance on two cars, and payments on a engine and a car. My original plan was to do a le2 forged 355 but I learned it wouldn't really cost that much more to upgrade to a 383 if I was going fully forged. But I was wondering...

1. Would a le2 setup be to much for a stalled daily driver? I would go with le1, but it just seems to mild for my taste.

2. Would there be any major advantages with running a le2 head/le1 cam over a run of the mill le1?

3. How much horsepower difference is there between a le1.5 cam and le2?

I'm rather split on all of this. I'm sure lloyd and bret would point me in the right direction when the time comes, but I just wanted the communities outlook.

 

Depending on what you can tolerate as a dd, I'd say an LE2 383 wouldn't be too much. You would definitely need some street tuning, but it could be a comfortable car to drive.

 

I would suggest not pulling a loan out, because you will be paying at least as much as you would on a loan on the small things and such to always get it running better/right. No offense meant, but you would be surprised how much stuff you find out you need later, or how much stuff breaks and needs replacement, or how much stuff just requires a lot of money to finetune.

Sorry if you took this the wrong way but once you build it, it doesnt stop costing money.

 

No offense taken. I know how it is, but a small loan wouldn't kill me. When the tranny went out I was throwing the idea around in my head to sell it and get a 02 WRX. It would have been a nice price gap between the lt1 and the wrx and being forced to pay full covorage on a newer car...I decided against it. I went ahead and paid the 1,000 to get a built 4l60e rebuild. I got a good deal. I've added the numbers in the head only about a half a million times and I should come out pretty well off, with out worry.

 

QFT!!

 

why would you do a fully forged 383 and only spray 125-150? you can spray 150 on a stock bottom end... You should be thinking more along the lines of 250-300 . and the LE/AI issue has been beat to death. its all in who you like to deal with/your goals/budget

 

Because I could spray that much, but it would still be my DD and I would still have a 10 bolt on it for the time being..

 

I snapped 2 10 bolts with just a cam and near 350rwhp...hah

That is some deal you got on the 4l60e, got any others laying around for that price? Id buy it right now. The 383 I am very happy with, just dont underdo it with the heads, I did. I only have LE1 heads and I already want to upgrade the heads... just not enough flow for a built 383. I built mine for a 300shot of nitrous, so if I sprayed up to a 200shot I should be fine right?

That was my philosophy, dont know if I will ever even spray a 200shot, but I should be able to (with slicks and new fuel pump and nitrous safety stuff)

Good luck with your build, hope things go together well!

 

If you just want a DD and are only going to spray 125-150 then why bother with spending the money on forged? you arent going to be able to spray a 383 with 150 and expect to keep that 10 bolt. NA, yup the 10 bolt will be fine behind the auto but spraying the 383 might be bushing the limits of the 10bolt. you figure your 383 should put down 400+ and itll be a great in the TQ dept. add in a 150 shot and expect to see broke teeth.

If I was you I would forge the 383 like you want, leave the Nitrous out for now, build a 12bolt THEN spray 200-300. since you want to keep it DD I dont think risking breaking the 10bolt is a wise desiscion.

 

Ya but your M6, Ive been through 3 10bolts myself 2 with a stock lt1's/TPI's and one with H/C LT1. finally smartened up and put a 9" in there. but Autos are MUCH easier on the rears, that is untill you start spraying them.

 

So what Heads/cam should I go with? I don't mind lopyness at all, I infact love it. I just don't want something that would be a PITA to drive on the highway or to drain gas down like crazy. I know milage is going to go down a bit, but I still need to get places. What exactly is Bret's 1.5 cam? Is there a significant power difference in a LE2 cam? I've heard a person or two with that cam wish they went ahead and did a Le2 cam after it was done. How is Le2 heads with le1 cam? Hmm..decisions decisions.

The tranny rebuild is done by a local guy here in Springfield, MO. I got a tranny cooler, modified valve body, shift kit, hardened clutch packs on all gears and extra on 3-4, performance bands, 2400 stall, etc with a 6 month warranty. The guy isn't that popular per say..but he does has a 9 second mustang and a twin turbo DOHC northstar in a 4 seater dune buggy.

 

just by a LT1 block and build it while you are driving your car that way when it goes you have a motor ready to go with 80K if its well taken care of you have a long way to go before the motor is done. blocks are easy to find and cheap 100-300 is the usual cost then build from there.

 

Yeah I know I got a while to go..but just trying to plan ahead and do my research. Never hurts.

 

I agree w/ having an engine on the engine stand. Worked for me, wasnt 2 months before I had to put it in the car. Just build it up piece by piece on the stand and go from there.