I was just looking around for something big in the mod area to shoot for. Is the LT4 kit worth the $2500 or so? or is there something with a better HP to price ratio? (besides N2O)

 

I guess it depends on what you want in terms of drivablity, etc. Ported Lt1s (a good port job) plus a hot cam kit can be had for much less (excluding labor). Throw on some long tubes and you wind up with a nice street/strip combo. JMHO

 

The LT4 heads are only worth it if you plan on getting bigger flow numbers than LT1's could ever possibly provide fully ported. Fully ported LT1 heads have proven to be more than capable of providing sufficient amounts of power for daily driven cars.

.....unless you just got money to burn and want them, go ahead.

 

That kit can be found just over $2000 and provides 425hp. Thats more than any LT1 head/cam kit. It also makes the engine good lookin with that red powdercoated intake and the corvette fuel injector covers. That might not matter to you but i like something that looks good when you open the hood.

 

You can spend the same or a little less than that on ported LT1 heads and a mild cam and make more than your 425 advertised figure, since we're talking crankshaft power here...care to put a wager on it?

 

That 425hp that they claim to produce, also included a custom fuel management system like a FAST setup that they conveniently forget to mention. It will make less than that on the stock PCM, even with tuning. Figure out what you want the car to do, and then start to deal how to get there. If you don't have a good concept about the goals that you want, you'll probably be disappointed. Do a search on the LT4 kit, there have been a lot of folks that tried this to find out that it wasn't all it was cracked up to be. Search is your friend.


-Paul

 

It will be a daily driver, but I take it to the track once a week. I was also considering a hot cam kit.

 

Yep, that 425 is at the crank. Thats about what you get out of a mid size came like the cc306. I'f you're looking to spend 2500, there are MUCH better packages out there, but I guess the LT4 conversion has more potential down the road. For a daily driver, though, you're not going to come near the limits of what stock ported heads can do. Look into getting the stockers ported by Lloyd or AI. For the money for everything you need to do the LT4 kit, you can be putting 400+ to the wheels with one of theirs.

 

I noticed the hot cam kit is an "off highway" cam. what exactly does that mean? and would it be worth doing the hot cam kit or porting the heads first? how much does Lloyd charge to port the heads and how long does it take usually? like i said, its a daily driver, so I would be using mommys car while its being done.

Now, your saying a hot cam kit and ported heads will get 400+ RWHP??? Maybe I'm misunderstanding. That seems like a lot for such a little amount of money. i would be doing the work myself, so i would save a lot of money there, but still...

If I were to do the hot cam, port the heads, plus a cat back, what should i be running with what i have so far for 1/4 mile times about? lower 13's? high 12's?

 

Call Lloyd or Phil at AI and explain what you're looking for. Trying to piece together all this stuff takes experience that you don't have. There's nothing at all wrong with that though, most (certainly myself as well) on here don't either. When it comes to that much $, time, and effort - deal with a pro.

 

Def. was planning on calling Lloyd. I was just wondering if anyone has a similar setup. Your right, I don't have much experiance with chosing cam setups or heads or stuff like that. However, I'm not hesitant one bit in tackling doing the work myself (cept for the actually machining of the heads.) Just got done with an engines class and got done rebuilding a Ford 3.8L 4 weeks before everyone else in my class. They were only doing chrysler 2.0's and 2.2's.

 

I hear ya on tackling the job yourself - that's the way to learn.. It's the way I've done it going all the way back to figuring out how to install a CAI and change plugs. Fast forward to today and I'm (in the middle of) swapping a new short block in!

But when in the $ spending phase of the project, selecting the right parts, etc, that takes experience in order to do it right and get the most out of it. That's where a pro needs to be involved for me. Tuning too, I never got into that part.

 

The Hotcam is definitely not an "off road" cam. Definitely a plug and play cam that will still easily pass emissions.

The Hotcam isn't big enough to hit 400 rwhp. Even w/ ported heads I don't think I've seen more than ~360 or so, give or take a few. If you're looking for 400 rwhp, you're going to need a much bigger cam, like a GM 847.

Low 13's, high 12's are easily obtained with just the Hotcam itself and bolt-on's.

 

If tested in the same manner the stock engine would pretty easily shatter the 350hp mark, heck even the b-body LT1 with the smaller cam would top 350hp.
Red, you have some more research to do, there are a lot of LT1 heads/cam packages that will beat the LT4 stuff. Ported LT1 heads can flow more than as cast LT4s for less money and the HOT cam works but cam technology has come a ways since then and there is lots of room for improvement there too. An LE1 setup will make more power than this and save several hundred dollars and that is just the first stage package from the "budget" vendor he has other packages for more power at a higher price but still lower than the LT4 stuff. Then there are the high dollar guys like AI who can coax even more flow out of LT1 castings yet, at a correspondingly higher price.

IMO the LT4 kit is for those who don't want to or unable to do research, the heads can be good as a starting point if you want more flow than ported LT1 castings can offer, most of us can not make use of that much flow though.