I'm thinking about finding a junkyard LT1 block and rebuilding it big time. I want to build a monster for my 95 but its my daily driver and the engine has 44,000 miles. I'd rather buy an engine and build it while I drive my Z then drop it in when I'm finished, and if I blow it up I'm not screwed. I don't want to do a boosted engine because I don't have the money for that. So what do you think, make a bolt on 350, or 383 stroker?

 

h/c 355?

 

Speaking from personal experience. It is so much better and more enjoyable to work on a motor on the side while still having a daily driver, than it is to try to pull off quick projects during days off while its still on the road. Build that motor you wont regret it.

But again speaking from experience build a car from the rear forward. I've blown two rears and 1 trans already before I finally spent the money on a good trans.

 

How much power are you looking for? What kind of budget do you have? Goals?

 

Do It..

 

Well if you want a bolt on 350 I would just work with what you have.
However, if you are doing more than bolt ons, i.e. Cam/bore a block/port heads I would say get the second motor ready to drop in. Also, if you arent just looking for the thrill of actually building it yourself then look at some crate motors.

 

Looking for 380-420hp. Could this be done with h/c/i on a spare LT1 block with stock bottom end? I have about $3,000 to spend in total for block and performance parts, and like I said I do not want a crate engine or use my original motor because I can't have the car down since its my DD. I'm leaning more towards 350 or bored 355 since I want to leave the bottom end alone.

 

If I find an LT1 for this project and its in a car should I take the PCM too since the build will require a tune? or should I use my PCM I have now? Carputing LLC. is down the street from me they do the LT1 edit tune, so I could just bring it there when I'm done.

 

if you want to do a 355 the stock bottom end will hold up pretty well to your goal of 380-420 hp. With fresh rings and bearings and a hone will take 6500rpms fine.

Look into Llyod Elliot's ported stock castings and custom cams. A le2 setup will do well. Depending on how big of a cam you want your rwhp numbers will be 390-420.

The plus side of building a motor thats not in the car is if your budget runs out your not stuck walking. So whenever you and your wallet can get it done it should only take you a weekend to get it up and running.

 

I don't see any reason why you would rebuild the bottom end and at least not upgrade the pistons. There are other critical parts you should upgrade as well such as the rod bolts, but the bottom end is something you want to build robustly enough to accommodate all future upgrades and be reliable.

 

+1

Build it right the first time, it sucks to have to dig back into everything a couple months down the road just to save a few $$$'s today.

 

+1 here also, you do not want to pull that engine twice. I did my bottom end first + cam, doing my heads when I have more money.

 

Just buy the engine I have for sale, I have a set of ported heads we can work in the deal too.

 

Well, I'd like to leave the crank, but I'd upgrade rods and pistons.

 

That's what I did. The stock crank is pretty stout and better than most cheap cast cranks out there.