I am insulted ..

 

the problem with engine building and tuning and head work, you gotta go to the racers. they know how its done, the guys i know that do some of the work for me, dont have actual engine shops or head porting facilities, but they do have over 15years exp. in the field at least and all sorts of tricks and knowlege on the matter. actually there is a local porter here that doesawesome work for all sorts of racecars

 

I've heard nothing but good things about Jim Richmond..
He built a blown 383 for my friends 57 chev that dynoed 802.5hp on pump gas.
He also built Ray's 5L mustang motor which consistantly runs a 200 shot of n2o. He hit 10.9 last year.

 

Didn't he build Houman's motor?

 

jim built houmans motor .. AND mike (the rock)'s as well ... mine's has yet to prove itself worthy .. and houmans motor wasnt a very expensive performance piece .. so i still dont know who im gonna get to do my motor in the .. future ...

 

Welcome back Erik!

Jim is good, I've only heard of 1 engine he built having issues (blowby), and he pulled it apart and reassembled the whole thing for pretty much part costs.

Oh I talked to your Bro last week, he called from Japan, surprised the heck outta me.

 

Who gives a **** who can or can't build LT1s or LS1s. Thats not what Erik was asking. He was talking about older small blocks

I would talk to Richmond Engines or Burnaby High performance. Both will do a great job.

 

I had my motor built by Richmond. I can say with confidence that he's a great guy to deal with. Although, I did have a case of miscommunication with him, and I'll take responsibility for that myself.
When I went to him, I knew hardly anything about motors, or different setups. I knew the basics but that's it. Since my car's a daily driver, I asked him to build me something with good power, very reliable, and streetable. I gave him a budget ($5000) and gave him my motor. I'm not complaing about it at all
I've found it really strong, and I had no issues with it from the minute I put it in. Check him out @ Jim Richmond

I vote for Jim Richmond.

Oh yeah, as for programming/tuning the LT1's. Not too put him on to high of a pedastal, but the first time I met Payam and he tuned my car for me, I was very impressed. The guy has no life, but I think he can tune an LT1 for you pretty damn good.

 

Sorry Payam, I was just stating that we are yet to see a stroker or blown stroker LT1 or LS1 run good times and HP with a local tuner, without having to go with a costly DFI style setup that still can't be tuned.

I would like to be proven wrong with SBains' motor. It would be sweet to see a healthy NA LT1 stroker tuned properly. I would really like to see the results.

As a note to Erik, getting back to the original post. I just read in the latest Super Chevy magazine that GMPP has released a crate 383 stroker. With ported "fast burn" heads and a Holley style EFI the motor put out 560 hp. Not bad for a crate small block you can buy from GM with a factory warranty!!! Might want to look into it, I know I am for my '69.

 

I have yet to see a blown or stroker LT1 without fuel issues to tune .. hey .. there is no fuel coming !! let me work my magic and get it running right and a blown setup will never be tuned RIGHT with the stock PCM .. its not possible to get it dead on ... simply due to the fact that all the stock sensors max out .. and u have to tune blind ... its doable .. but u should at least have ur fuel issues resolved ...

and SBains's motor aint no stroker

running good times on the other hand has NOTHING to do with tuning the driver needs to be tuned for a good ET

 

I consider myself an excellent tunner, I have found many many tricks in LT1 edit that most don't know, mainly cuz thats all I do at school is think about my car/tunning how everything works.

Jim Richmond, hmm.. Houmans motor was rebuilt 3 times, & in the end there is still a small issue..

Shaun is right, the best way to go is a crate/are/mti motor, none of this crap where you can easily get ripped off like Sbains, thats why I don't like the locals.

ps. So far I've only heard good things about Pro Performance as far as power goes, but reliability yeah lets not go into all those motors that crashed & burned cuz of their heads

 

In all honesty some of you guys are on crack

The problem with a lot of you guys here is the fact that you claim too know way too damn much and hardly now anything.


Richmond is a great guy to deal with and have had absolutely now issues with him what so ever. Funny how the guys that talk the most smack are the guys that are running cam head motors. In all honesty boys some of you need to have your head cheacked. Houmans engine was touched up several times but for issues that most of you obvioulsly have no clue about whatsoever. Also on that topic Richmond was supportive and helped Dave out with everything for all the problems Hell they let him use there shop to pull the motor out.



Payam as far as proving myself. You go off on stuff you have no understanding of whatsoever. What is proving myself by the way sure my motor didnt put down the massive HP first time round on the dyno hell , How long did i have my motor done before i dynoed it. How many little issues did i have with tuning etc, bad lifters other self inflicted issues. Just wait until you have to go through half of the work i have had to do on my car and see if everything is as easy as you pretend it too be.

As for proving itself that will be soon enough.



All I am saying guys is spend the money else where boys for all i care. I am sticking with local and with the confidence of knowing if something pops in my motor it doesnt have to be shipped too houston and dealt with over the phone. As far as Richmoind goes they are one of the top engine builders in Canada and there reputation is well heard of in the US. Trust me they can build a motor.

Later
Mike

 

That would be the misunderstanding that I was talking about
Thanks for spilling the beans for me Payam

Anyways, like I said before, I didn't know half of what I do now, and that ain't much either. I just got excited about what Jim was talking about. After he priced out a 396 for me, and I finished picking up my jaw off of the ground, I told him that what I was looking for was something like a 383 and here's my budget. He told me, no problem, I'll build you a motor for that price based on what your requirements were. One of those requirements was reliability. As a result. he didn't build me a 383 due to tuning and other issues, including $$$$$.
Stupid me, and yes I am very embaressed about this, so no need to rub it in (yes,even the brightest make mistakes ) I walked away, all exited like a little kid. Had no idea what I was getting! But.....That was my fault, not Richmonds.



And I agree with Mike. Richmond will help you out and will take time out to make sure everything is OK. And the other great thing about him , is that he'll always take time to answer any questions that you have afterwards

 

yo mike man .. dont get all offensive on me .. i NEVER said anything to put richmond down .. all i said is that .. ur motor did a crappy job on the dyno last time (actually i didnt even said that, u brought that up urself) and said it has yet to prove itself ... i have no doubts that it will .. but it has yet to ... not saying it wont so dont get all offended bud

 

Don't be embarassed Sandeep.... we've all had cases where we expected one thing and ended up with another. But I am curious what you ended up with. A 355?

Whatever it is you have, it's surely stronger then a stock LT1 and thus has the potential for serious power