Stroker or different block

[Kalebbrock]

Bought a 01 trans am 80k found out it had bad piston rings sucks so at the moment I have the block stripped all the way down and not sure what the best route is from here I have 5k to spend on parts should I stroke it or get a different block if I do stroke it what's a combo for heads cam and stroker kit in the 5k range

[SMWS6TA]

First thing is to have the block checked. LS1's can't be bored out too much. Just a little more than a hone. The piston sleeves are not too thick. Not only needs checking for boring but to see if the rings have scratched the piston cylinder wall. Too deep and the only way to salvage the block is to re-sleeve it, which will cost more than what the block is worth.


Now Options -

1) do what I said and see if the block is ok, if so there are several 383 stroker kits out there that includes the crank, pistons and rods for about $1500-1800.

2) Budget build (you do the work yourself if you can) - Look for a 6.0 liter block, LQ4 (99-04) or LQ9. Plenty out there and cheap to get. Not saying mines the norm but I picked up mine for $325. Most go around $600 for short block, and $1200 for long block. Now build up..you 364 (stock), 402, 403, 408 builds.

364 - stock bore, stock crank and pistons. LQ4 pistons are dish so compression is around 9.4, LQ9 pistons are flat top and compression is around 10.4ish
402 - stock bore, 4" stroker crank, stock pistons, rods 6.125"
403 - cyl bore 4.005", 4" stroker crank, pistons 4.005", rods 6.125"
408 - cyl bore 4.030", 4" stroker crank, pistons 4.030", rods 6.125"

Each build has it's own unique cost. I just gave you the basics, also there is more info on how to pick a LQ motor. Newer than 04' and you'll have to covert the reluctor wheel to 24x.

3) crate engine - everythings done, think plug and play with tuning. Several companies have them within your price range.


Here is a link to several recent builds. 2 of us have 6 liter builds and the other is a E85 build. It should give you and idea on what it takes to do it yourself.


http://www.ls1.com/forums/f7/engine-...3/#post2893742

[Kalebbrock]

Thanks man very helpful! I will definetly get it looked at what advantages and disadvantages are there with the different compression ratios?

[SMWS6TA]

With force induction you need lower compression, with Natural Aspiration builds the higher the compression the more HP you build. E85 builds yield 20-30% more HP over NA however besides fuel, the required mods needed make it expensive.

Need to ask yourself what kinda of car do you want. DD, street, track or show. Each build has it's pro's and cons. Plus you can combo them. Some are great while others not so great on the wallet.


Most guys here are going to tell you build the car to support the power you are looking for. Meaning build up the rear, suspension & tranny then motor. Reason being you can have all the HP in the world but if you can't put it to the pavement all your doing is smoking tires. Our 10 bolts suck, even with mild bolt ons a hard launch can break it with slicks. Food for thought.

If you want a show car then hp is not the main goal, street and track are very close, main difference is what is driveable to you. Some guys careless about mpg.

[Decadence75]

I second the 6.0 route. I am in the process of doing a 408 iron block build myself. You could part out that LS1 and make some additional money to go toward the stroker. You could probably get away with 5K if you will be using the stock heads/top end off the LS and doing all the work yourself. I will be investing in some aftermarket heads and a FAST intake setup on mine and so far the estimated costs are around 8-9K. I was fortunate enough to buy a complete LQ4 on the cheap and once I parted everything out the block was essentially free.

[98TransAmWs-6]

Thanks man very helpful! I will definetly get it looked at what advantages and disadvantages are there with the different compression ratios?

I am building a 421 Lq9 with around 15:1 compression I am familar with high compression but not so much the benefits of lower compression than stock other than it is good for turbos and supercharger set ups. The main advantages of higher compression are:
More hp, broader power band and more work to be done in a shorter amount of time which results in more power and torque. The disadvantaged would he the need for higher octane fuels (depending how high) and fuel system upgrades as well as a specially designed cam to take advantage of the added compression and open the exhaust valve sooner which results in a lot of power being added.

This is a more detailed explanation that was explained me:

"When you have a very high compression engine, opening the exhaust valve earlier than you would with a lower compression engine is a huge power adder. With a low compression engine, pressure in the cylinder does not drop nearly as quickly as it does in a high compression engine. Because of this, we hold the exhaust valve closed longer and open it later on a low compression engine. Since the pressure drops very slowly we can utilize that lower drop in pressure longer to put more torque to the crank.

In a high compression engine, more work is put to the piston much sooner on the power stroke. More work can be done to the piston in much less time(crank degrees) in a high compression engine than a low compression engine. You can put way more pressure and torque to the crank much sooner in the power stroke. This accomplishes more work, and the benefit to this is we can now open the exhaust valve sooner to carry power at the top of the operating range further making more top end power and not losing any bottom end. The downside to keeping the exhaust valve closed longer with a high compression engine is pressure in the cylinder drops much quicker. Although you may think you're putting more pressure to the crank longer since there is more pressure, you're really not. Which wastes top end power that could be made."

Hopefully this helps in regards of high compression. 11:1 is really the limit of pump gas unless you are using e85 but if you do high compression that requires e85 or race gas, it would pretty much blow that budget out of the water, more like 3x that or more depending on your choices, I have close to that if not over in mine so far (engine only, not counting other upgrades) and I am not done yet.