questions on engine rebuild
 

I was going to rebuild my engine(I no its an lt1) but not spend a ton on money. I would like to keep my heads and intake possibly change the tb but not going really big on hp. I was hoping to get about 350-400 range if possible. The engine has over 100,000 on it now. Its a4 has I believe is 323 gears and a 2800 stall the car gos good but lookin for a little more bag for the buck. The engine is completely stock even still has emission crap on it. I have an obd1 programmed ecm in it now and I notice a difference between obd2 stock ecm. Just lookin for some ideas thanks everybody.

I'm assuming you mean 350-400 crank hp not wheel? If you're gonna tear it all down might as well put a decent street friendly cam in there, there's some good options out there for an LT1. Add a 52mm TB, headers/exhaust and maybe roller rockers and you will be making about the power you're looking for. Make sure you have someone who will tune it before you change any internals though.

do u want it fast or do u just want the big hp numbers? u need a better stall and gears thats the number one thing with any automatic.u can add a cam, heads, or any other big hp mods but ur converter is going to hold the car back big time

How much money do you want to spend? Thats the big question.

Problem is to get it running right after the work.

Truthfully, probly cheaper to but the LS motor I have for sale and swap a LS harness. It would gain the power,drive mint and have alot more future potential for more power.

^^^I'd take advantage of the LS that Don is selling. They just behave much better after being modded plus you have that unique aspect of having an LT1 car with an LS1 in it.

I thought swapping to an LS Engine means putting the LS1 front end on as the engine sits too high for the sloped LT1 front end....:confused2:

Also probably means a new ECU and a bunch of wiring changes.....:quagmire:

I would talk with Golen Engines about your plans. I've heard they build nice setups...:mytwocents:

sorry but i strongly disagree with golen. ive seen more then a handful of there junks come apart and there prices are Outrageous!!

Now getting it to run right and money are 2 different things. Go 24X from EFI Connections. it Can be done if your doing most all the work for 1200 bux. sounds like a lot. BUT dumping 3500ish into a decent LT1 rebuild. and then blowing it up cuz no one can tune the fucking thing just seems like a dumb idea.

http://www.eficonnection.com/eficonnection/24x.aspx

if not dont bother with power and LT1 or a rebuild. save up till you can afford ALL that you need. this way you dont get fucked in the end. Thats my 2 cents. after being there and doing that with a car that now makes 385rwhp. and wen i started AFTER almost 10 grand it made 245rwhp.

Well to your point is it more of a Tuning issue vs. the build with the ones that blew up?? I don't see $3K as too bad for a shortblock, but your right without tuning it's gonna blow up no matter what:mariosmile2:

hes not the only one that has hear the stories coming from Golen. If you want to freshen up a LT1 and give it a little more power without losing the drivability of it i personally loved my CC304 cam that i had in my LT1. Ran on a stock tune and the car woke up too. You could even go with comps 305 cam and still be a decent driver. If you wanted to start going into the bigger power for the LT1. gm847 cam and the CC306 cam you'd have to do heads and a lot of work to spin the LT1 to make the power that that cam as. A cheaper alt would be the CC503 cam which has a great idle and can be run on stock heads but once again wont see the full power of it unless you get a good set of flowing heads, 1.6 rockers, ported intake and 58mm tb. All together making power, being able to get it tuned and then the drivability of it goin to a LS1 would be better in the long run. But again its all up to your budget and what you want in the end out of the car.

Say I went this route, what would this cost me in total? I obviously need the 24x kit which is 525, the plug and play wiring harness-850, coil brackets-550 (ouch), coils-200, and coil pigtail connectors-65 which comes to a total of: 2190. Am I missing anything here? I could obviously get used coils for alot cheaper, or buy them from my work, and fab my own mounting brackets, but still thats alot of $$$$. But it would be worth it in the end, how did you do yours pizza?

the motor has just over 100,xxx mi and its had a hard life. im just lookin to freshin the motor and possible get a little more out of it. im not lookin to spend a lot of money,but i want to spend it as wisely as possible. i would like to eventually put an ls engine in it but the cost to do that is a little more than i want to spend right now.what i got to do is start gathering parts so i can do this rebuild this winter. i dont drive the car every day mostly on weekends when i get a chance. im just looking for some ideas for now.

if you buy the coil brackets they come With coils and the coil harnesses. i got my coils for free. i made my own brackets(threaded rod FTW!) and bought a 1998 Z28 ECM and Harness. rewired/made connections longer/shorter as needed. wich was really simple. was done with the Whole ECM swap in a day. Now granted i was putting a 1998 harness in a 1998 car. the interior and fuse box part was easy/ mostly plug and play. But with some knowledge of how to read a schematic/diagram a stand alone harness can be made out of a factory harness in no more then a couple hours. and sense all your gauges besides tach and speedo are just sendor driven and not ECM driven it can ALL be made to work without going the plug and play harness route. Now the harness was a GREAT piece of workmanship and was worth every penny wen i was installing it in Jays car only because it was on shop time. But if i was to do it all over again id still go the factory harness route, only id repin it for a 99+ ecm.:ahhhhhhh:

honestly if the motor isnt making any noise and you want just a little more pep. dont waiste the money on motor work and shit. get a decent stall a set of gears and tires. and then run low 12's like tony has without pulling a valve cover. rwhp means nothing if the car doesnt perform and a stalled auto WILL Move!

Well im not good at reading diagrams lol, I feel like it would be a PITA for my car. Ive been thinkin about this for a while now.

1993 has the simplest wiring harness EVER. theres like 4 wires that matter that come from the engine harness to the interior. and as far as the fuse box goes its Real simple to get power the the right places on the LS1 harness.

I wonder if switching to to the 24x would solve my idle issue........

it will if its the IAC Motor/Wiring. cuz you cant run the 4 pin plug style IAC. it has to be the 1995 and up IAC.

So wait a minute, all that I really need from 24x is a $500 kit?
I can junkyard the rest? Never even considered it cause everyone kept saying it was $1,000 plus...

ahhh yup!!!