Quote:
Originally Posted by DarkStar
Like BoxsterLS376 Said, he went the WAYYY expensive route. 8 Grand For only 480hp, But he got a warranty (ehh, not bad). I love his build and hope to speak to him soon regarding my swap. (Yeah you still haven't responded to me on youtube :'( lol) But as I said earlier, Junkyard 5.3L Cast Iron (80lbs heavier than the aluminum block) or 5.3L Aluminum LS Engines, can produce 450whp with no turbo on them. People are doing it every day in old muscle cars by cam, head work, and some tuning. And thats daily driven reliable. You can pickup Stock LS1's with Transmission, Harness and ECU these days for 1200 bucks from Trans Ams, Camaro's, GTO's.
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Ahh yes I remember seeing your post on Youtube but to be honest I don't have time to respond to things in more then one place which is why I redirect people here to ask questions! I don't recall your exact comment but based on your statement think I recall...
It's not to say a used motor wouldn't be just fine for this, but there were a number of reasons I went the route I did. The key word in your statement is "CAN"!
First off I don't know where you are buying complete LS1 motors with transmissions, ECU and wiring harness for $1200, cause they ain't that cheap around here!!! I'm sure you "CAN" find them out there for that price, but very few and far between~
For reference a quick Ebay search for LS1 engine will show the cheapest engine/trans out there right now is $3000 with an automatic... perhaps you can get a complete 5.3 for that price, but regardless, what are you getting for that price?
I wasn't going to bother doing this project to put a 300HP motor in place of the 250HP motor, plus what you are getting for that price is a used 100K+ mile motor and while the motor itself may be good for 200K or more, all of the little things on the motor have 100K too so you will start to have issues like coils going bad etc.
By the time you take a "junkyard" motor, rebuild it to a point that I would be satisfied with it from a reliability (bearings, seals etc.), and satisfied with power (400+), you can easily spend more then the $8k I spent on a brand new motor, that makes 480HP, and has a warranty AND I DON'T HAVE TO PUT ANY EXTRA WORK INTO!!!!!
The math is simple... just the basics and doing the work yourself~
Used LS1 motor = $3000~
Built cylinder heads = $1500~
Big camshaft = $600~
Rebuild kit = $800~
Upgraded rockers = $500~
Assuming that your used motor came with ECU/wiring then I would have spent at least $6400 to rebuild a used 100K mile motor. That is assuming that everything else in the motor is good and it doesn't need any major parts or machine work.
Could you just buy a used motor and throw it in, sure, but part of the idea was to make an easily replicated platform to build these cars on. It is just easier to call up Chevy and say SEND ME THIS.... and cut a check, then it would be to source used motors, rebuild them and then deal with the possible problems.
The thought process behind my build was to come up with a reasonable replacement for the lousy motors Porsche put into these things, that could be easily replicated.
Let us also not forget how much more money you have to spend on the little things which do add up fast... Motor mounts, transmission mounts, cooling and exhaust system, which I'm afraid to add up lately cause I already blew my budget but was something like $5-$6K... SO FAR. Car is almost done, but that is just the conversion.... I haven't gotten into brakes, suspension etc.
I definitely applaud what the NERV guys are trying to do but question their logic on many things... time for another post~