what to do?
 

Well I have about given up on selling my 94 formula at this point and am now considering a few things.
First some details
engine has 160k miles new opti new plugs new wires earlier this past year.
Has a A4 tranny rebuilt 2 summers ago with a shift kit
has a 3.73 geared posi rear
borla catbacks with stainless tips
the A/C has to be charged every year to work so I might just do a ac delete

what would be better rebuilding the engine or possibly finding a replacement first
or could I throw a cam on it replace the lifters,push rods,rockers,timing chain, springs and end it with some headers on the current one?

I probably won't get around to this until mid November some time(possibly sooner if my cruise on the 28th out of Galveston TX is canceled)
so any input would be appreciated.
also if this is in the wrong section could you please move it i didn't know if i should post it under general or in the engine/power/tuning or here

Do you have another car while this one is down?

Can you do the work yourself or will you send it out?

What are you looking for performance wise?

Crate engines are a bit out of my price range or would it cost over 3 grand no matter?
not looking for 383 or anything possibly a lt4 or lt4 hot cam package.

Yeah I have another car(a 94 v6 bird) and I would prefer to do most the work myself or with the help of some people in the area(currently living in an apartment so yeah).
as for performance I don't really know atm lol would like to have it run good at the track but yet still be able to be drivable on the street.

I deleted it on second thought. That is pretty pricey. But a full rebuild might be in that range anyway.

The "Hotcam" isnt really that good for the hassel of doing a cam...

Are you planning on doing a converter with the cam? You'll wake the car up more with a gear and stall...

yeah I was thinking a gear and stall was essential with an a4 possibly a 2600 stall

what would you recommend?
comp or crane or is there something els?

See if you could PM Pampered Z he knows LT1's .:nod:

What are your goals with the car? Are you interested in making it fast for drag racing? Just a quick weekend cruiser? or daily driver with a little more power? What is your budget? Whenever I build something I take the budget I think it'll cost then double it to get the actual real world final cost.

What is wrong with the car as it sits today?

With 160K on the clock I wouldn't even bother to put any mods into that engine. You should really think about sarting fresh with a total rebuild or look for another block to work with, LT1 blocks are fairly cheap. Once you start modding you're going to be adding more cylinder pressure and stress, and you will most likely need to spinning the engine higher. You are easily risking of a spun bearing and finding yourself with allot of blowbye, oil problems etc. Since you aren't the original owner you really won't know what state the engine is in until you open it up... Could be OK, but could also be a mess? Even if you can reuse the bottom end, the lifters are probably too worn to handle the higher pressure of new springs as well.

So you really need to budget for having the bottom end freshend up. Rings, Bearings, oil pump. Depending on how well the engine was treated you might get away with the above, but with that many miles I'd honestly budget for needed to bore the block and go with oversized pistons.

Also don't forget that LT1 parts like the timing chain and gaskets aren't cheap like a standard small block. Make sure you budget for them.

As far as Cam selection, the Hot cam Kit is really a good street cam, It comes with the proper springs and rockers so it's an easy install. With a good tune you should be able to pick up 20-25HP, bit more with headers. But it you really want to wake the car up you really need to look at something else. Keeping the car emmisions leagal the Comp 305 cam (114LSA)will work nice, With a good set of Cats on the car the 305 cam ( 112 LSA ) or the extreem 502 cam should sneak thru. If you not worried about the sniffer, the 224/230 cam is what I feel the best street/strip cam for the LT1. If you have the heads to support it the 224/230 has a high lift grind too! ** You aer again going to need to get into springs to support the cam and the rest of the valve train parts, and the $$ add up quickly.

well 160k miles on the engine is the only thing that is really wrong other than that nothing is wrong with it atm just missing a few interior trim pieces,window motors are slow and has a cracked front bumper and spider webbing in the back. which I am in the process of getting fixed not to mention I drive it weekly.The main reason I was wanting to sell it was to avoid spending money on building/replacing the engine this fall lol I'd love to get an ls1 car instead haha.

I am not looking to drag it just maybe a weekend cruiser or daily driver with more power than stock this would be my first real build of a v8, emissions inspection is good until 2010 so I dunno I might say to hell with that for the time being.

Thanks pampered I got the car when it had aprox 150k miles on it, I'll look into trying to find another lt1 some where.
Yeah I was planning to replace the oil pump,air pump,and add an electric water pump in there and pretty much replace most of the stock pieces lifters,springs, and so forth. i'll look into the 305 and 502 setups as well.
Does using over sized pistons add any type of major benefit?
Another question would you throw a 95 or higher lt1 in there or would that make alot of extra problems and I should stick to 93-94's

I say put a cam in it and spray the crap out of it until it dies, then rebuild. What do you have to lose in the long run? :mrgreen: Either it goes out in glory or stays together and runs great/fast for years to come.

When it comes to cams the only solution is Cam Motion. Lunati, Crane, Comp are crap in comparison.

HAHA maybe never thought about spraying it, though I might consider it.

Just watch your budget, now you're talking about elec. WP and other things so you better be prepared. You're now looking at about a $1500 budget for your cam swap.

All the 92-97 blocks are the same. Front end is different and cam slightly different in lift, but basically the same. The few more HPs the later years was due to exhaust and gearing changes. Boring the block mean s more cubic inches. So if you bore the block just go .30 over and you'll have a 355 CI engine.

I set of stock heads ported to a stage II set-up ( porting and larger valves would go nicely with a 355 and an aggressive cam.


SlowZ, I disagree about the Comp cam ( but I won't delete your post ) :-) Comp had a bad rap for years I wiped a few out in the early - mid 90s! but their much better now. They have a wide selection and the 306 cam is probably the most widely used cam in the LTx cars and is a real consistent performer.

Thanks pamp I am looking at 2500.00 max budget so if I aim in the 1500ish range i should hit my 2500 mark i'm not lookign to pay much in labor besides some beer and linches/dinners.
and for the different years question i asked it was more aimed at say the opti for example the 93-94 ones are a pain in the ass but the 95+ ones are better vented vs unvented(still a pain) and so forth along those lines I know that would also mean pulling the computer and harness but is there anything els that is would entail cause I might be able to pick up a 96 LT1 with 65k miles on it tranny,computer,harness included for under 600.00

The 96 is OBDII so you could run a huge cam, LTs and not cats and the state of NJ will pass you no problem. Personally, I would spend the cash you have now on other stuff, gears, stall etc. If you start digging into the motor, that 2500 max will not be enough. I spent more than that just doing the top end on mine.

If you pick up a complete engine (with Opti) the only thing you need is the harness that goes from the opti to the ECM harness (this is the weather pack connection on the passenger side of the intake). The ECM will be able to run the opti with no problem, you "May" need to reuse your 94 Coil and Ign. module ( I think 96-97s have different wiring), but everything else should just plug in.

It's only messy when you swap a 94+ motor into a 92-93 or visa~versa when you run into allot of issues because there are allot more differences that have to be dealt with. You swapping a 95+ into a 94 doesn't have all the issues.

John

And I guess, you might be able to squeak by with an Eagle crank and 383 assembly if you do all the assembly yourself and have a shop do the machine work. But then you will have a 383 that can't take boost, and odds are the stock heads will choke it.

id say screw the cam n just spray it and hope for the best. Thats wat i did and im hitting 12.1 wit drag radials on a stock lt1 motor, and its been running strong for 2 years now.

does your motor have 160k miles on it?
again i'm not looking to drag anything maybe run mid to high 12's at the track and just have a nice looking car that sounds and looks good

thats just the engine cash I already have 3.73:1 gears and I plan on getting a set of pacesetter headers as well but that won't be bought using the engine funds.
and 2500.00 is the max that I would like to do lol but i just picked up a second part time job in order to fund this so i'll probably end up putting more into it.

i recommend you stay away from pacesetters. do your motor and trans mounts too. i would use polly mounts cause i break the rubber trans all the time.

whats wrong with the pacesetters?
I've seen alot of people here with them and assumed they where decent
what would you recomend?

He's talking about buy a '96 engine....not a '96 car. Inspection goes by VIN number, so even if he does an OBDII conversion, they'll do a tailpipe test.

- Justin