[FlyingDutchman]

Originally Posted by sweetbmxrider

Get a gm white spring for the pump, arp drive, and braze the pickup to the pump. LS7's have been a crap shoot especially in lt1 rebuilds. They use a much lighter valve train and I'm sure the qc in mexico isn't the greatest. If you are revving to a max of 6200, the stock cam is capable of that or something similarly sized. Your cam will probably make power till 6600-6700 with those heads, higher with le2s. Honestly, you should write out exactly how much you'll be spending between the machine shop, the hard parts, the little things, shipping, taxes, and the unexpected. I think you'll be right around 5 grand give or take. I was nearly 5 in machine shop labor. I'd throw in the tune/pcm but I'm a 95 unless you want to convert. Honestly, give it a little consideration. Its callies/compstar crank and rods, srp pistons, 4 bolt mains, le2s, 238/246 cam, and supporting parts.

I'm shooting for the +/- $3.5k range which I think is do-able if I can resist unnecessary/top of the line parts for a ~400hp build. Free shipping helps too.

If I am retaining the stock crank, pistons (new rings), and rods (arp bolts), and basically freshening the bearings/surfaces, will that require a balancing of the rotating assembly? How much machine work should I even be doing? I know you said the deck height is off from the factory which might contribute to my original issue.

I could go with a smaller cam too, like a 224/230. Stock cam is tiny and would be a shame to leave in there if I'm pulling the motor out!