*Sorry for the poor quality pictures, I’ll start taking them with my dslr, didn’t realize the camera on my phone is this shot.
I bought this car back in 2011 with 198,000 miles on it. It needed some body work on the rear fender. Got that taken care of and cleaned it up a bit.
It has been turbo’d since spring of 2012. It is on the totally stock ls1 and 4l60e, right down to the OEM valve springs, The engine and transmission have not skipped a beat running it at about 6psi and giving it a beating every single time I drive it. It is MAF street tuned super safe right now.
I picked up another summer fun car last year, so it is now time to dig into this one and build it the way I’ve always wanted.
I’m leaning towards using the stock ls1 over the iron block 5.3 I have sitting in the garage, so I think this will end up being the specs (already have everything sitting on the shelf):
-stock ls1
-317 heads
-built 4l60e (until it goes, then I’ll do a 80e swap)
-ls7 lifters
-ls6 cam
-hardened push rods
-arp studs
-ls9 gaskets
-comp valve springs
-pump gas
-on3 76mm turbo
-tial bov
-jgs waste gate
-AEM uego boost and af gauges
Some pictures when purchased for the whopping price of 2,000.
After some clean up.
In fall 2011 I started on a turbo build. I bought a TIG welder and gave it a shot. It was my first attempt at fabricating; overall the kit was functional and looked ok. In spring 2012 I cracked my intercooler and wanted a cleaner looking kit. This was right around the time that the Huron Speed kit came out, so I picked it up.
This kit lasted a few months before I destroyed my intercooler and decided to buy the Huron Speed kit. I don’t have any installed pictures of that on the car, but I ran it for 2 summers. That brings me to now.
Pulled the engine out for the first time totally by myself on the garage floor. It was an experience, already learned a lot.
Tore it down. I was quite surprised, it looks pretty clean for 202k miles and a few years of boost abuse.
Other summer daily driver.
So the plans now are to replace the rear main seal, clean up the engine, clean and paint the engine bay, reassemble the long block with new parts, mate the engine to the built 60e, reinstall, finish the exhaust to the back of the car, and then booooost it until the engine, transmission, or 10 bolt blow.
Who built the 4L60E? Those are notorious for breaking! The only thing saving your 10-bolt is those 17" street tires. You scored one hell of a deal for picking a complete car up for $2k.
The 4l60e was purchased off of ls1 tech a 2 years ago. Don’t remember the specs, and I’m not expecting it to last long. I wasn’t fully knowledgeable nor did I realize how cheap the 4l80e option was at the time. When it goes, I’ll be swapping in a 4l80e.
Thanks, it’s hard to find rollers for that price still. I picked up the car and it was mechanically perfect. Freezing cold AC and all.
I’m hoping to get a year out of it. There’s a lot of people deep into the 10’s with a 10 bolt behind an auto.
Yea, the 76mm On3 since the first build. Why not go iron block for your application? I personally wouldn’t spring the extra money to go with an ls1.
Initial reviews I read seemed like people were somewhat disappointed with the power those made. I haven’t read up recently, but overall on3 has a pretty good track record, I’d definitely look into them either way if someone is trying to go the budget route.
Ah, well that makes sense. As everyone knows, people are doing crazy things with stock 6.0’s, that’s the route I want to go after this engine goes.
I want to hit over 600hp this year. Fuel (along with the trans and rear end) will be my limiting factor. I have 60lb injectors, a racetronix fuel pump that I plan on adding another walbro 255 to, going to stick with stock feed and rails.
Yup, a lot of people do it to up the boost on the ls1’s. I’ve seen some that have even done it on the 5.3’s (would have to be terrible outside of boost). I’m also using the larger bore ls9 head gaskets on the smaller bore block.
I spent some more time on the car on Friday and Saturday. I started stripping the engine bay. The radiator support was cut up pretty good from my first build to make everything fit. With the Huron Speed kit, the radiator sits in stock location.
Friday I cut and welded in a new cover for the radiator support. It came out ok, it should look good when painted.
Other than that, I started cleaning up the engine bay and the block for paint.
Does anyone in the Lancaster area have a valve spring tool I can use? I’ll probably just make one, but that sounds like a lot of grinding if someone has one I can borrow.