LS1 boys step in please!

[K-ville]

Ive got a friend with a 02 camaro ss looking to do a head cam intake swap. He is looking at texas speed kits but for 3 grand it seems to me like there might be a better route... What would you guys reccomend? It already has a 100 shot on it also but he wants to supercharge it soon.

[slow ride]

Well the best heads/cam setup will not be the best for boost as I'd want as much compression as I could get by with on pump gas NA and it might not play to well with the blower later on. He needs to decide what direction he will go for sure in the future. Check with Mike at the ws6 store for some of these parts also. He could probably put something together for a good deal. I could help with the cam selection and have comp custom grind it through Mike.

If he isn't sure at the moment he could still do a cam for now and wait on the heads till the time comes for the blower (or not).

[AutoMods]

heads and intake aren't too important for a modest forced induction setup so that'd be money not well spent if he ends up going FI. you can even go without a cam if you go FI but cams are cheap so I'd do it. turbos are cheap, just have to get hooked up on all the welding of hot piping and new exhaust.

[Grr]

Advance Induction CNC'd 241s and their matching cam would be his best bet, low price and will make great average power and big tq. Stick with his LS6 intake and save up for a blower of turbo

[FiFdYnUtZ]

I would buy some stock 243 heads and throw them on...and have Patrick G on tech spec a cam that would be best na or fi...and an ls6 intake and ported Tb if it doesn't already have it....should really set his plans in stone though,

[K-ville]

yea im trying to lock him down on what hes going to do. sounds like most likey a procharger setup in the near future. and I also realised he already has a professional products intake.

[snickerlicker]

^ Thats his first mistake putting a PROLEAKER on it.

[FiFdYnUtZ]

lol saw that coming! if he goes procharger just make sure he gets a D1 and not a P1...unless he wants to nut up and go for the F series

[LT1Dan]

Advance Induction CNC'd 241s and their matching cam would be his best bet, low price and will make great average power and big tq. Stick with his LS6 intake and save up for a blower of turbo

AI is quality stuff for the price. Can't speak for the LS stuff but I like the H/C/I they did up for the LT1.

[FiFdYnUtZ]

Porting 241's is a waste of time imo for the price you can get 243's...especially when you port the 243's the 241's become obsolete

[StreetSweeper]

JUST BYE EddyB's MOTOR AND CALL IT DONE!!

[Drifte]

Dont the 243 ls2 or ls6 heads require swapping ls2 valve covers and coils? Could be wrong, but if it does theirs some extra cost.

edit nvm. only if it doesnt have the center bolt vc already.

[Drifte]

JUST BYE EddyB's MOTOR AND CALL IT DONE!!
what is it and how much, and does it run on pump gas?

[slow ride]

If he has factory heads they are 241's for that year. Ported 853's and 241's will work well when ported by the right people and crush out of the box 243's. A good set of ported 241's will only be down 10-15hp vs. a good set of 243's (just like stock vs stock) and they are all center bolt vc's in this age range. I would have kept his stock ls6 intake though and ported the stock throttle body. A good set of either of these heads, set up right (quench, SCR, DCR, etc) will make 430-450rwhp in a 6 speed with all the bolt ons and a mid/high 22x druation cam.

[FiFdYnUtZ]

Those numbers are pretty generous (real world) for a medium cam and ported 241's...

[slow ride]

What can I say, when your good your good. I've set up 2 different cars with a 228 232 XER grind (one had a xe lobe on the exhaust), both vettes (so good exhaust) and one had a cnc set of absolute speed 241's (~4-5 years old) and the other was a SUPER mild 383 I just built(cubes don't really help the peak numbers) with doug rippie cnc 853's (older than dirt I think and I did touch them up a tiny bit) and they both made 430 rwhp on speed inc's dyno. All the little things matter and I was actually dissipointed in the numbers some. I don't think either of these heads would be as good as 853/241's that AI or TEA would do up for you. These had stock water pumps with underdrive pulleys and ls6 intakes.

Don't get me wrong I'd still the take the 243/799's over those two examples above, but don't count out those old ls1 heads sometimes. My old turd made 482/448 with 243's (really good ones it seems), ls6 intake/stock tb. My own ported fast and yella terra's made the sig numbers all done at speed inc.

[FiFdYnUtZ]

But your talking about a stroker motor...?

[slow ride]

Stroke alone does not make more power with the same bore size and top end stuff(search ls1 tech for many examples if you want). One of the examples I listed above is a stock cube 99 ls1 shortblock (this one astually made 1-2 more hp :))the other is a mild 383 that the owner wanted to drive very stock like. The stroker just makes more torque and power under the curve. No need to doubt me I know what the frick I'm talking about, but if I'm wrong I'll admit it and keep learning.

Both cars (as my own) can run 91 octane also. You could push the DCR higher with 93, but it's hit or miss around here. Reason I stated they were in corvettes was the fact you usually have a lot cleaner exhaust path and true duals. F bodys need a dump at he Y or a better 3.5" single with a decent y merge to compare.

[APPLES355]

I am going to have to agree with slowride on this one. When researching ls1 engine for katies car it was amazing what such a simple combination could make for power. Katies car made 411hp at speed inc and it used all stock gm parts. ls6 intake, ported throttle body, unported 243's, stock bottom end, 1 3/4 kooks longtubes/ypipe, and streetsweeper cam. We probably went to big on the cam, but in the future a set of ported 243 or AFR205 will go on. I can see her stock cube 347 with ported anything for heads and 1 7/8 kooks headers making 450hp. hell i even saw people running the same long block we have with a fast intake and 1 7/8 kooks making right around the 450hp mark. I even saw dyno results with using the same engine, but using a merge collector instead of the crappy y-pipe gaining around 10-15 hp at the tires. Maybe some day i will get rid of that crappy y-pipe for that setup. There were multiple people showing the flow numbers on the ported 853 or 241 that of course outflowed the stock 243's and if you were on a budget then that would save you the cost of buying 243's for $400 to $600. That in all honesty is what we should have done, but we already had the 243's and for an awesome deal.

I know when we built her engine we were pushing the DCR right up to the limit and the same with the quench. Our static compression was somewhere around 11.5:1 and i would have to look at our notes for the exact DCR. Its amazing to me how easy it is with these engines to make decent power with stock GM parts.

If it were me i would wait to decide what to do until he knows what direction he will go. There are too many things that you would compromise if you would try to build for both then make the decision. If it were me i would go forced, because these engines are pretty strong minus the rods/rod bolts!

[slow ride]

Yea, my 383 is 11.83:1 SCR 8.41:1 DCR so that helps. You can push the DCR in the range of 8.70:1 or more on good 93 pump gas (fuck it go 13:1 e85 :)). I thought about running a SD tune and a .045" cometic HG to eek out a few more hp on my own car, but probably not worth the effort for 5-10hp.

So back on topic:) If you go with a medium size cam now it should work fine with the FI later on and then decide if you want to pull the heads or not. A good blower w/cam combo and all the bolt ons will make good power without even pulling the heads. If you haven't started with anything yet then get doing the bolt ons.