Are you going to build a monster in the future, or a daily driver? Since ur basically changing everything, you should think about your real future goals and if you're going to be satisfied with 350 hp or 450 hp or whatever..

If you plan on making big power, you will need a bigger turbo.. and to breathe up top as others have said, you will need neutral shafts, cams and valve springs.

If you want a DD, then just throw some decent **** in the bottom end and call it a day.

If ur going all out, just get a bloody engine from zzp lol and the head with it.. expensive, but safe over 600hp i'm sure. You will need a turbo tho. You can go somewhere inbetween as well, but the choice is entirely yours.

If you're keeping your stock turbo forever, no point in going with a good build.. it'll never breathe above 6500 rpms and without valve springs, you shouldn't be revving past 6200 anyways, unless you want to *** up your head as well. Sometimes it can be minor and simply pop a rocker, but sometimes, it can throw a rocker into one of your cams and ruin it.

I have a ported head with stage 1 cams and springs courtesy of zzp on my car now, and I can tell you, the power drops off at around 6500-6700 on the stock turbo; the higher the gear, the faster it drops off. The stock turbo just doesn't have what it takes for any serious work, but this head still improves performance considerably.

I've read that some guys claim cams do nothing with a factory turbo without at least a ported head.. I'm unsure of that, but they might be right, Idk. I do know there's improvement with the head and cams combo.. why would you want to put cams in a car just because you're building your bottom end? It just sounds to me like you haven't really decided what you're doing with it yet.. maybe I'm wrong, or maybe you're trying to get a feeler... at any rate.. I ain't no expert, but I read alot of **** on this site :P There's alot to learn here from people who've done some crazy **** and benefited, or not so much... you learn from doing things the hard way. Fortunately, the guys who do it later than earlier, stand to benefit more from the guys who went through all the headaches and pain lol.

Just my 2 cents

 

this is very true!! but for some people they will be the leader or the follower..


ingram57 - your best bet is to start in small steps.. read alot on what most of the folks have done on the forum already and use your best judgement.. there are alot steps you can take to achieve your end goals..

Starting with the bottom end:

It should be the first thing everybody should do, if anyone wants there motor to last along time..
Every component in the bottom end should be new, blueprinted, balanced, squared, polished & spec'd..
Yes - it cost a little more to have this done at the shop, but in the long run, it will save you from major headaches down road.. ask me how i know..

This what I've done for customers with new parts:

Crank - either new or reused - balanced, squared, polished & spec'd
Install new main bearing - have them spec'd
Install new main bearing cap/girdle bolts - used bolts aren't reusable [T2Y]
Main bearing caps on the girdle should be squared, polished & spec'd

the rods on the LNF could be reused as long they have been spec'd, but it's better to purchase new ones, since ZZP found the OE LNF rods can fail past 600hp..
Rods - balanced, squared, polished & spec'd [if you want - have them shot peened it adds strength to the rods]
Rod bearing - have them spec'd

the OE pistons on the LNF are a pretty good design but new pistons from Wiseco are better and are designed for better cyl air flow.
Pistons - balanced, squared, polished & spec'd
Wrist pins - have them spec'd for truest
Piston rings - have them spec'd

Engine block should be hi-temp water steam cleaned not chemical, magaflux'd, blueprinted, squared deck'd & polished
Each Cylinder bore should be spec'd, honed, spec'd, honed, spec'd - or until the bore is trued [conical] on top within spec's
Install new freeze plugs

Optional: it will cost a little more..
Oil return line/galley ways - conical bored from crank up to the deck [/\] [oil returns quicker to the oil pan]
Coolant passage ways - port match and bore/polish [.008''] each passage way [enlarged/polished passageways increases coolant flow and decrease coolant temp = cooler engine]

 

clevites are overpriced and gm work just fine, thats what a ton of guys use and i wouldnt do an overore unless its needed, obviously meaning nothing that a good honing wont clean up

 

i only posted what i did to my car, had a similar failure, and it was needed .020 is so small anyway almost pretty standard. I got my bearings at just about cost so they were actually cheaper than what you can get the standard gm ones for.

 

naw man i was trying to argue just trying to save him some money. what you did is better than what i suggested but if hes trying to save money and still make good power what i siad was just a bit cheaper

 

How do you know you have cracked ringlands

 

so you want to argue???? lol

 

usually lots of smoke, oil in piping, misfire on cylinder, failed compression test. We both had the cylinder 4 misfire and lowered compression on that cylinder as well.

 

no lol my b