cheapspeedy

I am a total newbie at all this so forgive me. My dad owned a '68 convertible with a 427 that he sold when I was born, so I feel the need to bring vettes back to the family. I recently read Dave McLellan's book Corvette from the Inside which is excellent. My goal is to get the most power and performance from the least amount of money (say less than 25 grand) and thought that buying a used C4 and transplanting a crate LS6 would be a conceptually simple way to achieve my goal. I am not very tech savvy. Is this possible, is this idiotic? :flag

TONYDEE64

Are you talking about an LS6 big block or the current LS6 found in the FRC?

cheapspeedy

I think just a standard LS6 from the ZO6, or an LS1 for that matter

MYCoupe

If you're willing to spend $25k then just add $5k more and buy a Z06 and save your self the hassle and aggravation of such a swap. Personally I think such a swap is not worth the trouble especially since the prices of the C5 continues to drop dramatically.

cheapspeedy

I don't want the hardtop on the Z06 and I prefer the bodystyle of the C4. Also, I figured insurance would be cheaper on a C4 than a Z06. I suppose I am wondering if it is a simple proposition - replace engine altogether including exhaust and reprogram electronics, or is it going to mean replacing everything including transaxle etc.

LT1Vetteguy78

I was just gonna say, if your gonna spend 20k, you can easily achieve an insane amount of power building up the 350 to a 396 or bigger...no need to swap engines.....Just call a few performance shops and tell them what kinda power your looking for and what your willing to spend and how you plan on driving your car.....

cheapspeedy

Thank you, I think that's what I am getting at, I would like a car that performs as well or better than a stock Viper but don't want a new car and don't want to spend a fortune

LT1Vetteguy78

I would thnk for 12-15k you can get that kind of performance with a built engine N/A and blown or just all motor work...You can get a TON of good, different advice on this forum, but i think some common advice is building the motor and doing a rear end swap with a good ratio gear setup.....again it all depends on what you are looking for in the cars performance, do you want top speed, do you want 1/4 speed...do you want roadcourse performance....You could simply geta bolt blower with a 125shot and make 500rwhp on DR's and get 10's in teh 1/4 mile...or you can go all out motor work getting great power and all around reliability

93Quasar

Forget the swap nightmare. I built my 383 on a relatively low budget and pulled 50 more hp at the wheels than a stock Z06 that was on the same dyno right before me. I'm happy. If you can do the build yourself, you can do a 383 for a few thousand. I can't say exactly how much is in mine because a lot of work and parts were given to me by the previous owner of the car. But I'd guess somewhere around $3k.

cheapspeedy

Thank you for your replies, how much do you think it would cost to get 400-500hp from an LT1 naturally aspirated in a streetable and reliable form? I'm still curious if anyone has a hunch how difficult an LT1/98 to LS1/LS6 swap would be. I plan to use the car during the late spring/summer/early fall and probably for autocross or road courses. I am not really interested in running the 1/4 although I respect what times say about a car's performance.

Zix

There have been a few people that have swapped LSx engines into C4's. It is just an engine swap, you do not need to swap out the drivetrain. This is still one of the options I'm considering too. Yes, I know an 383-396 LT4 will make a lot of power, but a 383 LS6 will mkae A LOT more. And I can build the LS6 out of the car and swap them out when I'm ready rather than pull mine to build it over 1-2 months. Then there's the 427 idea...World Castings I think has a regular 427 small block that'll pretty much bolt right into a C4, and that's a nice 550+ HP engine depending on the cam and heads. I've still got a few months to think about it but it's a tough choice!

JOliver

I think its a good idea,I love how the LS6 guys are turning out huge numbers but those guys are very technical guys.Also that 25k would run out quickly unless you picked up a really cheap c4.
If I wanted to use up 25k and wanted a stout and impressive c4 I'd look for a nice ZR1 or even a Lt4 car and start the little mods...you'd be in the serious HP quickly.

Jason

BowTieBlood

On your average LT1, gears, torque converter, and slicks wills end you into the mid-high 12s. That's already in line with your AVERAGE Viper driver. The newer ones are a little trickier, but with a head/cam job you'd be on top of them if not past them. Most Viper drivers can't seem to get a grip on thier car's best performance

I agree with you 100% on the looks. I'd love a post-90 C4 with an LS1 in it, but for value, it's not worth it in my eyes at all. You could have your C4 twin-turboed for under $25k and then modify the engine and what not and probably keep it in budget. ExoticMuscle told me something in the area of $12k without the engine being modified heavily.

95wht6spd

Tell me more about this 427 from World Castings? I didn't think there were any aftermarket blocks for the LT1/4s?

Zix

The World Casting 427 is not a reverse cool block like the LT1/4. It's a normal SBC like the L98s. But it will bolt into a LT1/4 car pretty easily. Also, you can have reverse-cool heads changed to normal-cooling heads so they'll bolt up to the block. This is something I have been considering because the heads I have on my LT4 are too good to get rid of at this point. So one idea was to have them changed to a normal-flowing head and bolt them to the 427 from World Castings.

h rocks

IMO, don't reinvent the wheel. There a number of really good engine builders out there in no particular order, like TPIS, More, LPE that can easily build you a 475-500 HP NA motor (presuming it's not a smog engine) out of an LT or L98. They will be torque monsters and reliable. All of the above guys can engine dyno tune them as well. NOT an insignificant element to the process!! Get a clean, cheap 89+ C4 and you're there.

Ramanstud

Get a nice C4 (manual IMHO, also the Dana44 in the rear helps) and get yourself a big cubes smallblock (either an aftermarket casting or a 400" stroker), throw on a superram or other torquey intake with solid heads and a roller cam, do some tuning and you're there! Always look around for specs, but you might even have some change left over for a blower to really do the job!

LT1CORVETTE

first off, Ramanstud your signature is beautiful. And Zix I want your Lt-4 that thing is awsome.

cheapspeedy

Thanks again for the replies, I am trying to take it all in. It seems that the consensus is to modify the current C4 block rather than mess with a Gen III swap. I know that Calloway did the twin-turbo around '90, does anyone know of a tuner or supplier for that kind of modification? (I see "ExoticMuscle" mentioned above.)

Zix

There aren't any current bolt-on twin turbo kits for the C4, you can of course always pay someone to fab one up for you...but I don't even want to guess how much that would be, for a quality job. Exotic Muscle doesn't have a TT kit, I'm at their shop all the time.

If I were you, with a strict 25K budget, I'd get a 92+ 6-speed LT1 car, and either buy a 383 shortblock from someone like Scoggin Dickey like these;

http://www.sdpc2000.com/cart.asp?act...art&catid=1580

And have the heads and intake worked over, or buy some nice AFR LT4 heads and an LT4 intake for a little more flow, then swap the engines out and sell the core...or keep it if you want. You'll probably spend 12-15K on the car, 5K for the 383 short-block 3K for the heads/intake/cam. That leaves anywhere from 2-4K for engine swap if you pay someone to do it and some dyno tuning. If you do the swap yourself, you'd save enough money to throw some nice LT headers on it as well. Something to think about, but you could get 480-500 FWHP from that combo depending on the cam selection and heads.