I purchased a 99 LS1 T56 TA for an excellent price earlier this year. 170k miles.
The car came with a fresh rear-end rebuild, trans rebuild, and a complete UMI suspension kit with braces for the suspension and torque arm.
I paid 4k for the car; it needed paint.
I did the bodywork myself and found a guy to scuff and shoot for $2500.
There's the background; now the questions:
1.) Would adding 50-75 crank HP jeopardize my engine?
or
2.) Should I save for a rebuild for a year or two and have them add some go-fast parts while they are in there?
I want to make more power (obviously), but I dont have bottomless pockets and dont want to compromise my engine.
I want to do a cam header, tune, and shoot for 400 crank-ish.
I don't know if my engine has been rebuilt at any point in its lifetime—no apparent symptoms of wear and tear on the engine from what i can tell.
Doesn't even ticks on startup.
3.) If i need to rebuild, can an enthusiast with basic mechanical knowledge rebuild an engine with some youtube videos by my side?
I have moderate mechanical experience.
I've never been a "real" mechanic, but I've done plugs, manifold gaskets, PCV systems, Valve cover gaskets, headers, struts, sway bar end links, 02 sensors, all of the simple things.
I understand an engine better than 99 percent of the population; I can tell you how compression works, timing, etc. Ive never physically messed with valves/rods/lifters or internals.
I want to make a 400-ish crank, not compromise my engine, and save whatever money I can.
Is this possible without a rebuild, and if not, is it something a guy like me could do on his own realistically?
The car came with a fresh rear-end rebuild, trans rebuild, and a complete UMI suspension kit with braces for the suspension and torque arm.
I paid 4k for the car; it needed paint.
I did the bodywork myself and found a guy to scuff and shoot for $2500.
There's the background; now the questions:
1.) Would adding 50-75 crank HP jeopardize my engine?
or
2.) Should I save for a rebuild for a year or two and have them add some go-fast parts while they are in there?
I want to make more power (obviously), but I dont have bottomless pockets and dont want to compromise my engine.
I want to do a cam header, tune, and shoot for 400 crank-ish.
I don't know if my engine has been rebuilt at any point in its lifetime—no apparent symptoms of wear and tear on the engine from what i can tell.
Doesn't even ticks on startup.
3.) If i need to rebuild, can an enthusiast with basic mechanical knowledge rebuild an engine with some youtube videos by my side?
I have moderate mechanical experience.
I've never been a "real" mechanic, but I've done plugs, manifold gaskets, PCV systems, Valve cover gaskets, headers, struts, sway bar end links, 02 sensors, all of the simple things.
I understand an engine better than 99 percent of the population; I can tell you how compression works, timing, etc. Ive never physically messed with valves/rods/lifters or internals.
I want to make a 400-ish crank, not compromise my engine, and save whatever money I can.
Is this possible without a rebuild, and if not, is it something a guy like me could do on his own realistically?
