5L Holden or chev LS1 5.7????

[smash250]

Hi guys im new to this site and i don't own a commodore, However i do own a competition off road Nissan patrol which currently is set up for obstical based events. Due to the lack of these events in WA and my need to compete i will be changing my truck to a Off road racing truck. to do this i am going to require a New engine set up, which brings me to why i am here.

Over this year and some of next i want to build a Hi HP Hi torque race engine, The racing type is NOT circle type, however more like the parries to DAKAR style, with some graded tracks as well.

As for my budget and experience with engine rebuilding, I don't relay want to spend much over 12K on the engine however although i have never really done any internal work on an engine i will be doing almost all of the labor myself except obviously machining type work. I do have access to many tools and i have a fairly good workshop to do all the work in. Building this engine is a goal of mine and not really interested in people telling me to get someone else to do the work for me because 'their work will be better' because im all about the saying "BUILT NOT BROUGHT" and so far iv built EVERYTHING on my comp truck myself.


Now my first question is, which engine to start off with? A holden 5L or a Chev 350 injected. My mate tells me that i should go with a holden 5L becasue there cheep as chips and a dime a dosen and then i would look at stroking it and whatever else to get the desired set up needed also look at eh 387 stroke kit not the 355. Then i read that the crank for a 355 is as expensive as some whole setups on a LS1 chev? which makes me think mabey i should start with one of these and stroke this and it may come in around the same price as a stroked 5L Holden but better?????
[B]IMPORTANT INFO[B] I AM LIMITED TO 6000CC AND N/A,these are the rules of C.A.M.S

I was thinking of getting the engine and wiring harness for a LS1 out of a car from a damaged action, therefore it would be cheaper.


Please let me know what you think and give me some options. At this stage im just doing all the research so i know what direction to take.

Cheers Ash.

[levymetal]

hey mate, you'd be looking at a 355 kit for your holden 5L. a 383 is over the 6000CC limit. i think for that price, the NA LS1 is the go. no need to stroke it, just get a good cam, headwork, mafless tune and you'll be laughing

lets see what everyone else thinks though!

[STEALTHY™]

I'll just clear up a few things for you!

The Holden released LS1 is 346, nothing like the 350 Chev of older cars!



As for torque, i'm not sure. the LS1 is where its at if you want quick and cheap power (by cheap i mean you'll spend more on the 5L getting the same power)

[smash250]

Cheers guys, Been doing some more research looks like im going to have to go with the Holden 5L due to a few reasons relating to it going into a 4wd, apparently the starter motor on the Chev engine interferes with the front drive shaft.

So If i go with the Holden 5L what sort of power is it capable of? And what would be the difference in set up between a race engine and a street engine??
Im pretty sure emission laws dont apply and also noise restriction dont rely...apply, what about internals the average race is between 100-300km so i still need to have some sort of reliability, cooling the engine will be my biggest problem but thats a story for another time.

One last question.....If i say had 583hp at the flywheel what would i have at the wheels??

cheers.
Ash.

[walesy]

if you go digging through projects section there was a bloke who has already done this with both the 5ltr and an ls1... was quite some time ago now though

[Morton]

From what I've heard and experienced they're very reliable motors. Ancillary devices like ignition modules, dizzies and sensors will fail from time to time, but the guts of a 304 is generally bulletproof. I know mine's clocking up to 300,000km and still runs like new. I also know there's blokes out there who spin them up to 6000rpm on the burnout pad every week for 10min at a time, and can't break them

I think within your budget, you could comfortably get it pushing out over 250rwkw with money for spares.

Generally with the race motor, I can assume you're keeping her above 3000rpm all day? So you can afford to run a tune, cam and manifold combination that sacrifices low end power, and focuses purely on mid-top end torque. i.e. hi-rise manifold, aggressive cam. Since you won't be tackling the obstacle courses, you don't need as much workable low-down torque. If you build yourself a solid bottom end, and spend the money on a reliable valvetrain, you can't really go wrong