Sorry for the headaches. I wasnt trying to get a different answer from what rob said. Just looking for advice.
LLY engine build on a budget
- Thread starter cstephens93
- Start date
Then stay around 500-525 and have a fun truck to drive for the time being. Save your money and do the build correctly later. Dont get ahead of yourself and make a crucial mistake. Then you're stuck. Build it because you want to, not because you have to.
X2, if you build it when you have to instead of wanting to, you tend to skemp out on things like uh rods. Then a week after its running you want to burn the bastard because you don't have what you want.
True that. So its pretty much close to buying a new dmax engine....except youre getting a lot more out of it since youre just paying for better rods, pistons, etc
I don't see a problem with de lipped pistion but personally on my second go around I'm def getting fingers pistons this time.
You can get the bottom end done, depending on any other issues that may come up and depending who builds it for 6-8 grand. And that's with rods. That's def not the best and the baddest but it'd take it.
You can get the bottom end done, depending on any other issues that may come up and depending who builds it for 6-8 grand. And that's with rods. That's def not the best and the baddest but it'd take it.
Pick up a set of used rods, deliped pistons and some new h-hx bearings and your half way there for a lot less and still have enough to finish it off.
Just drive it and stop worrying about it. Some stock motors last and some don't, if yours decides to give up the ghost then look into a built engine. Untill then drive it and have fun, it doesn't cost anymore to build it if you push it till it blows. There are a ton of stock motor 600 rwhp trucks I know that have never skipped a beat...
Yep with 145k miles on them and seen nitrous for 12000 miles.
Engine will be coming out soon though.
What gets me is some guys on here say they have built a short block for 5k-6k range. so delip pistons and rods. if you used lbz rods and didnt plan on making big power, your freshening up your engine and making it reliable for 600hp at the same time and getting the bottom all done for 2200-2500 dollars cheaper. So theoretically, you could almost do a rebuild twice rather then buying rods. I know i know, who wants to do that, but while throwing in lbz rods...you could always knock down the fuel a bit
There is a problem with this, you still have to run a detorqued tune. if you throw a set of rods in it, detorqueing wouldnt be needed.
if you build a motor for 3-4k, you got majorly lucky that the heads didnt need work or other unexpected issues didnt arise. I built my short block for 5k and decking the heads. And that was even with Socal Diesel doing the machine work. I assembled the whole motor, while it was my first time assembling a dmax motor, it wasnt my first go around assembling a v8 after machine work. Having socal do my machine work and calling Guy when i had questions helped me get the motor together without much issues. Now that i know alot more on the technical side of these motors, i would change a few things machining wise that would better suit my driving.
so while i had 5k in the motor, another 3500 was dropped into injectors, dual fuelers, and other go fast goodies. Brian and i have one of the barest boned builds you can do with the exception of a few items.
all i have is:
crower rods
delipped and shaved 190k now LB7 pistons (no coating) with new rings
ARP main studs
A1 headstuds
H clevite bearings on main and rod bearings
Stock cam bearings
keyed cam and crank
magged crank
balanced rotating assembly
stock fly wheel and balancer
stock heads and cam
all machine work to match and other little odds and ends
rods i bought used with 6 pulls on them, head studs i bough used with one torque sequence on them, main studs i bought new but at a damn good deal, other parts were new and all sold at a very good price. over 30k on this thing and it hasnt been on a tune less than 550hp since the day i took it off the break in tune. the motor isnt my worry at this hp, its the rest of the drivetrain.
So the basic consensus is, why just throw a set of rods in there and have to rebuild again if the pistons fail? Just save up enough money to do EVERYTHING once if I'm trying to make more than 600hp because you never know when something is going to take a dive
if i was that afraid of lb7/lly pistons cracking, i would have pulled my motor already to put fingers pistons in. yes they can crack but its RARE to hear of guys in the HP range on up to 800hp cracking delipped pistons. and the ones i did hear about, ran ALOT of pw
I would just run the motor you have until something happens. To me it is not worth all the work and money just for a extra 50-75hp.
depending on what you go for hp wise and your machinist says, delipped and possibly shaved. also depends on the cam you run (if you even do) on whether you need valve reliefs added.
I cant see myself wanting to make more than 700hp, if that. My basic plan coming into this post was to see what I would need to make it happen, also not planning to race or pull. Just looking for ways to support that hp goal as well as give my truck some new internals since I have 218k miles on them already
I wouldnt do anything until I needed to, I dont have the money currently but am wanting to start saving towards something incase I do have internals fail on me
Build it for more power than you want to make. I'm pulling my engine out in a few weeks because I didn't
Build it for more power than you want to make. I'm pulling my engine out in a few weeks because I didn't
Did you blow it up?
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Where's that "like" button when I need it? :thumb:
Sorry to hear you hurt it again, Brian.