Here's the deal,

I work at STS Turbo, one of the sales guys has an 01 firebird with the LS1 and 4speed auto. Right now he's putting together a built Ls1 for his car and wants to put a 6 speed in when he swaps motors... he knows I've always had an eye out for an LS1 to throw in my rx7 and he says he'll "give" me his drive train (motor, tranny and harness) for $1,000 when he pulls them out.
Here's my question(s)...
He's had a turbo kit on his car for over a year, he doesn't drive it hard all the time, but he's been runngin 12psi with meth and no I/C, and the motor has around 100K miles on it.
Is this a good deal? Could I get his pullout, sell the tranny and harness and have enough $$ to have a machine shop freshen up the motor? I figure it'd be a grand in the motor, which would be like new... then another grand for a T-56, then a couple hundred for a carness and computer... or should I just keep looking for a complete pullout ready to go with a 6 speed?


Of course I'm going to turbo mine too... I'll be happy with 600hp. Every other person I talk to says something different, but from what I gather, new rods and valve springs should be able to keep up with 600hp all day on an otherwise stock LS1. I could also put oil squirters in there if it'd up the resale value

Thoughts? Comments? ADVICE?
If you were in my shoes what would you do?
Thanks guys!

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Brandon

If he is really going to sell you motor tranny wiring harness (ECU?) for only a grand then you should run to the bank before he changes his mind! Even if the motor is trashed i would say the trans and wiring harness make up for that.
My motor was a little more then $2k then another $1k for the trans. Ive got almost $10k into the entire swap and my motor is fairly stock.

As far as being happy with "600 hp" you should try stock /with a bottle first, as it will still be faster then the cars in your sig. A lot of people throw all these glamorous numbers around but dont understand the amount of work, time, and money that it takes to get 600 hp reliably or not. If stock doesnt tickle your fancy throw a bottle on it and make sure your rear diff can take the power before you destroy it with anything much over stock lsx power.

Other then that search and you will find almost everything you need to know.

1000 isn't bad, but I would have him do a compression check first. A bad compression check could mean cracked ring lands which could score cylinder walls and cause a block to be pretty much trashed. The other thing to consider is that he will most likely be keeping everything that goes on the motor. So you'll need a bunch of stuff oilpan, pick up tube, windage tray, oil pan tray thing, pwr steering, intake, throttle body, frnt and rear covers, valley cover, knock sensors, all other sensors, a/c, water pump, coil packs, just a few off the top of my head. But most of the 6speeds go for 1000 anyways.

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Mark





Stock M3 14.1@97
S/C Civic SI 12.5@110
94 FD 10.77@140.69

hmm... the cars runs fine right now, it's his daily driver. I'll have to check with him on what all he'll be keeping. I know he has new heads, intake, TB already. For sure I'll need an alternator and water pump, that's all I'll hang off the front of the motor though.

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Brandon

It's a steal for 1000 dollars like they said above even if the block specs out as junk it's still worth it. Alternatively if the block is good I'd go ahead and get it re-ringed, honed, new bearings all around and line honed if needed, forge it if you've got the money.

then put it back together and put it back in your car, zero mile engine for about 2500.

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93 Black on Black Base -> Awaiting the Angry injection
89 Rx-7 Ls1/T-56 Daily Driven 28.2MPG Totaled by Hit and Run
03 Rubicon
Curse of the White Vehicles BROKEN!

That was one idea... but I figured a 6 speed would bring more money in than an auto... even though I'd like the auto better for a turbo (I drag race more than autoX). The end goal is to make the car worth 12k+ clean FC's with the LS1 and 6 speed usually go for around that. I could turbo my car now and it would make plenty of power (383 with 9:1 compression...) But it's an "old" iron block and heads that's carb'd. I don't think anyone would pay that much for it, even if it was a high 10 second FC.
I figure a turbo'd LS1 would have a higher value.

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Brandon

Dont go for resale value either as you wont get back out of it what you put in.

No offense but you are looking at this project the wrong way. Unless you have gobs of money to just throw at the car you should just worry about getting all your parts, getting the project under way, and get the car running first before you think about anything else. Mine was an on going project for about 4 years and around ~ $10k. Just because it is an fc does not mean it will be cheaper or take little time and effort.

Please dont take my responce the wrong way im just trying to save you from becoming another person who gets their car half way done and they run out of money because of tons of hidden costs.

Hey, no offence taken. The car does run right now. I have a '97 miata and an '02 650 v-star that will be sold / sacrificed next spring to help fund the LS1 swap.
I figure with a running LS1, tranny and ECU, I sould only need a driveshaft to get the car moving.
But I totally agree, I don't want to get stuck half way through a project that I can't fund. That's why I'm wondering if getting my buddies drive line would be cheaper in the end or do I keep looking for a lower mileage pullout with a 6 speed?

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Brandon

what year is the car again???

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