[jpope417]

I have a 92lx 5.0 with about 150,000 miles on it still runs good but i want more power out of it. Long story short I bought the car when i was 16 with 80,000 miles on it in 2001 for $6500.00. I put BBK long tubes on it BBH off road H-pipe, Flowmaster 2 Chambers, BBK cold air intake, Venom 500 Control Box, and Roller rocker arms. Best run was a 14.20 at 102 with stock gears and bfg radials. Well i sold the car when i joined the Marine Corps, and got married and deployed to Iraq. I wish i would have never sold it. Well I am currently in Afghanistan and for a gift my wife tracked down the guy i sold it to and bought it back for $500.00!!!!!!! It is in perfect shape on the out side but the motor has seen better days and the t-5 and clutch are both destroyed. So I came got a new tranny for free from a friend who owed me alot of money to make up for some of the debt, New world class T-5 and other than that It needs everthing else. Also the guy i sold it to had the idea he was goting to turn it in to a drag car so he gutted the inside. Door skins head liner its all gone. and thats all he did beside try to run it into the dirt. So I have a very strict budget of $5,000.00. I can do all the work my self except the bottem end. So where do i start, I have seen alot of bottem kits on summit for decent price, has anyone every bought one and are they worth the money. And the bigest question I have is a top end kit???? I like the trickflow and the holley but, there just so expensive....... I know you get what you pay for but has any one peaced together there own kit and saved some cash. I have lookeed at the Patriot 185's and 165's fully assembled for under 900.00 are they compairable to any of the top end heads(edlebrock, trickflow ect) And also the upper and lower intakes mad by proffesional products look gread and are about $400.00 for both upper and lower. So are they compairable to any of the name brands? I also plan to up to 24lbs injectors with the matching MAF. Also a 70 or 75 mm throtle body which ever is required. But them with building my own kit like that, i am lost with what kind of cam to use. i know you can fill out a thing on cranes web site and they will recommend one. So I guess the question is build my own or buy a kit my end goal is 300+ rwhp and Alot more torqe. This car will only be driven once a week to work and maybe out on the town on saterday nights not a every day driver so nothing has to be geared to daily driver. So this is what i have to buy and found prices so far.
New door skins 350
head liner 100
interior trim 200
clutch kit 250
al. drive shaft 200

So thats already $1000.00 so only $4000.00 left. Is it do able or do i need to beg the wife to up the budget. But i want to keep it in this range. So any help would be great i can only get on the net when i am not on missions. So i cant do research on my own. Please help me. I cant wait to be home in 3 months drink a beer eat a steak and start pulling the motor the night i get home.

Cpl Pope, JR
24th MEU
Afghanistan

[bmo37]

Looking at the miles I would break this down to reliability first followed budget performance. Seeing the 150k miles you might want to consider if ur going to tear the car down to the shortblock that now is a good time to do a stroker kit. I originally did the same thing, got my entire shortblock for under 2,000.00 with all forged internals (probe/chp components). This would give u a reliable platform to start on.

With 2k out of the way leaves little to work with, now yes if you try peice things together you can make more power but under a budget i always thought the Trickflow engine kit was the best bangs for the buck. You get everything you need including gaskets to do the whole top end for under 2,500.00 with a kit that is designed to work together can't beat that.

Now if you decide the stroker is a little too expensive I still at the least would tear the block down get it checked for cracks , and have a bore/hone done and at least go .030 over with new pistons and rings. I think budget 306 stroker are fairly cheap around 600 bucks for the stroker kit if a 331 or 347 is overkill.

Lastly check ebay they have some really cheap budget stroker kits but be careful and make sure u get forged internals as well as the correct pistons for your application (notched or valve reliefs ). Good luck

[Vipersix]

Rule #1: Budget overruns are inevitable, so count on it.

I would first recommend that before you buy a single part, plan out your entire project. Before you even consider parts you should determine what sort of a car you want and what you intend to do with it. It's good that you have a power level in mind and have decided that it will not be a daily driver, those are important first steps.

You may want to consider a crate engine. I have sunk enough money into my engine to purchase two crate engines but I am a stubborn fool who wants the bragging rights of actually building my motor in it's entirety. But not everyone cares about that.

But you seem to be going the right route so far. Research is the golden rule. The more research you can do, the better. Keep in mind that everyone is biased though, so take opinions with a grain of salt.

Once you get a rough idea of a parts combo, run it past us on here again and I'm sure we'll critique it until you're ready to throw punches. Oh, the cam is the last thing you'll need. Ask the pro's at Crane or Comp and they'd be more than happy to recommend a good cam for your motor.

Keep your head down, bro. It's crazy over here... (I'm in Bagram.)