Ls motor question

I overlooked that your goal was 500 wheel horsepower. Figure that will take 580-600 flywheel horsepower. That will take alot of cubes to do naturally aspirated and still be streetable. The LSX454 makes 620 HP but it's outside your budget. I agree with Anubis. I think you will need forced induction to meet your goals within your budget.

mobileaudio25 said:

6.0 motor like an LQ9 or are most people just LS swapping now? Are all LS blocks aluminum. I’m definitely going to freshen up whatever I do buy used even if I’m running condition. I would like to have about 6-8k I’n the motor. That will leave me with enough room to do the rest of the drivetrain.

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500 HP on an $8k budget? For $8K you should have 800 whp.

If your goal is that conservative with this budget, then I'd grab the motor that Texas82GP linked and have a warranty.

mobileaudio25 said:

I definitely want something that I’m not going to have to work on all of the time and can be good at idle. So my best bet would be to look into a LS2 or LS3 and adding a turbo. I’m sure the turbo is more expensive to build but easier to get the results I’m after. Do turbos effect daily driving at all when you’re talking about that hp range?

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Actually, No, Your best bet is to stay away from an LS2 or LS3. Why? Because they are expensive.
Turbocharging is a great option. For your HP level you could use the factory cam and have a nice idle and fuel economy....that is until you hit the go pedal
I nice used 5.3 or 6.0 truck motor (steel block LM7 or LY6) would be a good choice for a turbo application. Find one that is 2004 or newer if possible. Early versions are fine but have weaker bottom ends. One of of the biggest challenges with turbo is fabricating the hot side plumbing. If AC is important to you that could also be an issue to package. There are truck kits available but I am waiting for Holley to offer a hot side kit for G bodies (Todd are you listening?)

All kidding aside. A junkyard 5.3 or 6.0 freshened and opened up ring gaps - $2K; used 4L80 and converter or turbo 400 and converter - $1500; turbo and related parts and fuel system - $2500 = 6-700whp. Swap in a Lil John's stage 2 cam, Pac 1218 springs and add 100-150HP for another $600.

$8K is plenty of money to get it done.

FWIW - the used Supercharger idea is also a winner.

One point that seems to always be left out of these discussions is torque. Everyone likes to talk about power in terms of Horsepower and a desired Horsepower number but torque is what makes the car feel good and torque is what gets the car going from a stop. Usable torque is what you really want, especially for a street driven car. Just my opinion.

Texas82GP said:

Yes, all true LS engines are aluminum blocks. Their truck brethren have iron blocks and are referred to as Vortec V-8's. The truck engines are more economical since they are more plentiful.

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All gen 3 and gen 4 engines (both iron and aluminum block) are commonly referred to as LS.

Vortec is a marketing term used by GM that was slapped on everything from the 4.3 V6 to the 96-98 gen 1 sbc truck motors, 4200 atlas motors....etc..... the term really doesn't refer to any particular engine family.

Plenty of good used engines available here. I've found 2 near me using this website.

http://www.car-part.com/index.htm

I was posting the same time as Anubis - I believe we are both saying pretty similar things regarding the motor options.