How much horsepower?

[HighlyFanatic]

How much HP can you get out of an LT1 engine (mated to a 6 speed) and a budget of $2000 US.

What mods?

 

[Skant]

If you want the most added acceleration for $2000, you should probably look mainly at the axle rather than the engine. Lower gears (like 3.73) will have a bigger effect than even fairly large horsepower gains.

Other than that would be using an open air box lid and a sport exhaust.

Those would deplete your $2000 already.

I think those are the most solid mods. There's a lot of other bolt on stuff which is... questionable as far as horsepower gains. My impression is that if you really want more beyond that, you have to get into things like boring the engine, altering the stroke, etc.

- Skant

 

[sothpaw]

cyl. heads

I have the same idea/budget as you.

Nitrous will work for that price--but if the system fails, you can
blow the engine.

supercharger--even used, it's just barely out of price range.
Also, I'd bet there are reliability issues. They don't make 20,000
units/ year like the way GM made C4's.

heads--cyl. heads alone installed by a pro would be around
$2000. Add in a 52mm TB for $250, and I'm guessing 40 hp
at the flywheel. My leading contender.

gears--fuel economy hit, and not as much gain as you think
at the track unless you can really hook up with the rear tires.
I'll probably do this too at some point.

 

[Edmond]

How much HP can you get out of an LT1 engine (mated to a 6 speed) and a budget of $2000 US.

What mods?

For me, I would probably do the bore and stroke bit. If you can, do the work yourself and save yourself some money for a nice free flowing exhaust system.

HP doesn't come cheap, you'll probably see that most people do their mods eventually and not all at once because of the price for performance. Building the car the way you want it could take years and it's okay that it takes years as long as you're happy with the end result.