Cheapest engine to make big power with little cash

2005+ 5.3 GM 5300 HO L33. 310-330hp stock. Alum block. Alum head. came in trucks so priced $400-800 all day long.

>>The L33 was an aluminum block version of the LM7, and was referred to as the Vortec 5300 HO in marketing materials. Power increased by 15 hp (11 kW), to 310 hp (230 kW), over the LM7, and torque was unchanged. It was only available on extended cab 4WD pickup trucks.

L33 applications:

2005-2007 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 4WD 2005-2007 GMC Sierra 1500 4WD

is nobody going to say 4g63t?

AngryCorvair wrote: is nobody going to say 4g63t?

I don't see good 4g63ts out there real often for cheap. :(

Otherwise i would have thrown 3sgte into the mix.

For that matter, believe it or not, a 5sfe is cheap to make high 200whp and ~300wtq.

They can be had all day long for $200, and with an ebay turbo kit you have those numbers for under $1500 total investment. Not bad for a turbo 4-banger.

AngryCorvair wrote: is nobody going to say 4g63t?

I'm surprised it didn't come up sooner. Not too many other 4 bangers out there that'll take 500WHP on a bone stock junkyard bottom end.

^ He said CHEAP. 4g63t's haven't been cheap since the first "Moderately Fast, Obnoxiously Annoying and sorta Furios" movie came out.

RandyS wrote: 2005+ 5.3 GM 5300 HO L33. 310-330hp stock. Alum block. Alum head. came in trucks so priced $400-800 all day long. >>The L33 was an aluminum block version of the LM7, and was referred to as the Vortec 5300 HO in marketing materials. Power increased by 15 hp (11 kW), to 310 hp (230 kW), over the LM7, and torque was unchanged. It was only available on extended cab 4WD pickup trucks. L33 applications: 2005-2007 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 4WD 2005-2007 GMC Sierra 1500 4WD

+1

Hotrod did a build of an L33 with nothing more then adding a cam and some used z06 valve springs and got 371hp.

they swapped in some long tubed and did some ecm tuning and got it to over 420hp.

for under $1500..

RandyS wrote: 2005+ 5.3 GM 5300 HO L33. 310-330hp stock. Alum block. Alum head. came in trucks so priced $400-800 all day long. >>The L33 was an aluminum block version of the LM7, and was referred to as the Vortec 5300 HO in marketing materials. Power increased by 15 hp (11 kW), to 310 hp (230 kW), over the LM7, and torque was unchanged. It was only available on extended cab 4WD pickup trucks. L33 applications: 2005-2007 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 4WD 2005-2007 GMC Sierra 1500 4WD

So you mean $400 tp $800 for the engine, right? not the truck, cuz those are only in the 4wd extended cab trucks.

Still, pretty cool. I wonder if you can megasquirt those. What am I saying, I bet someone could mega squirt just about anything.

hmmm, there's always at least a few 4g63t's at the Challenge. that's generally my litmus test for whether or not something can be made fast for cheap.

AngryCorvair wrote: hmmm, there's always at least a few 4g63t's at the Challenge. that's generally my litmus test for whether or not something can be made fast for cheap.

I think they usually come out of cheap clapped out cars....

When you buy a 4g63T by itself, guaranteed to run good all that jazz.... it's a fairly pretty penny.

Sure, a 200k unopened motor will go for cheap.... but it ain't gonna hold 500whp for long, either.

All the turbo applications, while the cheap factor is there, there's a decent bit of time and or cache to make them cheap AND reliable, whereas with them V8s you get both falling off a log.

Not to sidetrack too far, but are L33 all aluminums as cheap as what's being stated - with a manual tranny RWD?

That's the price for just the motor, tranny is extra.

Armitage wrote:

AngryCorvair wrote: is nobody going to say 4g63t?

I'm surprised it didn't come up sooner. Not too many other 4 bangers out there that'll take 500WHP on a bone stock junkyard bottom end.

Someone already mentioned the 2.3 Turbo Ford.

93celicaGT2 wrote:

AngryCorvair wrote: hmmm, there's always at least a few 4g63t's at the Challenge. that's generally my litmus test for whether or not something can be made fast for cheap.

I think they usually come out of cheap clapped out cars.... When you buy a 4g63T by itself, guaranteed to run good all that jazz.... it's a fairly pretty penny. Sure, a 200k unopened motor will go for cheap.... but it ain't gonna hold 500whp for long, either.

It only needs to hold up Friday and Saturday.

bamalama wrote:

93celicaGT2 wrote:

AngryCorvair wrote: hmmm, there's always at least a few 4g63t's at the Challenge. that's generally my litmus test for whether or not something can be made fast for cheap.

I think they usually come out of cheap clapped out cars.... When you buy a 4g63T by itself, guaranteed to run good all that jazz.... it's a fairly pretty penny. Sure, a 200k unopened motor will go for cheap.... but it ain't gonna hold 500whp for long, either.

It only needs to hold up Friday and Saturday.

Hahah, got me there.

Then i'm going to throw 3sgte into the ring.

What about 6 cylinder DOHC Jaguar motors. They pulled a lot of these out of XJ6s around here and replaced them with small block Chevys. I can think of one place in particular where there are a lot of them lying around.

First gens turbo DSM's can still find some decent examples if you look hard enough.

Toyota's 3T-C. The motor of choice for insane 1/4 mile builds in Puerto Rico and the Philippines.

J

I wasn't going to say it but I like the ford 2.3T, forgotten and cheap, problem these days is finding a good used head w/o cracks because everyone has beat the piss out of them, but still cheap...

Problem with the 2.3T is that 5.0's are cheaper and faster. Why build a 350HP 2.3T when for the same money (and same turbo) you can have a 450HP 5.0?

N/A heads work just fine and are rarely cracked. There are a few myths about 2.3t's that have become accepted as truths, with nothing to really back them up. I won't get into that though - that's off topic in here.

IMO, if you're talking about cost, you're talking about your ability to tune, because that's where the power is. If you're smart enough to tune something effectively so you're not paying someone else to do it, your hp/$ goes way, way up.

Beyond that, it's a matter of finding out what can hold the greatest amount of power in stock form. For example, 5.0's have good pistons, but the block is weak. Much bigger motors may have stronger blocks in stock form (and I keep saying stock because that's usually the cheapest way to go), but the pistons may not be as good. So you get back to your ability to tune, since even GN's didn't come with forged pistons, I'm pretty sure, indicating that the ability to achieve and hold a solid tune is where you'll find the power.

Also, a lot of people forget that there's a lot of power in higer revs, so that's something else to look out for. That becomes a tradeoff, since bigger stuff doesn't always like to rev (again, in stock-ish form).

So I'd say find the biggest cheap thing that will stay together and boost the crap out of it. Look in magazines like Car Craft and you'll be stunned at what people are doing.

http://www.carcraft.com/featuredvehicles/ccrp_0711_1988_pontiac_firebird/index.html

I know you probably weren't hoping to see a Firebird, but you can't deny that's it's pretty badass, not to mention very grassroots.

Jay wrote: Toyota's 3T-C. The motor of choice for insane 1/4 mile builds in Puerto Rico and the Philippines. J

+1. The old 3T-C is a crazy tough engine. Just add boost!

P71 wrote: Problem with the 2.3T is that 5.0's are cheaper and faster.

Definately not cheaper, and the speed has everything to do with what the users does with/to it. In stock form, it's more accurate to consider them equal.

P71 wrote: Why build a 350HP 2.3T when for the same money (and same turbo) you can have a 450HP 5.0?

Because the 5.0 will split in half.

Junk yard Chevy 454 and happy gas to over 700hp. The Drag guys at one of the strips in the mid state love them. They save the cash for the bets at the track.

Riiiiiight. A 5.0 isn't cheaper than a 2.3? In what planet? Craigslist around here shows 2-3 2.3T's, for $750+. There's over a HUNDRED 302's, for under $300! Come on man don't even start with your bullE36 M3 again.

Real ways to make cheap power:

4-Bolt Chevy 350 w/Performer for $300:

http://portland.craigslist.org/clk/pts/1021115907.html

Core 350 for $75!

http://portland.craigslist.org/clc/pts/1019965101.html

Running 74 Camaro 350 with trans for $200:

http://portland.craigslist.org/clc/pts/1019433587.html

Ford 302 with headers, distributor, etc for $500:

http://portland.craigslist.org/clc/pts/1019981270.html

Complete running 5.0 EFI with ECU/harness for $325"

http://portland.craigslist.org/clk/pts/1015926264.html

Complete running 460 Ford for $500:

http://portland.craigslist.org/clk/pts/1024070206.html

Hell, add some forged pistons to that 460 on truck rods for $150:

http://portland.craigslist.org/clc/pts/1022653224.html

If you can't build a 400+HP N/A V8 for under $750 then you're don't have any business building engines.