I have a Lt1 out of a 1994 formula i'm building for my car.
I was thinking about just a 355 but just wanna get openions first.

this is what i was going with:
355 with 11.1 forged pistons,
2.02 1.60 heads 58cc heads
cc306 cam and 1.6 Roller rockers
but not sure it's gonna be enough.

I was wanting 450 to 480 to the crank.
Need it to run low 12's in the 1/4 with 3.42 gears and on motor.

just wanna see what other people got out of there builds.

 

cc305 or 503 or call lloyd at elliotts and let him know what u want. have a look at the site. if your going to stroke it go 383.
http://www.elliottsportworks.com/lt1.html

 

You are talking about the same amount of machine work roughly... Whichever assembly you are going to go with, is gonna need to be taken down to the machine shop and they will have to clearance the block to accommodate it. That being said, the bore will be the same (383-396), the difference is the stroke. The crank will make that difference for you. ex. 3.75=383 and 3.875=396... This means you may as well go with the larger crank. You can select it balanced from the manufacturer ( I recommend doing so for a couple hundred extra). The internal balance that you will see just means that the assembly has to be balanced inside not with an external balancer pulley. The answer to your questions can go in a variety of directions. The truth is, I can get well over 400hp to the rear wheels...yes out of an LT1 with just valve-train mods. This includes cam, lifters, pushrods, rockers, studs, and springs. You have 202valves and the rest of the head is probably ok...but will need some modification. This is the least expensive way to go about attaining your goals. I guarantee you can run in the mid-11s with the proper valvetrain, we have done it. PM me and I can tell you more about how to go with it.

 

forgot to mention that when you go with the larger crank other things need to change to make it all work...like a puzzle, the rods will need to be shorter and the piston will be displaced farther, with the wristpin higher up etc. Just because it advertises 11:1 compression doesnt mean that is what you will have...consider all the variables (head gasket thickness, what kinda pistons dome, flat-top, dished, how much displacement the piston takes up in the head, how large the chambers of the head are, what is the overlap of the cam, how high does the piston rise in the cylinder, has the block or the head been decked, yadda yadda yadda,) You need to make sure you can find someone who will consider all of this and give you what you are paying for. Because nobody is gonna just hand you the knowledge they have.

 

450-480 at the crank is a pretty easy number to hit. in which case, i'd go with a stout little 355.

use your stock crank(get it polished)
shoot, you can use your stock rods if you want
quality set of pistons such as mahle or diamond
LE2 heads with a matching cam

12's are easy and that should put you at around 400 to the rear wheels

 

i agree with whammer if you dont have a ridiculous power or track goal dont spend the money on stroking it even though its about the same machine work your going to spend around $1k on a good crank. just do the 355 Le2 and nice cam and you can get 430rwhp and run 11s with some suspension.

 

well there are to cars in my town that i'm just woried about out running.
foxbody that runs 12.40's and a Evo that runs 12.20's.

my car runs 14.1 at 100 with 2.73 gears and the #2 cylinder is weak. dont know if its a ring or valve yet.

but i would like to stay under $3000, machine is costing me $500 for boring honing, putting pistons on the rods and balancing, so I'll 2500 to do the rest.

 

well now you bring up more stuff to consider. do you have all the bolt ons? such as headers, exhaust, CAI? you're going to want gears. if you're an auto you're going to want a higher stall torque converter. you're going to want some suspension to put the power to the ground.

can your 2500 bucks cover all that?

 

i was gonna say 2500 should cover the stall converter, heads, cam and intake. that leaves him at least a couple grand short to finish the motor.

 

with a 14.1 i doubt he has much of any mods. thats right around stock times.