maroZ2894, I would just take Whamm's advice! That man knows what he is talking about!

 

Ahh, what we have is misunderstandings

I did not realize that your budget was more around $3000.

What you must understand is the bolt ons support future mods. Why would you go for a longer duration or lift if you can't get the air in, or out? It might sound neat to say you replaced the cam but why do all the labor for minimal gains?

is the correct question actually

I am absolutely going to do the bolt ons including LT headers, and I have another $1500, what should i do?

is that the question?

next, be sure to tell us are there any outstanding issues with the engine today leaks, sputters etc?

new waterpump and opti could eat a lot of that $1500. if you are taking apart the engine just for kicks, then kae it less tired. Why not do a basic rebuild kit and avoid future trouble? That would be gaskets, oil pump, rings, bearings, freeze plugs, valve springs,motor mounts etc. None of that would give you gains over the new stock motor but it would invigorate a tired motor. That again would eat from yuor $1500 before you even mod

what do you want to do and what is your actual total budget and timeline to psend that moeny. If you say $1500 each winter then you will once again get the bolt on answer from most of us as the first place.

 

Once again, $1500 isn't enough to do anything too substantial even if we're talking internal components. If you're looking for a full motor build (i.e. you're building from the block up) you're not going to have nearly enough of a budget to even rebuild the bottom end (providing we're doing this the right way). You can put in a bigger cam, but it's not going to get you too much since the heads don't flow well enough to support much more cam than the car has stock, you can get new heads bu then the cam isn't big enough. A good set of heads alone is going to eat your whole budget, or you can get the stock heads ported/polished, but once again, that's going to be most of your budget. That's just for the base component as well, that price doens't include the fact that depending on your HP goals you may need bigger injectors, bigger TB, ported intake etc. etc. Internal mods aren't cheap. For your budget you can get a cam and valve train accessories or heads. I don't think you're going to be able to do both.