Cost of crated and secondhand US V8s

[Pigeon]

Question on behalf of a mate of mine who is considering which V8 to transplant into his Opel Commodore... he was going to use a Merc V8 but now reckons a US one would be better, as in cheaper and with more tuning stuff available. He'd like to know if anyone has an idea of what sort of money he would be looking at for (a) a crated engine including shipping from the US and (b) a secondhand one in this country. The engines he's particularly interested in are the 4.6 litre versions of the Northstar V8 and the Ford Modular V8.

TIA...

[steve_d]

Try contacting BoostedLS1 he both imports and builds V8s.
www.pistonheads.com/gassing/profile.asp?h=0&memberId=18409&f=20&t=309694

Steve

[stevieturbo]

If its anything like the Holden Commodore, then an Aussie based V8 would make more sense...

[fat richie]

stevieturbo said:

If its anything like the Holden Commodore, then an Aussie based V8 would make more sense...

Aussie V8s are just Chevy V8s - try Real Steel or USAutomotive.

[boosted Ls1]

fat richie said:

stevieturbo said:

If its anything like the Holden Commodore, then an Aussie based V8 would make more sense...

Aussie V8s are just Chevy V8s - try Real Steel or USAutomotive.

True but from Oz they cost peanuts due to the exchange rate. You have to factor in the shipping costs etc but it will still be cheaper. Guess you need a reliable supplier down under.

Boosted.

[Pigeon]

...so any idea how much then Boosted?

[boosted Ls1]

Pigeon said:

...so any idea how much then Boosted?

I don't know which engine or from which country but from Oz it's something like $3 AU to the pound and the same rate applies for the shipping costs. Certainly better then buying from the US especially if ls1 or similar. I wouldn't touch either of the cammer motors myself.

Boosted.

[v8 racing]

boosted Ls1 said:

Pigeon said:

...so any idea how much then Boosted?

I don't know which engine or from which country but from Oz it's something like $3 AU to the pound and the same rate applies for the shipping costs. Certainly better then buying from the US especially if ls1 or similar. I wouldn't touch either of the cammer motors myself.

Boosted.

I have a friend in perth and he regualy sees ls1,s for around £2000 in english money complete with the 6 speed boxes, i dread to think how much the carriage is though, i sent a short engine over there and with insurance it was £500!

[pentoman]

Pigeon said:

Question on behalf of a mate of mine who is considering which V8 to transplant into his Opel Commodore... he was going to use a Merc V8 but now reckons a US one would be better, as in cheaper and with more tuning stuff available. He'd like to know if anyone has an idea of what sort of money he would be looking at for (a) a crated engine including shipping from the US and (b) a secondhand one in this country. The engines he's particularly interested in are the 4.6 litre versions of the Northstar V8 and the Ford Modular V8.

TIA...

Which Merc V8 was he thinking about out of interest?
A 560 (300bhp) would be neat. If he's still thinking about it, "Mercman" is probably the best place to source a used engine. Some of the Merc breakers are a bit rubbish.

[Pigeon]

pentoman said:

Which Merc V8 was he thinking about out of interest?
A 560 (300bhp) would be neat. If he's still thinking about it, "Mercman" is probably the best place to source a used engine. Some of the Merc breakers are a bit rubbish.

He already has a 4.2 SOHC V8 out of a dead F-reg car which he happened to get the opportunity to pick up because it had suffered the usual problem that sends this model year to the scrapyard - failure of the rare-as-hens'-teeth £1200 ignition module. The plan was to get me to build a replacement ignition module, and to stick a supercharger on it because he wants around 400bhp. Since then he's come into some money and can now look at other options. Rubbishness of Merc breakers is one reason for considering the American option

boosted Ls1 said:

I wouldn't touch either of the cammer motors myself.

Interesting, I think the same though in my case it's only gut feeling since I know hardly anything about American V8s. The reason for including the LS series in the query in my original post is that I've suggested to him that they are cheap, light, strong, have good parts availability, ought to be able to give 400bhp supercharged without too much difficulty, and will generally make life easier all round than the DOHC options. His view is that he doesn't want a 2-valve pushrod engine, he wants a 4-valve DOHC because he wants a 7000rpm redline. (Personally I think his proposed spec will way exceed what he needs to enjoy the car, but then I want to build a supercharged two-stroke diesel motorcycle with even more ambitious spec, so who am I to talk?) Since I don't know enough about the engines, especially the DOHC ones, to be able to compare whatever advantages the DOHC ones have with those of the LS series - only to state what little I know of the LS - I'd be interested if you could provide a bit of the logic underlying your conclusion pray Cheers!

[boosted Ls1]

Hi Pigeon,

IMO, he's wasting his time with ford and should do some more research about the chevy pushrod products.

The basic Gen 3 lsx engines make 350-405 plus horsepower stock so no need for forced induction. They can rev to 7k if he wants it. They are simple but very well designed, huge state of the art design changes to componants were made a few years ago. This isn't a 50'ies pushrod engine carried over but something special for the 90'ies and well beyond. Only the rod shells are carried over from the old smallblock, everything else is new. They have more cubes then the cammers, are lighter and more compact. Now we have the ls7 427 small block and they still keep rolling out new developments such as a supercharged version. The cammers are overcomplicated, just read a manual to see what I mean. Do cammers have titanium rods, titanium valves or valvetrain parts? These are the sort of parts that GM are using in the ls7. KISS is the way to go with the new generation of chevy engines

Boosted.

[Pigeon]

Thanks, that puts a bit more flesh on the bones of my LS knowledge... I've printed out the wikpedia articles on the three families, which have some informative tables of stock power and torque outputs. Hopefully they will be enough to convince him without me building an otherwise identical but LS-engined car and having a race