5.0 cranks being made soon. LS1 engines in transit

[TR MIKE]

I am producing more 90mm fully counterbalanced high spec cranks for 5.0 litre Rover engines and currently taking orders. I also have aluminium Chevrolet Corvette LS1 engines in transit any day now for resale or to custom build up. Being slightly smaller in many respects then the Rover these should fit into a TVR, Morgan, Dax,Westfield or anything that accepts a Rover v8. They take a t56 6 speed box. 400 bhp reliably anybody? My website illustrates these engines/parts. www.chevroletls1.com or www.boostperformance.co.uk. Mike

[joospeed]

mike was at the workshop on monday and we were looking at a griff on the ramp to measure up and take piccies. must say having seen to looks of the engine and spec on his website it does look an exciting transplant.

[Graham]

Im interested but they seem too expensive..

you can get a complete engine inc ecu, ancilaries and wiring loom in the states for about 3.5gbp so another 4k for shipping and profit seems excessive....

I know shipping is more difficult than it was and a lot of the us places will no longer do it ( more time consuming since 911)

4.5 to 5 k would seem more like it, especially as the conversion will probably drop the value of the car as its non standard !!!...

[Graham]

Also what about a cerby would it fit one of those ?

now that would be even more interesting...

[trefor]

Has nobody ever tried this before?

I'd love to drop a bigger cube motor in my Chimaera (currently running a 260Ci Buick V8 ).

[jellison]

God the Flack I got for mentioning this few months back!! - Now seem flavour of the month!

[TR MIKE]

Hi Graham, I did a vast amount of research on this over a year ago and doubt you can get them complete at the price you mention. The other thing is that the crate engines aren't complete at all, far from it. Loads of stuff is missing especially off the front end. Air freight has shot up since Sep 11th, a lot of people won't export them, so you have to store them after freighting them cross country in the US to the east coast. Once they get here you then have to make sure that it fits and you may need to change various parts on the engine such as sump, exhausts or front end bracketry etc. The Vette front end stuff could could cost you over $1500 before it's even left the states. I have a Z28 engine here, well arriving on Monday. I nearly lost it as it was stored at Andrews Airforce base and the owner left the marines and moved address etc after he got the money. I had to trace him as he ignored my tel calls. Then the truckers couldn't pick it up on 2 occasions as the marine didn't turn up at the base and he was the only person who knew where it was. It was a nightmare so I now have to allow for that kind of potential loss. I have stocked up on all the variable parts combinations for these engine so should be able to make a 'pic & mix' unit for most installs using the best parts. Mike.

[Graham]

SOunds like you need a contact or two in the states to help sort things out.... I have a mate living in detroit, who also happens to be working for GM....

Ok then whats the total weight of the LS1 & t56 compaired to the rover /t5 combo...

G

Still interested, just need to earn some cash..

[TR MIKE]

Hi Graham, in my mind these engines are pretty complicated and you need to know exactly which one to buy for your intended application unless your not that particular. I always intended just to buy or build long engines. You know, the block with internals, heads, starter, intake, throttle, coils, cam and to offer a choice of sumps and exhausts etc to fit different vehicles. Did you know that there are several sets of internals (pistons and cams), three front ends, 3 or 4 sumps to choose from, early/late heads and coils, different pulleys etc. I have all this stuff here now but it has taken months to put it all together. The buyer really has to choose between the whole GM product as a complete entity or buy just the engine onto which he could fit his own alternator and mappable ecu. There are several alts and pas units to choose from also. What about the 6.0, 5.3 and 4.6 versions? There are 4-5 different heads available. As for the weights, you are looking at around 400lbs for the engine before you start ditching the front end parts that you don't need. The T56 weighs in at around 8.5 stone but LS1 T56's are a bit thin on the ground. I reckon for the more ordinary versions a t5 would suffice. I am probably going to sort out pricing for long engines both new/second hand shortly as this would be much simpler for me. My own engine has the latest Z06 block which is also more desirable then earlier blocks. I have forged turbo pistons for it and shaft mounted roller rockers with 1.8:1 ratio. Most LS1's have 1.7:1 ratio but Z06 is 1:8 to 1. Z06 also has sodium filled exhaust valves. Makes the Rover look a bit dated. Mike.

[zturbo]

letz just hope they last longer than 24v engine tr mike