Building up my LSx

[BR3W CITY]

Originally Posted by slotard

From everything I've read there isn't really any need to build up the bottom end... 700 to the wheels on an untouched shortblock with a turbo appears to be fairly common. I've been planning a swap and I don't expect to do much to the bottom end... but if I do, and decide I'm better off with a rebuild than finding another junkyard engine, I'd be tempted to go 408.

For the OP's build (high compression n/a), he's going to have to at least do the pistons and rod bolts. At that point, you might as well do the rods, let it spin and not worry about bending a rod the first time you get a little bit of knock.

Plus if he decides to run any spray, he'll be alright doing so within reason.

You NEED to do the rod bolts, high quality bearings and high quality valvetrain stuff if your serious about trying to make the big N/A power. The rod bolts fail under the stretch forces from RPM, which is much less prone to happen on the boosted motors. Seems to me like you can get the stock bottom end to live a little longer on boost than on RPM, but its not always true (ring gap can change that in a heartbeat).

Side note; I'm pretty sure there was a new stock bottom end N/A record set recently. We've talked about chasing that, but the amount of "little" stuff you need to one up the record is frustrating as hell.