For those of you that may or may not remember me (it's been a while), here's a pic of my car (before LED daytime running lights!)
My flexplate broke when cruising out to SEMA (at the speed limit, I swear... 24 MPG FTL) and sheared off some bolts inside of the shortblock, and cracked the rear engine cover. The engine had to be pulled to go to the machine shop. So while it was pulled I decided to do a teardown to check the condition. Seemed ok aside from some "normal" very light scoring on the cylinder walls. So I decided that it was a good time for a rebuild. So if I was going to rebuild, then why don't I do it right and do a forged rebuild? And if I am forging a motor, why not build it for boost/NA and use ARP studs everywhere? With the right piston dish, all it would take to go from NA to FI configuration on the shortblock would be a change of heads/headgaskets. Oh, and since I had gone through all the trouble to make it a smog legal swap, I should try to keep it smog legal by being able to pass the sniffer by choosing a small cam which should also work for nitrous/boost.
Why did it take so long (it's been down since SEMA)? Well, the only place I could tow it to within my 200 mile tow range was my parents house in the desert. Their house is 100 miles from my apartment in Burbank. To work on the car I have to drive my gas-guzzling 4x4 Jeep 200 miles a weekend, which equates to $120+ in gas over a weekend (depending on how much weight I have in the back of the Jeep, like a longblock, for example).
So, this is what I have sitting in my car right now, waiting for stuff to be bolted back together (not much). Needs intake manifold-up bolted on, a couple of accessories-forward bolted on, shorty headers and cats bolted on, misc. (like Lowes catch-can, sensors), and fluids/bleeding. Hoping to get it started on Sunday.
People with nearly identical shortblocks have reported around 750RWHP @ 15PSI on dynos.
2001 LS1 (346ci) block
Honed to a 347ci (3.905" bore)
Clevite S & P series bearings throughought
ARP head studs & ARP main studs
Stock 3.622" iron crank (micro-polished & balanced)
Lunati LAE1 connecting rods
Diamond Racing -8.6cc pistons. Coated tops w/heat rejection coating, coated skirts with antifriction coating.
Stock 241 heads milled 0.045" (59cc?)
0.051" compressed MLS headgaskets
Patriot .660" lift dual springs
Stock rocker arms with COMP trunion bearing upgrade
Degreed cam on install
Custom grind 218/230 .605/.605 115+2 cam with COMP XFI lobes
SLP oil pump/SLP double roller timing set
42# Lucas/Delphi injectors
LS6 intake manifold
LS6 PCV system
P&P stock throttle body
Stock MAF
JBA shorty headers
2.5" Bassani true duals
Driveline:
Stock 4L60E
BDR 2200ish stall 12" torque converter
OEM aluminum driveshaft
Stock 3 channel 10 bolt with 3.42 gears/torsen carrier
WIP shot:
Ready for Boost... or is it?
. My car is also paid off, so that helps. I started buying parts for this build in June of 2010 and have been shelling out $$$$ ever since. I moved in July and had to invest about $1000 into my Jeep to get it running properly just so I'd have a daily driver while my car was down. In fact, I'm replacing the water pump on the Jeep this weekend before I start working on the car. If you want to talk about barely affording gas, I'm right there with you. 
