The Best Restomod Engine

[wildwolf531]

Hello I am new too this site and have a pressing question.

I am moving out of the country to a more remote region where me and my father plan on opening up a shop and start our own business. I got into cars when I was 18 and have wanted to have a career in this type of field (working on classic cars). The issue we are primarily going to be facing is finding engines and parts for our projects. My question is which is the best, most popular, engine used for restomod projects that is versatile, easy to find and fix and find parts for, relatively cheap, and best for other modifications (tuning, turboing, supercharging) that there is. This way we can just but and store a large portion of them and use them for our projects.

This is not a competitive question meant to get guys who love a particular engine to fight the others it is a business question. Any ideas would be appreciated.

Thank you.

[Craig510]

If you spend a few days here it will become obvious.

[wildwolf531]

What Im basically looking for is an engine that can be put into any vehicle, whose parts are easy to but and fix

[Mr.VENGEANCE]

6.0, 5.3, and 4.8 all day long..

easiest to find, best starting point for a budget build, wakeup great with a cam, heads and a tune, take turbos well, and as long as there are chevy gmc cadillac trucks of any form that have been wrecked where you are going you wont run out of engines anytime soon..

[Schwartz Performance]

Yep what Vengeance said.

Small block Chevy's are also common and cheap, but the LS series GM engines are the answer to your question.

[wildwolf531]

Thanks for the replies. I had a feeling the LS engines were the answer. Now Im wondering which LS is the cheapest and which is the most expensive. I would prefer a list from cheap to expensive.

[Aficionado]

I could be wrong on this, but all other things being equal I think that pretty much follows displacement (even though displacement isn't necessarily *why* some are more expensive)--5.3, 5.7, 6.0, 6.2, 7.0--with the bigger motors being more expensive and iron blocks being a bit cheaper than aluminum.

I include the "all other things being equal" caveat because there's a huge difference in price between takeout, crate, and built-by-a-speed-shop motors.

[Mr.VENGEANCE]

not necessarily as a 5.7 will be more expensive in many cases (at the moment til LS1s are considered super old or high high high mileage) than a 6.0... you can still get 6.0s for around 1K to $1600 mileage depending.. but the LS1s(5.7) will be more even with comparable mileages on the engine and that they are aluminum.

I might be wrong but I think there is no 5.7 liter Iron block LSs... chime in as id like to be sure myself.

my response was based on his question on "best" and "available".. in a remote area.

Trucks are the most common vehicle in a remote area.. not Corvettes.. so those motors will be in that region without any problem IM SURE.


now.. tuck away a 7.0 motor whenever you can so when a big fish client comes through the door you have that option waiting for him.. lol

I for one have a 5.3 in a camaro AND a 7.0... and let me tell you.. cut fresh from the tree.. 7.0 is sooo worth it.. but the 5.3 I got was to build up to compare to my LS7..

I want to see what the lil mouse can do if I make it smoke dust, lift weights and do roids... will it compare to natural 7.0 genetics.. lol!

[Blevinator]

LS7 is the least favorite for forced induction applications although you can have the motor sleeved. Very expensive compared to the other motors listed here
My choice is the 6.2 LS3
Seems to be GMs favorite as well
I hear of many 5.3 turbo builds on the cheap being done

[cactuss4]

If you are going to add forced induction, iron is a much better bet than any of the alum options. Sure you are adding weight over the alum, but I think for longevity from an iron block is the way to go.

[Aficionado]

I might be wrong but I think there is no 5.7 liter Iron block LSs... chime in as id like to be sure myself.

my response was based on his question on "best" and "available".. in a remote area.

!

Not that I'm aware of--and I'm with you on what's most common and therefore a better choice. My response was just a general guideline in response to his question on the range of prices. I'll happily stand corrected by those with more specific knowledge.