DGA1
I'm Awesome
I've looked and looked and looked into this. It's up to you really. In either situation you will have to get a 411 ECU conversion to get the most bang for your buck. In both situations you will need to beef up your 4L60E, or get a 4L80E. With a 411 tunning a 383 is the same as tuning the LSx if you send it off to a tuner. The 383 will be cheaper, but less efficient, unless you get a smok'n deal on a LSx; as in close to free.
383:
With a non-spider fuel injection manifold you can put whatever injectors you want on your L33 and have it tuned that way. Only thing these manifolds don't have is EGR provision, but you could make it work if you really wanted to and needed it. With the 383, you could just buy a crank, pistons, rings, reuse your rods, get the whole shebang balanced, the block machined, and reuse your heads (but get them reworked for more lift) and lifters. A meatier cam is readily available to get the power where you want it in the band. With a good tune and selection of cam you are looking at easy 400+ hp and around 450 ft. lbs. of torque with all that and headers. It's a Gen-I, SBC after all.
LSx:
With a LQ4, cam, headers, and a good tune, you will be at the numbers listed above if not more. LSx is going to be more efficient, it's why it makes more power from less cubes, and have all the support of the SBC and at this point more development going on than the old venerable.
It's really up to you, and I don't think you can go wrong either way. Both are going to need some work and the more you can do yourself the more you'll save. One could argue that the LSx is also easier to work on than the SBC, for one you don't have to take the lifters out to get the cam out, no need to fiddle with the distributor, and as with the SBC many parts from the LSx family just bolt up from one engine to the next.
383:
With a non-spider fuel injection manifold you can put whatever injectors you want on your L33 and have it tuned that way. Only thing these manifolds don't have is EGR provision, but you could make it work if you really wanted to and needed it. With the 383, you could just buy a crank, pistons, rings, reuse your rods, get the whole shebang balanced, the block machined, and reuse your heads (but get them reworked for more lift) and lifters. A meatier cam is readily available to get the power where you want it in the band. With a good tune and selection of cam you are looking at easy 400+ hp and around 450 ft. lbs. of torque with all that and headers. It's a Gen-I, SBC after all.
LSx:
With a LQ4, cam, headers, and a good tune, you will be at the numbers listed above if not more. LSx is going to be more efficient, it's why it makes more power from less cubes, and have all the support of the SBC and at this point more development going on than the old venerable.
It's really up to you, and I don't think you can go wrong either way. Both are going to need some work and the more you can do yourself the more you'll save. One could argue that the LSx is also easier to work on than the SBC, for one you don't have to take the lifters out to get the cam out, no need to fiddle with the distributor, and as with the SBC many parts from the LSx family just bolt up from one engine to the next.
