Guest mikey_clark Posted October 10, 2003 Share Posted October 10, 2003 Has anyone here put a 96 or newer 5.7 truck engine with the vortec heads in a Z? What would be the disadvantage of this if any? I can get a truck engine a lot cheaper than a Camaro engine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fl327 Posted October 11, 2003 Share Posted October 11, 2003 truck engine probably has cast head and block vs. alloy head Lt1 or alloy all Ls1. Vortec heads flow good, but truck motor probably has RV type cam, peaks power low and runs out of breath at 5000rpm or so. Thats an easy swap out. If the price is right, You should go for it I think, Cams for v8 are cheap. Truck motors are generally pretty tough, I would cam it for great midrange about 6000rpm red, light weight of the z car makes up for the low end easy. Do they make manifolds to convert those to carb? I would run the carb. You know, sometimes I do miss me a v8z Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim240z Posted October 11, 2003 Share Posted October 11, 2003 Yes, it has been done. Someone at the last MSA show had one in 99% completion. Major hood clearance problems...tall as hell motor. Do a search and you'll find the pictures that Owen posted. Tim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest mikey_clark Posted October 11, 2003 Share Posted October 11, 2003 They do make manifolds and carbs for them. I was thinking I'd just drop it in stock for now and then maybe play with it later on. If I change the cam, then I'd have to change the computer program and I don't know how to do either. And then I'd want to add headers and a bigger throttle body, and a bigger rear end and on and on. I'm going to be doing the Vella Rossa body kit which is going to take a bunch of time and just think I don't want to spend too much time on the motor right now. I drove a 98 C1500 truck last night and was pretty impressed with the acceleration. I did the math and with the 4200 lb truck and 255 net hp, it's got about the same horsepower per pound as the original 240z. So I figure if I drop that engine into a 240 I'm going to be all smiles. I don't see why the engine would be that high. Did that guy use the JTR mounts or the forward and higher Scarab position? Looking at the Vortec V8 last night it didn't have any kind of high profile manifold. The air intake did stick up pretty high though, but I think that can be modified. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David K Posted October 11, 2003 Share Posted October 11, 2003 Tim, im calling BS, I dont see any clearance problems, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest heinera Posted October 11, 2003 Share Posted October 11, 2003 You guys need to be reminded. There are two main types of v8 engines in chevy trucks that have been called VORTEC. 1st- the 96-99 v8, which is cast iron block and heads, and the same dimensionally as sbc since 55. 2nd- the LS1 (LQ7, LS series) related to the LS1 in the camaro and corvette. It is a different beast, and the truck version has a tall intake as shown in the pictures in the previous post. Both are called VORTEC, but they are very different. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest mikey_clark Posted October 11, 2003 Share Posted October 11, 2003 Yeah, that's not the 5.7 vortec I saw in the 98 truck I drove. Completely different intake. This looks like tpi. The one I saw had TBI. By the way, where does a guy go to find out about different engines offered in different cars and years with specs like compression ratio, hp, torque etc? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
strotter Posted October 11, 2003 Share Posted October 11, 2003 Remember when you start swapping cams, the Vortecs have a lift-limit of about .460". Most of that's in the springs, but you can do some simple head work to increase it to over .500". Only if a problem if you pick a higher-lift cam. Get the ECM and all the associated electronics. The hotrod guys over at 3rdGen just love the truck stuff, they discovered years ago like you that it's cheaper and more available! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pyro Posted October 13, 2003 Share Posted October 13, 2003 Chevy vortex truck engines are a great deal. And they make great power. They do make vortex intake manifolds for carbs but I would try to get the stock vortex efi working. Then if you need more power, get a super charger kit for a vortex 350 and pick up 150 hp while keeping good drivability and reliability. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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