Hitman47 Posted February 17, 2004 Share Posted February 17, 2004 So i got a great price on a 95 camaro lt1 engine, but have a old 350 4 bolt block thats in great shape, idont know how many bolt the lt1 is. Ive noticed online that lt1 heads are very limited and not very impressive compared to say a afr head for the same price but in "old head" size.My question is should i take all the componets from the lt1 and convert the old 4 bolt 350 so i can use old style heads. it seems to me i would save alot of money on the heads and i would have my block that i know is in great shape in there. Chad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muskrat Posted February 17, 2004 Share Posted February 17, 2004 While the older style SBC parts and blocks are more readily available, they are not interchangible with the LT1 components. Mainly, because the LT1 uses a reverse flow cooling setup. Instead of coolant flowing through the block to the heads, it flows coolant to the heads first, reducing temperatures and allowing more compression to be run on pump gas. In addition, the LT1 uses a front mounted distributor, which is not readily adaptable to the older style L-98 parts. Now, I believe that your LT1 block has 2 bolt main caps, which are quite sufficient below about 400hp. If you are interested in converting to the splayed 4-bolt mains, Grumpyvette has made some excellent posts with specific parts and procedures, it'll just take some digging to find them. In the end, it would be much cheaper to buy AFR heads for the LT1 than to convert your 4-bolt block to use the LT1 components. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim240z Posted February 17, 2004 Share Posted February 17, 2004 The powdered metal connecting rods in your LT1 will give out way before your main caps begin to walk. Two bolt main caps, esp. if you get a set of ARP studs, will hold a goodly amount of stress. Other areas of the stock system are the weak points, not your mains. Tim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hitman47 Posted February 17, 2004 Author Share Posted February 17, 2004 Also an advantage is so far the only heads i could find are 58cc and i eventually want to run a blower on this engine, so i was hoping to use a 72cc or 76 head Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim240z Posted February 18, 2004 Share Posted February 18, 2004 If you're going to forced induction, you should get some forged pistons and rods anyway. Then the chamber size is of lesser importance. Just get pistons to suit. Tim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hitman47 Posted February 18, 2004 Author Share Posted February 18, 2004 the deepest dished pistons are -28cc and thats like 9.3 to 1 wich in my opinion is to high for 8 psi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
80LS1T Posted February 18, 2004 Share Posted February 18, 2004 If you want a 4 bolt main, splayed main caps are way better than any factory 4 bolt main. The factory 2 bolt main is almost as good as the factory 4 bolt main. If your building for serious power, say 500HP+ then you would want splayed main caps anyways. In which case you would need a factory 2 bolt block to turn in to a 4 bolt splayed main caps. If it came out of a camaro, firebird, formula, TA, roadmaster, or impalla SS it will be a 2 bolt.....if it came out of a corvette it will be a 4 bolt. The powdered metal rods are advertised as good to 450HP. Which probably means they are good to atleast 500HP(probably under rated to be safe). Making a GEN 1 block accept the GEN 2 LT1 heads an intake is waaaaaaaaay more work and money than its worth. You will not come out ahead if you do this to the old block. You will have to modify the block, the intake, get some kind of distributor set up? and god only knows what else to make the conversion work! Just buy a good set of aftermarket heads and be done with it. If you build your engine now for no blower, say 10.5:1 compression(stock) then you wont be able to run boost later due to the high compression. So now would be the best time to choose what you want. Unless you have the money to build 2 bottom ends? Say 8:1 to 8.5:1 compression for a blower motor and say 10.5:1 to 11:1 for an NA motor. You sure cant run much if any boost on 11:1 compression! Not with pump gas! Guy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToplessZ Posted February 18, 2004 Share Posted February 18, 2004 If you want the lt1 fuel injection on your 1st gen block than the intake can be swapped using a tpi speed density harness or aftermarket engine management such as the megasquirt. You can convert the intake yourself or have it done at http://www.lt1intake Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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