desperado Posted November 19, 2003 Report Share Posted November 19, 2003 I am working a deal to trade off my 80 malibu as a rolling chassis for a taxi cab LT-1. The motor is stated to run, I am getting the harness and CPU of course as well. My question is this. What am I going to run into with putting that motor in front of a turbo 350 tranny and setting it in a 1980 Camaro. I have not seen the motor yet, but I figure it's an Opti-spark. I do know it has cast heads. I have a fully outfitted shop. A background in automotive wiring (wired several hot rods for ppl from scratch) and heat in the shop. But, I don't know what I am getting into here, I have steered clear of computer motors up to this point, but I am figuring that it's a set it in, plug it in and other than a few silly shit things I will be good to go. The one thing I really don't know is reverse flow cooling, I think the LT-1 has it. Will it work with a 1980 style radiator or not?? Help me out guys, I am entering uncharted waters here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrMeanGreen Posted November 19, 2003 Report Share Posted November 19, 2003 Let's see: If you have everything, most of it will wire right up. You will need an editing program like LT1 Edit or Tunercat to get rid of the parameters you won't use. You'll also need the LT1 style radiator for the reverse cooling process, a regular raditor will not work correctly. As for the engine, my guess is the taxi was a Caprice. The LT1s in the B-Bodies were iron head/iron block and rated at 260hp. You can choose to keep the Opti, go to a magnetic crank trigger setup, or a regular distributor. It all depends on what you wanna accomplish and how much you wanna invest smile.gif Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desperado Posted November 19, 2003 Author Report Share Posted November 19, 2003 Hmmmm, 260 HP, well that isn't a wonderful rating. It looks like that between needing to get a new radiator, the fact that it's 260 HP and I assume that the cost of hop up parts for an LT-1 are probably not cheap. I may just see if this guy has something else that is more reasonable. I don't know though, I realy don't know much about LT-1's at all what do you think ??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SamZman Posted November 19, 2003 Report Share Posted November 19, 2003 It's not much more difficult to find LT1 parts vs. a regular sbc. There are a few things such as one piece seal crank, intake and distributor differences which make those parts a little more pricey.. But there are plenty of places to find these parts. Are you looking to do a complete rebuild? Or keep this cheap? You can get an aluminum set of factory LT1 heads and have them ported, along with a cam and get some decent numbers. Along with a set of long tube headers and true dual exhaust and you'll be putting out quite a bit of power(~390rwhp). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desperado Posted November 19, 2003 Author Report Share Posted November 19, 2003 Originally posted by SamZman: Are you looking to do a complete rebuild? Or keep this cheap? You can get an aluminum set of factory LT1 heads and have them ported, along with a cam and get some decent numbers. Along with a set of long tube headers and true dual exhaust and you'll be putting out quite a bit of power(~390rwhp). Gonna have to be left pretty much as is for now. I plan to do a cleanup on the ports, match the intake and heads and maybe a cam. BTW, is that a roller cam or not??) But I am hoping that this isn't some high mileage oil burner that I can fog for skeeters with. I am planning to do a leak down and compression tests on it while it's on the stand but I can't tell everything about it till it's in and running of course. Leads me to something else, I am considering pulling the 350 turbo, and putting a gear box back into the car, it is an original Z-28 M21 car, with the big 10 bolt posi rear (4.10 I believe) I sold the original tranny and lakewood bellhousing quite a while ago, before I even owned the car in reality, the previous owner traded me the muncie for a different 350 turbo I had. Is that gonna cause other problems with the LT-1 conversion???? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest stevil Posted November 20, 2003 Report Share Posted November 20, 2003 Hydraulic roller. I think the iron heads actually flow a slight bit better, they were made after the original LT1 aluminum heads... but they weigh alot more. They can also be ported out more as well, might want to stick with those. F-body was rated at 275 HP, so 260 isn't too far off. I put down 294 rwhp at the wheels through my automatic with basically a K&N, cutout, midlength headers, electric waterpump and 1.6RR, about 350 HP at the crank? So just a few things can help alot. Not sure what kind of power you're looking for though. I'd try and get a cam in there at least. What year is the donor car? I have tuning software as well, I might be able to help you with that stuff (depends on the year of your PCM, what port style it uses... get OBD-I graemlins/thumb.gif ). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desperado Posted November 20, 2003 Author Report Share Posted November 20, 2003 The motor is, from what I am told a 94 caprice motor. The thing that is scaring me about the deal is that the car was used as a taxi. So I am figuring that it's got some miles on it. Not that it's a big deal but it still bothers me I guess. I am thinking that I read that the exhaust manifolds are interchangeable with older motors, So I am wondering if older headers will work too. The 350 that was in the Camaro had some stuff done to it, and I am hoping that at least I can use those headers on this motor. As far as a air cleaner, I am sort of pickled about that. I have a 6 inch cowl induction hood that is on the car. And I do sort of like it. But routing a cowl induction into a LT-1 is gonna be damn near impossible, at least without a 180 turn in the air intake pipe. Any Ideas??? Also just found somehting else out interesting. There is a 265 displacement motor, "Baby LT-1" that came in the caprices from 94 to 96 [ 20. November 2003, 08:55 AM: Message edited by: Desperado ] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest stevil Posted November 20, 2003 Report Share Posted November 20, 2003 The LT1 has a 1.5" D-port design, but same pattern and spacing as the SBC I think. Not sure what's compatible.. http://www.advancedinduction.com/images/LT1exh.jpg Sounds like the cowl induction will be just for looks. '94 is a good year, OBD-I, same as my car. Try and get the ALDL data port along with the PCM, the little 10 pin connector thing under the dash that is used for getting codes, programming, etc. Unless your car already has one. The 265 "baby LT1" is a 4.3L L99, not an LT1. Can't tell it from the LT1, except block casting numbers. I think the LT1 has 327 on the side, the L99 will have 4.3, and I wouldn't really bother with one of those. You can also have someone check the RPO codes on the taxi if they can find them, either L99 or LT1. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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