Completed: LT1 Heads on a GEN1
#101
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Ok I started by locating the hole, then predrilled it and increased bits untill I got to half inch, then I went with the 3/4" bit. Word of caution, learn from my mistake, do NOT use a hand drill.
#103
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Car: 1987 Formula 350
Engine: 6.0 boost and smak
Transmission: 4l80e
Axle/Gears: 9bolt 3.27
are the lt1 intake bolt pattern the same as the 87-95 sbc pattern or even an older pattern!!!
#104
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#105
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Car: 1989 Iroc-Z
Engine: 350ci SBC
Transmission: 700R4
U plan on mounting any accessories to the front of that motor??? I think you should have tapped them in the rear of the heads....
#108
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Car: 1988 Trans Am
Engine: 383 carbed sb
Transmission: th350
... this is a WICKED post. Specially for a guy like me that has a complete LT1 topend for parts!!!
Keep us posted, great work man!!!
Keep us posted, great work man!!!
#110
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Car: 1991 rs, 1992 z/28
Engine: 363 ci chevy sb
Transmission: 700-r4
im new to these forums. but here goes . i thought of this same idea when i saw how cheesey the tapping into the manifold looked. i used a set of zz4 heads, and mapped it out where i could go through the stock acc bracket and the head. if i can figure out how to post pics i will.
#112
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Car: 1997 Corvette
Engine: LS1
Transmission: 4L60E
Axle/Gears: 2.73 IRS
Looks nice, I want to hear how it turns out. Where did you get to weld up the heads? Like what kind of shop? All the welding places around here tell me they don't want to deal with it for liability even though I say I understand the risks.
Those look like SLP 1 3/4" as well, right?
Where did you get those 90* bends from? Those are nice looking.
Those look like SLP 1 3/4" as well, right?
Where did you get those 90* bends from? Those are nice looking.
#113
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Originally posted by DuronClocker
Those look like SLP 1 3/4" as well, right?
Where did you get those 90* bends from? Those are nice looking.
Those look like SLP 1 3/4" as well, right?
Where did you get those 90* bends from? Those are nice looking.
#116
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She lives
The engine ran today for the first time. They deffinatly work and boy does it sound good. I still have to tie up some loose ends and road test it but things are looking good.
#119
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Car: 85 IROC
Engine: 385AFR head, Mini Ram Intake
Transmission: 6 Sp.
Axle/Gears: 3.73
Do you have any pics of your accessory set up. I'm doing the same thing, but the shop drilled the whole it the front of both insted of the front of the pass and back of the driver.
#121
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Car: 85 IROC
Engine: 385AFR head, Mini Ram Intake
Transmission: 6 Sp.
Axle/Gears: 3.73
Same here, I did find a midmount alternator bracket, probably going to run it, It was the only one that didn't mount infront of the head.
#124
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Car: 1997 Corvette
Engine: LS1
Transmission: 4L60E
Axle/Gears: 2.73 IRS
Finally getting mine done. Found a place around here that will weld, mill, and drill/tap the coolant holes where yours are for a good price. Sending off my intake to Millican tomorrow for the distributor mods.
#125
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Originally posted by DuronClocker
Finally getting mine done. Found a place around here that will weld, mill, and drill/tap the coolant holes where yours are for a good price. Sending off my intake to Millican tomorrow for the distributor mods.
Finally getting mine done. Found a place around here that will weld, mill, and drill/tap the coolant holes where yours are for a good price. Sending off my intake to Millican tomorrow for the distributor mods.
#126
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Engine: building a gen1 355 with LT1 heads and intake.
Transmission: Turbo 400
tpi_roc... I wanted to thank you for leading the way on this conversion. I'm sure that I am not the only person thats been motivated to take on this project after reading this tread. Again, I just wanted to thank the people who run and support this great site and I wanted to thank tpi_roc for his documentation of this conversion.
#127
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Originally posted by nwcc
tpi_roc... I wanted to thank you for leading the way on this conversion. I'm sure that I am not the only person thats been motivated to take on this project after reading this tread. Again, I just wanted to thank the people who run and support this great site and I wanted to thank tpi_roc for his documentation of this conversion.
tpi_roc... I wanted to thank you for leading the way on this conversion. I'm sure that I am not the only person thats been motivated to take on this project after reading this tread. Again, I just wanted to thank the people who run and support this great site and I wanted to thank tpi_roc for his documentation of this conversion.
#128
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Car: 1991 rs, 1992 z/28
Engine: 363 ci chevy sb
Transmission: 700-r4
i have a 91 with serpentine set up. i bored through the acc bracket on the driver side. on pass side i notched it and went behind (not running a/c).
#129
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Engine: 350
Transmission: 4-speed
I see you got your engine in and running. How is the engine cooling? I have mine ready to install, I'm just waiting on my tranny to arrive. Good luck, your engine looks great.
#130
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Thanks for the compliments, I haven't been able to really test the coolant system yet but I should be by the weekend. I managed to blow the nose cone off my starter somehow so that slowed me down a little.
#131
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Car: 85 IROC
Engine: 385AFR head, Mini Ram Intake
Transmission: 6 Sp.
Axle/Gears: 3.73
Did you have trouble tapping the heads, my treads didn't turn out that well, the guys at Napa said that the Aluminum used was cheap
#134
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Car: 85 IROC
Engine: 385AFR head, Mini Ram Intake
Transmission: 6 Sp.
Axle/Gears: 3.73
I would use 3/8, the 7/16 may be to big for the bolts that hold down the valve cover, at least that was what I was told
#135
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Coolant is 100% completely done, holds water, purges air, and looks nice! I'm going to clean up the engine bay and take some pictures, and road test this weekend.
#136
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Car: 1997 Corvette
Engine: LS1
Transmission: 4L60E
Axle/Gears: 2.73 IRS
Great to hear its working so far. I have my heads assembled and I have the brass fittings for the coolant lines as well. Where are you locating the remote t-stat housing? I'm trying to decide where to put that. I'm waiting to hear word back from Millican about my intake and fuel lines and then I'll be getting my stuff installed as well.
Just out of curiosity, what were your chambers CC'd at, and what pistons are you running?
Just out of curiosity, what were your chambers CC'd at, and what pistons are you running?
#140
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Last edited by tpi_roc; 06-07-2005 at 10:37 AM.
#141
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Car: 89 Firebird
Engine: L05 350 TBI
Transmission: 700r4-slippin' on it's last leg
Wow. That looks sweat!
It looks like alot more work than what most people were anticipating I bet.
What are you going to do about the radiator overflow tank? Just use a small one that goes up against the radiator?
So how does it work for cooling, compared to it as previously being a reverse flow cooling system? Do you expect any detonation problems, or is there someway to make this setup a true reverse flow?
It looks like alot more work than what most people were anticipating I bet.
What are you going to do about the radiator overflow tank? Just use a small one that goes up against the radiator?
So how does it work for cooling, compared to it as previously being a reverse flow cooling system? Do you expect any detonation problems, or is there someway to make this setup a true reverse flow?
#142
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Making it a true reverse flow system is a little more tricky but people have been doing it to first generation smallblocks for a long time now. As far as the overflow bottle mine was just ugly as sin and I'm ordering a new old stock bottle to replace it.
So far at part throttle break in I dont see any detonation problems. I'm also at 11:1 compression so if it works with that, it'll happily work on an L98.
So far at part throttle break in I dont see any detonation problems. I'm also at 11:1 compression so if it works with that, it'll happily work on an L98.
Last edited by tpi_roc; 06-07-2005 at 11:39 AM.
#143
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I have been driving it daily without any issues. I mounted the power steering pump last night and will finish it tonight and finally be able to turn. Break in is a quarter way done on the clutch, soon after I can start tuning higher RPMs and get a feel for whether or not this was worth it. I'll report on performance when I've got an idea.
#144
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Car: 1991 rs, 1992 z/28
Engine: 363 ci chevy sb
Transmission: 700-r4
looking at your throttle bracket, it looks like you modified the stock one to fit the lt1 intake. is that what you did? if so, how?
#146
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Final Thoughts
Everything is broken in now. I can only pull to about 4700 RPMs because I've run out of injector to fuel it. I used to pull to 6500 with my other LT1 intake on 200cc sportsman heads. After a bunch of tuning all signs point to quite a bit of power and I cant wait to quantify just how much. Its tough to keep the tires stuck to the road but when they do it pulls like a mother @#@#er. I'm very happy with the outcome, for a while there I was worried the whole project was crazy. I also get a lot of compliments on how it looks which I wasn't expecting but is a nice surprise. All in all if you have the time and resources, and you want a pretty damn custom build, (that seems to produce) I say go for it.
Everything is broken in now. I can only pull to about 4700 RPMs because I've run out of injector to fuel it. I used to pull to 6500 with my other LT1 intake on 200cc sportsman heads. After a bunch of tuning all signs point to quite a bit of power and I cant wait to quantify just how much. Its tough to keep the tires stuck to the road but when they do it pulls like a mother @#@#er. I'm very happy with the outcome, for a while there I was worried the whole project was crazy. I also get a lot of compliments on how it looks which I wasn't expecting but is a nice surprise. All in all if you have the time and resources, and you want a pretty damn custom build, (that seems to produce) I say go for it.
#147
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Car: 85 IROC
Engine: 385AFR head, Mini Ram Intake
Transmission: 6 Sp.
Axle/Gears: 3.73
what type of pulleys did you use, mine is almost done, engine is complete but had to get longer push rods. Plan on installing all in a couple of weeks, just need to do the intake. Plus I changing the whole car to a 90 mapo setup with a 4th gen TA dash and interior, thats going to be the fun part, I'll let you know how it all comes out.
#149
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Engine: building a gen1 355 with LT1 heads and intake.
Transmission: Turbo 400
Yesterday was judgement day for my LT1 head conversion..... I finally found the time to throw it on an engine dyno.
After a few shake down runs to get the timing and fuel curves under control. With the fuel ratio's rich and 38' total timing, It layed down 392 hp at 5500 and 446 ftlbs at 4000. Lets fast forward through several runs of tuning the timing,fuel curves, cam timing, and fuel preasure. the best run was 482 hp at 6000 and 481 ftlbs at 4300. I didn't have enough time to make a pull with nitrous. I can only guess that if I ran the 175 shot of nitrous that I should net somewhere between 625 to 650 hp
My engine combo is as follows
350 4 bolt block bored .030" over
Moroso windage tray
Crank scraper
3.48" scat forged crank (knife edged)
Eagle 5.7 con rods
Flat top JE pistons with a compression ratio alittle under 11.5 to 1
Ported LT1 heads
Ported and port matched GM LT1 intake
58mm throttle body
Custom ground solid cam:
238 int 248 exh duration at .050" .509 int .529 exh lift
272 int 282 exh adv duration 110 lobe sep.
Crane 1.6 roller rockers
Headers with 1 3/4" primaries.
Electric waterpump.
175 shot of nitrous thats progressively controlled
Last but not least, the engine is managed by Accel DFI (thats the whole reason why its heading for the dyno.
Overall I am very happy with this conversion. After my wife gets home from her photoshoot with our other laptop I should be able to scan and post the dyno printouts.
After a few shake down runs to get the timing and fuel curves under control. With the fuel ratio's rich and 38' total timing, It layed down 392 hp at 5500 and 446 ftlbs at 4000. Lets fast forward through several runs of tuning the timing,fuel curves, cam timing, and fuel preasure. the best run was 482 hp at 6000 and 481 ftlbs at 4300. I didn't have enough time to make a pull with nitrous. I can only guess that if I ran the 175 shot of nitrous that I should net somewhere between 625 to 650 hp
My engine combo is as follows
350 4 bolt block bored .030" over
Moroso windage tray
Crank scraper
3.48" scat forged crank (knife edged)
Eagle 5.7 con rods
Flat top JE pistons with a compression ratio alittle under 11.5 to 1
Ported LT1 heads
Ported and port matched GM LT1 intake
58mm throttle body
Custom ground solid cam:
238 int 248 exh duration at .050" .509 int .529 exh lift
272 int 282 exh adv duration 110 lobe sep.
Crane 1.6 roller rockers
Headers with 1 3/4" primaries.
Electric waterpump.
175 shot of nitrous thats progressively controlled
Last but not least, the engine is managed by Accel DFI (thats the whole reason why its heading for the dyno.
Overall I am very happy with this conversion. After my wife gets home from her photoshoot with our other laptop I should be able to scan and post the dyno printouts.
#150
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Car: 1997 Corvette
Engine: LS1
Transmission: 4L60E
Axle/Gears: 2.73 IRS
That's simply amazing. I got my car running two days ago with the LT1 heads and intake. Today I'm going to fix a few coolant lines and drive it. I was making my own setup for the rear coolant lines (just the small vapor lines) but I've realized that is completely unnecessary on these engines as I got no air bubbles out of those lines, and it was just a smooth stream of water. I'll be buying pipe plugs today to plug those holes up.