Hey guys, I am getting a little frustrated with this LT1 Intake thing. I have read most of the threads concerning LT1 Change over. I have been to LT1intakes.com. I have emailed John a couple of times. I feel that I have a good handle on the change over and related issues. My question is "honestly" how much have people spent to get the LT1 to fit their car? Here's how I see it braking down:

Intake w/ fuel rails - $101.00 I just got it on EBay.

Modified by John - $200.00 (I don't think I could even come close to John's quality)

Tapped / Coolant Resovior - $65.00 (LT1Intakes.Com)

Fuel Lines - $85.00 (LT1intakes.com or I guess you could make your own. I want mine install to look proffesional.)

Misc Crap - $60.00 (Coolant hoses, gaskets and crap, approximate cost.)

ADJ Fuel Reg Hat - $50 (Won't name the place.)

I already have a 87 and Up distributer and the correct wiring to make it work.

Here's where it gets iffy. I have Iron L98 heads drilled for "86 and older intakes.

Weld Aluminum onto Intake to help cover EGR and Coolant Ports - $100.00 (I live in Montgomery County, MD(near DC) everything costs and arm and a leg) The welder who will do it, doesn't know exactly how much it will cost. But at the least it will be $100.00. I think this is where I will get screwed.

Machine Intake(because of welds) - $90.00 (Once Again The MC, MD thing. Could be more Machine shop says all depends on how good the weld is) I think I'll get screwed here too.

Burn New Prom - $???? (not sure where to go or how much)

At best it looks like I will pay $701.00. There are still a lot of uncertainties. I could wind up paying around $1000.00 or more depending on the intake work. I am frustrated, I hoped to do this for under $500.00. What has everyone else experienced?

What have other LT1 Intake Upgraders paid for the install? Please be honest. We all know the type that always does stuff quicker than humman, pays less than average. Lets be truthful please. I do understand that labor rates are different across the country.

 

john takes care of covering the rear egr and coolant ports in the rear



i paid john to do the mod work.
got the fuel rails+accel afpr for $100-$150. can't remember exactly
got the intake for $60
custom fuel lines and remote t-stat housing, $150 from a friend(also got extra ruel rail).
$40 for the dizzy

so thats what...$540 in parts?
i think john can burn a new prom for less than $100 to take care of the egr. mine is going to run like crap until i get the stuff to do it myself.

 

John does supply the EGR block offs. If you supply the PROM, he'll burn it for $50. (I recommend this, he burned mine.) I bought the parts from him, and did the conversion myself, to save money. Here's my breakdown:
Intake w/ fuelrails: $150
Remote t-stat housing, coolant fittings, custom fuel lines, PROM burning, EGR block offs, Dizzy shim: $270 (from John. Incl shipping)
2 ea Heater hoses w/90* bend: $30
New intake gaskets: $8

TOTAL: $458
Sold TPI on ebay: $150
Sold Hypertech on ebay: $80
FINAL COST: $228.

 

Did either of you guys pay a machine shop to weld on the intake?? Or did you have the welding capabilities? Also what heads are you using?

 

I didn't need to weld. For any holes or things that needed filled, I used some Loctite epoxy putty. That stuff is great. It hardens up much faster than JB Weld. What would you need to weld?

 

As the man said, he has an L98. This engine uses the center ports from the heads for EGR vapor flow. The LT1 intake flange is very narrow in this area and will not completely cover the old EGR ports. Welding or some other method is required to prevent these gases from being sucked into the engine. The Felpro #1205 has block off plates, but that may not suffice. That's why I've been hesitant to install mine that John also retrofitted.

 

The gaskets would be sufficient enough. I haven't had any problems.

 

Hey Formula5.7, Did you use the 1205 or 1204 gasket? You say you used Loctite putty. Was that to widen the LT1 flange thickness, or just stick'em in there and torque it down?

 

Just because you haven't had any problems doesn't mean you don't have exhaust being pushed into lifter valley. It shouldn't cause any catastrophic failure, but it certainly isn't what I would call a clean install. On mine I measured close to a 1/4 inch on the EGR port that was be completly uncovered. So you need to have at least 5/16" welded on there. On mine I paid $100 at a cylinder head repair shop, however that included milling. Although they scratched the crap out of polished fins on top.

While your having it welded have them weld on top of the coolant ports, in case you want to run darts or another brand head with taller coolant ports. Regardless of if you need it or not, it should help sell it later.

I wouldn't be too afraid to mod the intake yourself, just take your time and expect to put in a LOT of hours to get it done. I still have my old bit and 1/2 pipe tap for the coolant ports if you want to save a few bucks on that. I did it all myself and I want to say it was all under $500 after I totaled every little screw, spacer, etc.

Things I've seen so far missing/wrong from other peoples lists are...

Straight up t-stat water neck, Mr. Gasket $12...

Also o-rings are cheap to replace compared to an engine fire $15

You don't need the 90 degree bends if the coolant ports are in the back of the intake so you can save a few bucks there

All I can think of right now

 

On another note I've found a much easier solution for shortening the throttle cable. Rather than cut and braze the line (It was a very... very... slow drive to the end of the quarter mile with a broke cable), you remove the throttle cable from the car. On the pedal end of the cable their is a plastic collar that slips onto the pedal. Slit and remove the collar. Then reinstall it ~1" up the cable on the other "bump" on the cable. This will move the pedal slightly closer to you at idle, but I prefer it as I don't have to worry about a floormat stopping me from 100% full throttle. The pedal is maybe 1/2" further up, not enough to notice. The only bad thing I can see from this is that if your throttle would ever stick you would be unable to reach down and manually pull the the throttle pedal up. I think I need to get a picture tommorrow to illustrate...

 

I don't remember which gasket # I used. I measured the EGR ports on the heads, Made a block of that Loctite Putty to fill the hole up, made a bowl out of aluminum foil, so that the block sat in the foil and set the Gasket over top of the foil. It sealed up tight enough. The clamping force holds the foil in place. This way, if need be, I can just pull it out and go back to a standard intake.

I already had new o-rings, so that didn't get figured in.
I re-used my water neck also.

 

On my prototype I had Trick Flow G2 heads. They had round egr holes that the LT1 intake completely covered no problem.

 

Thanks for the Input. I am now determined to get this intake to work. I have been trying to get someone in the area to help me out. Nobody seems to want to work with me(I work as a service writer @ a repair shop). I really hate working with other people!!! I mean, one jack a** tried to tell me that I was wasting my time and that it would never run correctly. He even told me you wouldn't be able to tune the car. Everyone else is unsure of how to attack it. Its amazing the number of walls people put up when they are closed minded. It just goes to show, if you want something done right you have to do it your self.
Mark my words, I will get the LT1 intake working. If your viewing this John, it will be at least a month before you see my Intake(I am in the middle of a buy and sell of homes.) The intake will work well and I will spend no more than $600.00. I will then prorceed to go to that dumb a** performance shop and smoke my Mother F**KING tires until they blow. If I wanted a Edelbrock set up, like he suggested, I would go out and buy it my self.

Peace Out

OneBadZ4U

 

does anyone have any pics of this area you guys are talking about ?

 

My sportsman IIs have a large EGR port, but it isn't drilled through, but if it was it wouldn't seal without some extra material, I think. Here is a couple of pics of my welding I had done over the coolant ports, you could do the same for the EGR.

 

after welding

 

and after maching

 

My total to date:

Bare LT1 intake $40 (from TGO classifieds)
Fuel rails with new FPR $40 from Ebay
Remote thermostat housing $10 from swap meet. Will use stock water neck with it.
Aluminum brazing rod $12 shipped from Ebay
Fuel lines, made from AN fittings and braided line $50-$60 for the hardware to make them myself.
Coolant lines $12 for 90 degree fittings and hoses

All of the modifications will be done by me, including the distributor spacer. I've decided to cut off the EGR passages completly instead of hacking the car's wiring harness for the '87+ style distributor. Materials for these two mods will cost about $20 and have enough scrap left over for the coolant port and EGR port fixes. Now, if only I could find a job to pay for the few remaining items...

 

you guys should talk to one of the guys on the fabrication board to see if they can fab up some kind of egr adapter with a pipe that either goes around the dizzy to the right bank or just a 90 degree bend right on the mounting plate to direct it to a accesable location that way you could run the egr on the car still. and retain stock computer and maybe even be CA emission legal. Probably not a problem for you but is a concern of mine.

 

Get an NPT to hard line compression fitting, drill/tap at the EGR right head location, run hard line from the right bank to a chunk of aluminum purchased from one of the many raw materials distributors on the web, then use the stock EGR mounted on the aluminum, then hardline to the EGR port at the rear and drill/tap that location for another compression fitting to NPT adapter. The aluminum could be machined with nothing more than a drill bit and a medium sized drill press and cost maybe $20 or so in raw materials to make...

 

i see people did this swap, but does anyone have any numbers to back there "mod" up? im going from carb to TPI with an LT1 intake that was already done by someone else, i paid 120 for the intake w/ fuel rails, 50 for injectors, 50 for my prom from john some 1205 gaskets that are also port matched to my edelbrock heads, and thats about all i paid for everything. i didnt buy the 90* hoses but i probably will in the near future. i want to see what kind of numbers you guys are running with the intakes. im going from performer(not RPM) and a Q-jet with stock airbox to the LT1 intake.....it should be done by tomorrow but who knows...