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Just found a cutaway of a LT5 DOHC!
Boy all those chains sure look familiar! LOL
I remember taking one of these for a serious 1/2 hour ride one time, with the 2nd key (wink!)
That was one sweet engine! Smooth as silk, and awfully fast.
(BFG had some unusual "company cars" to test new tires with)
But I sure would not want to work on it myself, or try to find parts for it today.
I love exotic stuff like that. My first new car was a screaming Cosworth Vega. It did not stay stock for long. And two V-6 Yamaha Powered F***s. (I just couldn't write that word.) Those engines were waaay better than the cars they were in. All those very hard to find parts for, even when they were almost new.
My 70 Z28 / LT-1 solo car won me over big time vs the others prior. Exotic, but not that much. Easy to find parts for. Plenty Powerful. Rev'd very well. And stone dead reliable. For 27 years. And I never babied that thing. I did not abuse it, but it saw 7000 rather frequently. Good thing it was built to take it. That was a huge improvement over the L48 powered SS350 I had as my first car. I rev'd it too hard...ouch!
Now I am on to BIGGER and simpler things. 454 LS6. The BB I never had growing up. LOL That big brute will rev too if I have anything to say about it! Jeff built it to handle 7.5k. He knows me well. That's my rev-limiter aka my safety margin. It's just over-built. His 500+ cube drag motors do 8500 all the time. I am not worried about the strength of this one.
Last edited by leigh1322; Apr 19, 2024 at 11:00 PM.
Yeah 6300 rpm is all I will ever need to spin it, but it is plenty strong to handle more if I ever miss a shift, etc.
My LT-1 was fast, but after racing it for years, many times it left me wanting for more.....so....this.
I was able to drive many of Jeff's outrageous cars, and several drag racers. Including a 4 foot tall wheel standing, 10 sec flat, 70 Chevelle with a 650HP BB in it, and a wild Staten Island street car (racer) with a built L88 by Baldwin Motion. Also around ~600+HP. Those were too wild and bad mannered for a street car, but they sure get your blood pumping! I was able to drive a couple of stock LS6s and they are big brutes, but the outrageous TQ made them kind of mild mannered and they could be driven like a normal street car. Even easier than my low torque LT-1. Torque is fun! You don't even have to rev it! Unless you just "want to"!
I am just going to have to be real careful when I "poke the bear" that's up front!!! The LT-1 I could completely unleash, but only on a race course. That was like 5-10 minutes of pure bliss! This one I doubt I can ever completely unleash. Probably just for a couple seconds at a time. I could never wind it out in overdrive even on a race track! There just ain't enough room! So I did not even try to put another 50 or 100HP in it. And I'll never drag race it with slicks because of the IRS. It's just an street car with "more than enough" Torque and "more than enough" HP. And a "sneaky" "stock" look to it on the outside! Honestly we feel it should run hi 11s in "track" mode. But on street tires, even big ones, somewhere in the 12s are all it might be capable of. MPH anywhere from 115-118 ish. "More than enough"!
This is why I went to 308’s in the rear.
In 5th gear, 0.82, at 60 mph, I’ll be right at the sweet spot where the cam is really just starting to make power.
A little pressure on the go pedal without shifting down, will be all the fun I need.
Unless you notice the tall L88 hood, I should be looking pretty stock going down the road.
Limping down the highway, with a 496 and 3” exhaust all the way back, should have them scratching their heads.
I have a C4 ZR-1 and the LT-5 is one amazing engine!!! The history of that engine is fascinating, and the fact GM made that happen at that time is even more incredible.
I have a C4 ZR-1 and the LT-5 is one amazing engine!!! The history of that engine is fascinating, and the fact GM made that happen at that time is even more incredible.
Its just a very cool engine....if I wanted a C4....that is the one I would want.
Don't forget the C4's DOHC LT5 engine. Fortunately for us, that engine, like the C4, was just a placeholder for the 1997 LS1.
I digress : The C5 and LS-1 never made the HP the LT-5 did (it was indeed close) , it took the 2004 Z06 to have the same HP as the LT-5, a decade and a half later! GM took what they learned from Lotus in the LT-5 design and implemented it into the heads of the LS. Cam in block was a lot cheaper to manufacture (Mercury Marine built the LT-5, GM couldn't do it in house), and GM went the route of the LS series. love the LS series , and think it's one of the best engines ever mass produced. Then there's the underappreciated C4: It's the car that brought Corvette into the modern era, and every iteration (C5/C6/C7) was just evolutions of that design. The C4 and LT-5 are what saved the Corvette name and brought us into the modern era. That's just my [biased] take !
That 3800 doesn't look as easy to work on as the SBC or LS series, that's for sure!
I digress : The C5 and LS-1 never made the HP the LT-5 did (it was indeed close) , it took the 2004 Z06 to have the same HP as the LT-5, a decade and a half later! GM took what they learned from Lotus in the LT-5 design and implemented it into the heads of the LS. Cam in block was a lot cheaper to manufacture (Mercury Marine built the LT-5, GM couldn't do it in house), and GM went the route of the LS series. love the LS series , and think it's one of the best engines ever mass produced. Then there's the underappreciated C4: It's the car that brought Corvette into the modern era, and every iteration (C5/C6/C7) was just evolutions of that design. The C4 and LT-5 are what saved the Corvette name and brought us into the modern era. That's just my [biased] take !
That 3800 doesn't look as easy to work on as the SBC or LS series, that's for sure!
Agreed! By the 1982 model year the Corvette was on it's 15th year of a chassis that first appeared in the fall of 1962, so it had to have been designed in 1960 or so. The C4 was a huge technological advance over it's predecessor.
I loved the LT-5! I drove one for almost an hour. But I also have multiple experiences with scarce parts sourcing for rare engines.
That is why on my dream can build, I am going with a BBC for Big, Strong & Simple. It should be ultra-reliable, and parts are available anywhere, even on a cross country trip. And GM did not surpass the power output of an LS6 454 for 40 years! A normal LS is the only newer vette engine I would say meets or gets close to those requirements and that is not what I want in my old dinosaur. And the last thing I would want is a computerized supercharged wondermotor. I passed on that, but got really close to buying a CTS-V. Bought this instead and haven't looked back!
Last edited by leigh1322; Apr 21, 2024 at 10:42 AM.
My next build will also have an old school V8 and will probably be a 351 sbf based 408.
Yep a Ford but plain and simple.
I will no doubt sell the Vette when it’s done and move forward with the car I was planning to build when I stumbled across the 73.
I loved the LT-5! I drove one for almost an hour. But I also have multiple experiences with scarce parts sourcing for rare engines.
That is why on my dream can build, I am going with a BBC for Big, Strong & Simple. It should be ultra-reliable, and parts are available anywhere, even on a cross country trip. And GM did not surpass the power output of an LS6 454 for 40 years! A normal LS is the only newer vette engine I would say meets or gets close to those requirements and that is not what I want in my old dinosaur. And the last thing I would want is a computerized supercharged wondermotor. I passed on that, but got really close to buying a CTS-V. Bought this instead and haven't looked back!
Man hard to argue with that!! The simplicity and reliability of the BBC & SBC are hard to beat!
LS6 454 was rate at 450HP in the old way? This was one of the under rated engines though, right? I've never driven a BBC car, would love to experience all that low end TQ they make!
My next build will also have an old school V8 and will probably be a 351 sbf based 408.
Yep a Ford but plain and simple.
I will no doubt sell the Vette when it’s done and move forward with the car I was planning to build when I stumbled across the 73.
I love these Factory 5 builds too! I'm hurrying to finish my '71 before my wife and I have our first kid, probably will be my last build for a long time!
I like the look of them, but I have driven a 560HP BBC Cobra and it did not drive well.
Ergonomics, steering, pedals, shifter, heat, yuck! Wasn't much to like.
Fast as heck tho!
And your 650HP Vette will be stronger than a SB one. The Daytona would need 500+ to keep up with your monster C3.
Just sayin'.
Now on a autocross course the short length and the relatively big tires would give it an advantage. Seen that too.
Both of these will shred the tires below 60, so without slicks, I am not sure you could tell the difference. They're both "tire" limited.
I considered one, but after driving Mike's, decided the Vette is much more civilized, better looking, and can be close enough to as fast.
Factory Five actually recommends a closer to stock 302-351 sbf in their cobras.
A BBC in a cobra is way too much weight up front, exceeds the suspension’s design and 400+ hp isn’t a fun ride in a 2000 lb car.
A while back I was seriously thinking about selling my 73 to build a FFR Daytona Coupe.
I talked with FFR engineers who said they did not recommend installing my BBC in any of their vehicles.
The 408 sbf I had in my FFR 33 HotRod wasn’t a big hp engine and was almost too much for the car and it handled better than anything I’ve ever driven.
My FFR 33 was the funnest build I’ve done in my entire life and would love to build a Daytona as my last.
I’ve enjoyed building my 73, but it hasn’t been my favorite.
If it doesn’t perform and have the total look I want, I’ll sell it.
I don’t think it’s anything to do with a Corvette, but more about the frustrations I’ve come across to get it built.
When you wife says we have to go to the beach .... and the alternator takes a dump..... and it's in a big heat wave on a holiday weekend,,,, 105* heat index
Well you just do what you have to do.......
.....you change the darn thing soaking wet in your swim trunks! LOL
