I read the entire Car Life article "Wildest corvette ever" from July 1969 and they spend a couple of paragraphs on the "dealer installed" LT1 option. I thought the LT1 option was only available in 1970 and up model years? http://www.corvettearchive.com/ any idea if that was really available? :confused:

 

As far as I know, only 2 cars were dealer? factory LT-1 produced in 69. both had the normal hood--yes the LT-1 intake will fit under it. I don't know if these cars are acounted for. Thad

 

No 69 cars are documented to have been produced by chevy for public. They did have mule cars but these were usually destroyed. :cry

 

If you read the article page 9-10 it goes into a very specific description and the pricing and specs and all.

 

Yea, that is kinda along the lines of the 70 LS-7! Thad

 

I re-read it and it says on page 7 they put it in all the manuals and price lists but couldnt get the parts without sacrificing camaro z-28 sales so some dealers ordered the parts seperately and made there own. :smash: Interesting I thinks I'm gonna make me one of those too!! :)

 

The LT-1 option was originally intended to be a 1969 Corvette RPO; those of you with second edition 1969 Owner's Manuals can look in the back and find tune up specifcations for this engine. I believe (if the old memory doesn't let me down) that there is a photo of one of the 1969 LT-1 engineering cars in the first printing of "Corvette: A Piece of the Action... Complete with 1969 vintage engineers sporting some serious crew cuts! :)

Several factors led to it being delayed until the 1970 model year; most notable was a shortage of intake manifolds due to GM seriously underestimating the demand for 1969 Z-28s (which used the same manifold as the LT-1). GM had no intention of interfering with a proven sales success, so the LT-1 Corvette (as well as LT-1 powered Camaros and Novas) was put on hold until the following year.

As noted in your original post, the engine assemblies were available late in the 1969 callendar year to those who knew about them and while there were no factory cars produced for sale, several LT-1s were DEALER installed in vehicles. Two of the more famous included a 1969 LT-1 Corvette built by Clippinger Chevrolet and a 1969 LT-1 powered Camaro built (I believe) by Car & Driver and affectionately called the "Blue Maxi". The Clippinger Corvette is mentioned in Rick Bizzoco's "1969 Stingray Guidebook" and was recently advertised for sale... The Blue Maxi Camaro has been covered in numerous publications including the initial series done in Car & Driver.

Regards,

 

Damn that was good Stan! I was going to post what I've heard but Stan's post makes any other post redundant.
On the subject of putting a LT1 in a '69, why? It wouldn't be stock anyway so why not make a motor with a little modern technoligy? I mean it was great 30 years ago but not great for now when you concider you can get more power AND run it on available gas. The '70 LT1 had 11 to 1 compression and needed leaded gas.

 

So then in conclusion it was available in 69 model but only as a dealer installed option but only 1 dealer (Clippinger Chevrolet) really did it? The car life article claims that if the dealer did the mod then it was covered under factory warranty.

I think that would be an easy modification and easily reversible for originalities sake.

What would be the correct intake manifold and carb combo for the LT1 setup?

 

The correct intake would be the aluminum LT-1 Chevy manifold. The carb is a Holley 780 CFM. I am not sure which exact model the carb is, I am sure the LT-1 guys could tell you. The only other difference (the biggest difference) would be the LT-1 solid cam and lifters.

AC

 

I did and my answer is: Why not? It is historically appropriate in that it is something that people were doing back then. No one in 1969 was dropping in LS-1’s or ZZZ’z. It is smog legal. It looks “right” in the car. And it works. In fact if the Factory had a few extra manifolds they would have dropped them in as noted in my owner’s manual, (and as noted above.) To boot it not like I wasted a factory L-88 in the process. I am running old 8” Western wheels with 15-inch tires on the car also which IMHO look better on a Shark than a lot of the rice wheels I see on older Vettes.

The manifold is GM as used in 1970 and the carb is a correct 1970 49 state Holly for a Corvette. I also re-screened the Tach to match the correct RPM range for the engine.

And no I am not trying to fool anyone. I kept the AC so no one who knows Corvettes would think it to be anything other than a nicely done street car.

Anyway, just :seeya

George

 

999,

I agree! I'm gonna do it. I dont have to rescreen the tach though cause I have an L46 with the higher tach redline.

:cool:

 

holley is model #4150, R4555A, chevy #3972121, add chevy alum intake, solid cam and lifters and rest same. Do what makes you :D

 

Don't forget the 2 1/2 inch exhuast inplace of the 2 inch. Also need to add the open air cleaner.

 

Everything is "smog legal" on a '69 in Galifornia now. No more checks. Well I guess you could get in trouble if you parkrf a gross polluter on the Governers lawn and killed his daiseys with exhaust fumes...
Have fun finding leaded gas with enough octane to run 11 to 1 compression.

:D

 

A couple of people have mentioned 11:1 compression issues. Well the L46 which is what I have now is 11:1 and runs great on pump gas :D

 

Hey LT1 driver,

If it is this easy to convert an L46 to an LT1 how does one know if there 70 LT1 is legit? Build sheet of course anything else? :confused:

 

…And the hanger for the 2- ˝” pipes. Also the choke spring is wound the other way. You need the choke spring from the 70 LT -1. For the California car there is a heat shield below the crab. I am running MSD ignition in place of trying to find factory electronic parts that both are 30 years old and work. (My concession to modern technology.) But I did paint the box black. I went out and replaced the hood with the BB version w/o stripe. That is not as sacrileges as it sounds since when the factory ran out of SB hoods they would just pop a BB hood on the car anyway and ship it.

It was not that all hard. Get the following references:

"1969 assembly manual," the LT-1 drawings are all there including how to paint the strip on the big block hood if you want to.

Rick Bizzoco's "1969 Stingray Guidebook" as R. Rat suggested, great background discussion and lots of very small photos.

Dr. Rebuild’s catalogue, great drawings.

Good luck, George

 

Saw a few mentions of the 1969 Car & Driver contest car the "Blue Maxi" 1969 Camaro. I had the pleasure of meeting the owner and being invited to see it the other day. It is in terrific shape except for the front damage sustained in an accident 10 years ago. The owner has all new parts to fix it and he is shooting to have it fixed in the next few months and ready for the spring show season. The car has Roger Penske's touches all over the car and is a true one of a kind. It might well be the first LT1 ever built. And maybe the only LT1 made with A/C. I don't see where the front fenders were customized at all. The Penske applied blue paint is amazingly nice for almost 44 years old, it has never been re sprayed. The owner bought the car in 1970, knows exactly what he has and loves his car. He is 71 years young and when he started the car for me and revved it a little, he was grinning from ear to ear. Amazing what effect a car can have on a person. I snapped a few photos with his permission and will help him get the car repaired and back out there. There were 69 ZL 1's, only one 1969 LT 1 Camaro.

 

There is a color picture of the 1969 dealer built LT1 here on the forum. It is in the Blue C3 thread. The picture was posted by the original owner who now owns the car again.