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More like a garage find. I had an opportunity to visit a neighbor down the street this weekend and picked up a used wood stove for the father-in-law. While there, he said he's seen my '96 C4 and asks if I'm interested in this. Looked like an LT4 with a six speed manual to me. I currently have an LT1/auto with 127k on it.
The guy builds hotrods and usually goes LS so he wants this out of his garage, "cheap". Not sure what cheap is yet. He said it came from a friends '96 Corvette who wrecked it. Said it's a Lingenfelter with less than 60k on it. Comes with ECM, harness and everything.
Not sure of the truth of the Lingenfelter part, but it's clean as a whistle. We have the car in the air right now doing all the gaskets, including pan. This is tempting. I'd like to be able to find some numbers or markings to confirm is it what it is.....and how cheap "cheap" is.
If it is an LT4, take off the oil cap and look down into it. You should be able to see LT4 cast into the head. Does this mean the entire engine is an LT4, no. You would have to look at the crank to make 100% sure as the crank had fillets cut into the edges of the journal races, as opposed to the sharp corners LT1's have.
Lingenfelter product is usually easily identified I believe.
The only thing I see that appears identifiable is an LKQ engine pallet. Even if it's a stock LT4 with the VIN derivative from the block you should be able to document the source. He!! there might even be an LKQ tag on the engine.
It wouldn't be difficult to create a 17 digit VIN from the derivative to run thorough some VIN sources. I'm quite sure I could.
The intake appears to be an LT-4 unit.
The LKQ pallet could be a cheap Chinese knock-off.
Really? A knock-off pallet LOL
The JY crayon marking is a significant indicator of where it's from. The red tag that's attached might likely either have the LKQ stock #, the VIN etc. I bought an engine from LKQ and asked for pictures of the wrecked car so I could determine maybe the damage to engine accessories before I bought. They said they had none, I took information from the tag and found all of the crash snapshots myself.
It may not be from LKQ and the pallet just an LKQ that maybe wasn't returned but there's information likely available that could correctly ID the unit.
If it came out of a '96 and it had the stock manual trans on it, then it is an LT4. All Manual '96 Corvettes were LT4.
In '96 only, the LT1's were in the cars with automatics and the LT4's were in the 6 speeds.
Lingenfelter? I don't know how to confirm that part of the story.
Just because it has a red intake doesn't mean LT4. Just sayin'. As soon as we get to where it is not single digits in the garage and I can work on it, when I put this on it, doesn't mean it is one of the rare LT4 A4 cars that slipped out the back door or if I had a '95 M6 and put this on it.
The only true way to tell if it is a 100% LT4 (because from what I have read, the blocks are the same) is by the internal rotating assemblies (crank assy camshaft) plus the LT4 heads and appropriate parts, plus the timing chain.
The yellow marking on the intake manifold screams junkyard pull to me, not out of a friend's wrecked car.
I would pull a valve cover and set up a dial indicator to check valve lift. That will give you an idea of what cam is in it and point you in the right direction. Everything else being the same, I would assume if it has a stock lift cam there isn't anything Lingenfelter about it.
I get it!! I should have certainly 'caught on' but couldn't resist the "really" !!
Originally Posted by alprzy
At the end of the day, it still boils down to what "cheap" is.
I don't think "cheap" is as important as identifying it's source. Verify the VIN from derivative and it's very likely you could document miles and much more.
Now if the owner just wants to clean the garage it could be very cheap!!
Only the OP can determine most of what needs to be known.
Well, ignoring the engine altogether for a moment, if this is a good low-miles ZF6 with an original Valeo clutch assembly and INA throwout bearing, then the trans and clutch setup alone would fetch $1500-2000 on the used-parts market. An OE low-miles Optispark and water pump are also worth several hundred each. So if the price is really right, then it doesn't even matter if the engine is a real LT4 or not. If it is verified as an LT4, then that's icing on the cake.
To the OP, keep in mind that a swap to a manual from your automatic car is no piece of cake. It involves changing out pedals and console plates and is generally a lot of work.
Barn Find Motor/Trans
